Wichita - Jacques Tourneur Joel McCrea

Search DVDBeaver

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

USA 1955

Jacques Tourneur's first and best film in CinemaScope (1955) is also one of his strangest westerns, though the basic materials--from the Tex Ritter theme song to the Daniel B. Ullman script, in which Wyatt Earp (Joel McCrea) becomes the reluctant marshal of Wichita--are pretty standard, as is the secondary cast. What Tourneur brings to the story is both visual and metaphysical: distinctive compositions, sets, and interplay between background and foreground; shockingly abrupt and arbitrary violence from raucous cattlemen; an eerie sense of Earp as an angel of death who, like the villains he sets out to disarm, can't act otherwise or escape his destiny; and an interesting commentary on capitalism whereby the hero upsets the town's leaders by outlawing all firearms except his own, which is bad for business.

Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's capsule at the Chicago Reader located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 3 July 1955 (USA)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Warner Home Video (Archive Collection - DVD-R) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:21:24
Video	2.45:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.15 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital 2.0 (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.45:1 Edition Details: • Warner Archives Promo DVD Release Date: March 22nd, 2009 Keep Case Chapters 9

Comments

Available for purchase or download HERE - but only if you reside in the continental United States.

This is a review of a Warner Archives disc - a new made-on-demand service available from Warner that currently only being sold at their Online store. There are a few drawbacks to this service:

1. The discs are being burned on DVD-R instead of being pressed at the plant, but Warner is using the best possible DVD-R media and is standing behind their product.

2. Most of the transfers being sold at this time are interlaced and not progressive. It's unfortunate, but hopefully they will correct this for later releases.

3. High price point. Current price for each disc is $19.95, which is too steep for a non-progressive DVD-R. So far they've been having multiple coupons and sales that can bring the price for each disc lower. You still have an option to download the movie, but for $14.95 each title that may have some compatibility issues - it's even less attractive than DVD-R for $5 more.

Overall video quality is excellent. I didn't notice and problems with the print except for a few marks and the color transfer is very good. The mono English soundtrack is clear and without any distortion. The usual interlacing is evident and lack of subtitles, but I highly recommend this re-telling of early days of Wyatt Earp if the price is right.

- Gregory Meshman

DVD Menus