So Proudly We Hail! Blu-ray - Claudette Colbert / Paulette Goddard / Veronica Lake

Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. Your generosity touches me deeply. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance has become essential.

What do Patrons receive, that you don't?

1) Our weekly Newsletter sent to your Inbox every Monday morning!
2) Patron-only Silent Auctions - so far over 30 Out-of-Print titles have moved to deserved, appreciative, hands!
3) Access to over 50,000 unpublished screen captures in lossless high-resolution format!

Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. Thank you very much.

Search DVDBeaver

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

(aka "Hands of Mercy")

Directed by Mark Sandrich
USA 1943

Screen greats Claudette Colbert (The Sign of the Cross), Paulette Goddard (The Cat and the Canary) and Veronica Lake (Sullivan’s Travels) star in this passionate film based on a true story about American Army nurses during World War II. Colbert shines as Lt. Janet Davidson, in charge of nine nurses serving in the Pacific. From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the time they are shipped home, these extraordinary women tirelessly treat the wounded despite constant reminders of danger, romance and heartbreak. Made during wartime with the cooperation of the American Red Cross, the War Department and the Army Nurses Corp, this stirring tribute to the brave “Angels of Bataan” received Academy Award nominations for acting (Goddard), writing (Allan Scott, Blue Skies), cinematography (Charles Lang, A Farewell to Arms) and visual effects. So Proudly We Hail also features George Reeves (TV’s Adventures of Superman), Barbara Britton (The Virginian), Walter Abel (Arise, My Love) and Sonny Tufts (The Crooked Way) with rousing direction by Mark Sandrich (Holiday Inn).

***

Brimming with all the patriotic rhetoric typical of war flicks of the time, So Proudly We Hail! (1943) was nevertheless something of a change of pace for audiences as it followed the adventures and hardships of a troupe of military nurses through some of the darkest hours of the war in the Pacific. Told in flashback as the women arrive home, it takes them from December 1941, with their Hawaii-bound ship diverted to Bataan after the attack on Pearl Harbor, through Corregidor and finally back to the U.S. about a year later.

Those Philippine islands were the sites of two of the most crushing Allied defeats in World War II. On Bataan, thousands of U.S. and Filipino troops died in a brutal "death march" to a prison camp after their capture by Japanese forces. And Corregidor was bombarded for five months by the Japanese, finally forcing the May 1942 surrender of 10,000 U.S. and Filipino troops. Although So Proudly We Hail! was fairly typical for a Hollywood war film, its glamorous stars were dragged down into the mud and gore that the realistic story required.

Excerpt from Turner Classic Movies located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 9th, 1943

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Universal - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Universal Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	2:05:36	2:05:30.916
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.9 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,064,747,104 bytes Feature: 22,124,869,632 bytes Video Bitrate: 19.96 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital Mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1969 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1969 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, French, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Robert Osborne Introduction (2:15) • Trailer (1:41) DVD Release Date: May 22nd, 2007 Double-lock Keep Case Chapters: 19	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,064,747,104 bytes Feature: 22,124,869,632 bytes Video Bitrate: 19.96 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Writer Julie Kirgo • Theatrical Trailer (1:41) Blu-ray Release Date: September 20th, 2022 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 8

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (September 2022): Kino have transferred Mark Sandrich's So Proudly We Hail! to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 2K Master". It takes the predicable leap beyond SD - the strong DVD came out in 2007 - the 1080P shows more detail (Goddard's cigarette smoke etc.), finer grain, layered contrast and is more consistent overall. It's on a single layered disc, in 1.37:1 (showing a shade more information in the frame), with a supportive bitrate and the source is clean. It's a solid HD presentation without the slight compression issues of the older DVD.

NOTE: We have added 52 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. So Proudly We Hail! has few aggressive battle sequences that come through with surprising depth. The score is by the great Miklós Rózsa (The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Green Cockatoo, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, The Killers, The Lost Weekend, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Double Indemnity) notably his Loved One with lyrics by Edward Heyman. It also had standards included; The Star Spangled Banner, California, Here I Come, Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee), Sweet Genevieve, Jingle Bells etc.. The sound quality is very clear with audible dialogue via the lossless. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian and writer Julie Kirgo. She considers it an unusual and unsung film from the war years. She discusses how it was ripped from the headlines 13 months after the end of the Battle of the Philippines. She talks about other films dealing with the conflict, and historical specifics on certain real-life characters portrayed in So Proudly We Hail! She also relates the careers and personal lives of Claudette Colbert (highest paid actress at the time), Paulette Goddard (four marriages husbands including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith and Erich Maria Remarque,) Veronica Lake (changing her famous "peek-a-boo" hairstyle to suit Army regulation), handsome George Reeves (recognizable to many for his "Superman" role eight years after the film,) Sonny Tufts' colorful off-screen antics, and others. Julie is great and had done a number of commentaries and, pretty much all the liner notes of older Twilight Times Blu-rays. Great to 'have her back' and she has a great voice and I thoroughly enjoyed her insights into So Proudly We Hail! There is also a trailer for this film and eight other film trailers.

Mark Sandrich's So Proudly We Hail! follows stories of army and navy nurses, 'The Angels of Bataan', returning from the conflict in the Philippines - recalling their experiences in duty, the emotional toll of war, capture, romance and eventual evacuation to Australia. It's lighter on the propaganda being fairly sincere but still served as a bit of a recruitment vehicle. It wasn't so much about history as what was transpiring at the time with the audience possibly having relatives 'serving' when it premiered. This was a Paramount film that had a corresponding Warner effort, the excellent 'Cry Havoc', with Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell. So Proudly We Hail! was more highly regarded and considered more accurate. It's an excellent film and can be quite dark at times. I am very happy that Kino have transferred it to Blu-ray with the revealing Kirgo commentary. As far as war films go - So Proudly We Hail! is a must own for those keen on this genre and the strong female cast. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze