The Horse Soldiers Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by John Ford
USA 1959

Screen legends John Wayne (Rio Bravo) and William Holden (The Wild Bunch) team up with eminent western director John Ford (The Searchers) for this Civil War adventure packed with laughter, romance and thrills. A faithful representation of one of the most daring cavalry exploits in history, The Horse Soldiers tells the rousing tale of a troop of Union soldiers who force their way deep into Southern territory to destroy a rebel stronghold at Newton Station. In command is hardbitten Colonel Marlowe (Wayne), a man who is strikingly contrasted by the company’s gentle surgeon (Holden) and the beautiful but crafty Southern belle (Constance Towers, The Naked Kiss) who’s forced to accompany the Union raiders on perhaps the most harrowing mission in the war. The stellar supporting cast includes sports pioneer Althea Gibson and many frontier favorites like Judson Pratt, Ken Curtis, Willis Bouchey, Bing Russell, O.Z. Whitehead, Hank Worden, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin and Hoot Gibson.

***

A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 17th, 1959

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	2:00:00.166
Video	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 40,849,062,300 bytes Feature: 38,600,448,000 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1598 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1598 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 40,849,062,300 bytes Feature: 38,600,448,000 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Joseph McBride, the Author of Searching for John Ford • Theatrical Trailer (2:39) Blu-ray Release Date: June 14th, 2022 Standard Blu-ray Case inside O-card slipcase Chapters 9

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (June 2022): Kino have transferred John Ford's The Horse Soldiers to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 4K Master". Firstly, we reviewed the bare-bones 2011 MGM Blu-ray HERE. I never could find a reasoning for that edition's 1.66:1 aspect ratio. So, anyway, this Kino 1080P is, the presumably accurate, 1.85:1 but we only see information lost at the top and bottom of the frame - none gained on the side edges. The Kino has a far richer colors - bordering on saturation - but looks softer - it is less green-ish but is also fairly flat with, possibly, some low-frequency edge enhancement. I don't know what to think but it looked reasonably adept on my system from the new 4K Master.

NOTE: We have added 10 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. The Horse Soldiers has few aggressive moments that come through with modest depth and score by David Buttolph (Wake Island, This Gun For Hire, Western Union, Pete Kelly's Blues, Rope, Three Secrets, Kiss of Death, Blood and Sand and many more) plus there is music in the film; "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and the rousing "Dixie" sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian Joseph McBride (author of Searching for John Ford and a critical study entitled John Ford.) He finds The Horse Soldiers a fine lesson in what a great director can do with a weak script and a troubled production, how it is Ford's only full scale feature about the Civil War - although touching on it in other features, Ford's expertise in the war, America's conflicted history, devotion to civil rights for black Americans and Abraham Lincoln. He relates that Ford had a library of over 6,000 books and was a voracious reader in between, and often during, making films and how he had a rule about using blondes in westerns. McBride extols director of photography William H. Clothier (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Cheyenne Autumn, China Doll, Man in the Vault etc.) and the collaborations with Ford. He discusses Constance Towers, Althea Gibson and many others. It's at his usual excellent level - informative and interesting. There is also a trailer for The Hose Soldiers and trailers for similar films.

John Ford's The Horse Soldiers is not the director's best work but still has plenty of merit. John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin's screenplay is loosely based on Harold Sinclair's 1956 novel (of the same name) - a fictionalized version of Grierson's Raid - a Union cavalry raid during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War - that transpired in Mississippi. It's beautifully shot - kudos to William Clothier - with sequences at Natchitoches Parish on the banks of Cane River Lake in Louisiana (famous for the numerous plantations), and in the are of Natchez, Mississippi. It's a film I am very happy to own from a historical standpoint. The, correct AR, Kino Blu-ray offers a stunning John Ford film with John Wayne, William Holden and Constance Towers (who starred in, Ford's friend, Samuel Fuller's experimental thrillers Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss.) Plus this has the valuable McBride commentary. Recommended to Ford/Wayne - Civil-War buff fans!