All the King's Men Blu-ray - Broderick Crawford

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

directed by Robert Rossen
USA 1949

[All the King's Men] has to be sort of a borderline Noir, although Spencer Selby's bookplaces it in the Noir canon. The style of the movie is sort of semi-documentary, with the story being told mostly through the eyes of Jack Burden (John Ireland), a newspaperman who became a "true believer" in Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) when he was a poor but honest (and ultimately unsuccessful) County Treasurer candidate several years before running for Governor.

Excerpt of review from Film Noir of the Week located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 8 November 1949 (New York City, New York)

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Comparison:

Sony Pictures - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC vs. Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the DVD Review!

1) Sony - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC - LEFT

2) Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Sony Pictures Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC	Twilight Time Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:49:40	1:49:45.620
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.9 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,592,538,213 bytes Feature: 32,910,336,000 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Bitrate Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1069 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1069 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit) Isolated Score: DTS-HD Master Audio English 1695 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1695 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Sony Pictures Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • All the King's Men (2006) Sneak Preview (5:26) • All the King's Men (2006) theatrical trailer (2:33) DVD Release Date: September 5th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters 28	Release Information: Studio: Twilight Time Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,592,538,213 bytes Feature: 32,910,336,000 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Original Theatrical Trailer (2:37) • Isolated Score • Julie Kirgo liner notes Blu-ray Release Date: March, 2014 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 12

Comments

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

ADDITION: Twilight Time Blu-ray - April 2014: The new Twilight Time 1080P, dual-layered Blu-ray transfer looks smoother and artifact, damage and speckle free as compared to the SD. It has a touch of gloss and waxiness but I don't see overwhelming evidence of negative digital manipulations. The high-res visuals mostly looks balanced with a higher degree of contrast layering. The bitrate is max'ed out and I don't suppose All the King's Men will ever look better for your home theater consumption. This is quite impressive.

The audio is an authentically flat DTS-HD Master. Louis Gruenberg's (Arc of Triumph, The Gangster) score is available in an isolated score - also in lossless. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles on the region FREE Blu-ray disc.

Extras consist of a trailer and some Julie Kirgo liner notes. Great film and quite an upgrade from SD. This is limited to 3,000 copies - so if you are keen, better to indulge now.

***

ON THE DVD: Just in time for September 2006 release of All the King's Men remake with Sean Penn, Sony issued the original on DVD adding a sneak preview and a trailer for the new film, but providing very little in support of the original. The film was originally released on DVD in 2001 as part of Columbia Classics line and this re-release uses the same print. The transfer has some marks and specs, but it has very good contrast.

The sound is decent and subtitles are available only in English. Like stated above, the extras are here only to support a forgettable remake.

- Gregory Meshman

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