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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (January 2022): Kino have transferred Preston Sturges' The Great Moment to Blu-ray. The DVD from 2006's Preston Sturges - The Filmmaker Collection (reviewed HERE) looking quite strong but you can see how much is cropped beside the new 1080P transfer. Generally, on the top, bottom and right edge of the new Blu-ray image show significantly more in the frame. Contrast is more layered, there are more examples of depth and the HD presentation looks quite pleasing. Thought I saw hints of edge enhancement but I couldn't verify zooming in.

NOTE: We have added 28 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 Great Moment has no dominant aggressive moments but another supportive and pleasant score by Victor Young (The Accused, Strategic Air Command, The Ghost Breakers, The Sun Shines Bright, The Accused, Johnny Guitar, China Gate etc.) sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offer no commentary but include two wonderful supplements. Great Without Glory is a 1/4 hour introduction by Film Historian Constantine Nasr in the form of an informative visual essay. Very well-prepared. There is also Triumph Over Pain: A Celebration of Preston Sturges with the director's son Tom Sturges, acclaimed filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich and Nasr having a chat about the great Sturges and his themes for almost 40-minutes. Fans of the director will get a lot out of this, Lastly is a theatrical trailer.

Preston Sturges' The Great Moment is not the director/writer best work, but it is touching and historically fascinating as a biographical film about 19th-century Boston dentist Dr. William Thomas Green Morton, who discovered the use of ether for general anesthesia. The film incorporates an interesting flashback structure and includes many of Sturges stable of strong character actors including George Anderson, Al Bridge, Georgia Caine, Chester Conklin, Jimmy Conlin, William Demarest, Robert Dudley, Byron Foulger, and many others. The Kino Blu-ray has plenty of value beyond Sturges-completists with a well-realized story, strong a/v transfer and impressive extras. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze