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

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (July 2023): Indicator have also transferred Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot to Blu-ray. The 1080P image quality is, pretty much, a duplicate of the Kino also offering both 1.37:1 and 1.85:1 1080P presentations sharing a dual-layered Blu-ray. The Indicator is a shade brighter but exports the textures about the same. Their audio goes linear PCM mono and it is as clean and clear as the Kino. The extras are where the two Blu-ray packages differ the most.

Kino only had a theatrical trailer. Indicator, naturally, advance upon their US counterpart. We get 1/2 hour of Tony Rayns on ‘Jet Pilot'. It's a new in-depth discussion of the film’s protracted production and release. The Town is Josef von Sternberg’s 1943 contribution to the war effort - a short film about a typical small town in the US, made as part of The American Scene film series. It runs a dozen minutes. Indicator include a text opening sequence with magnificent jet footage for a minute. There also is an original theatrical trailer and Indicator's usual image gallery of promotional and publicity materials. The package has a limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Glenn Kenny, an extract from Joseph von Sternberg’s autobiography, archival interviews with von Sternberg, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits.

Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot is obviously 'dated' and certainly no where near the director's more renowned work. Jet Pilot is silly - intentional at times - filled with US patriotism, but is carried well by the star power of a handsome Wayne and the cheesecake prancing of sweater-girl Leigh. The romancing and suspicions have ups and downs but overall it is quite cute. Nothing more. The Indicator Blu-ray has the dual ARs, vibrancy of the Technicolor and advances on the 2021 Kino. Fans of the leads may find the most benefit.

***

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (November 2021): Kino have transferred Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot to Blu-ray. It is has both 1.37:1 and 1.85:1 1080P presentations sharing the dual-layered Blu-ray. The film is all over the board in that respect being shown at 1.66:1 and even 2.0:1. The visuals can look thin (noisy) at times with the heaviness of a natural film appearance. It is clunky but does export grain and wonderful Technicolor depth (glancing at the DVD transfer from the John Wayne: An American Icon Collection - reviewed HERE.) The 1.37:1 with the superfluous head space does have a notch of superiority in terms of the image stability. Overall is is pleasing enough and very watchable - the colors are the largest benefit to the hi-res rendering with rich greens and reds.

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. Jet Pilot has plenty of beautiful aerial shots and roaring plane engines that come through with surprising depth. The score is by Bronislau Kaper (Key to the City, The Wild North, Lord Jim, 1944's Gaslight, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Swan, Them!, The Naked Spur, Welles' The Stranger) and does well supporting the romantic aspects of Jet Pilot. Kino offer optional English subtitles, for both aspect ratios, on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers only the two aspect ratios of the film presentation plus a trailer as a supplement.

Gary Tooze