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Directed by Otto Preminger
USA
1967

 

Otto Preminger's grappling with rural Georgia during the civil rights movement—an adaptation by Thomas C. Ryan and Horton Foote of K.B. Gilden's southern gothic novel—might seem hopelessly dated in its depiction of decadent whites and noble blacks. In fact, it seemed hopelessly dated when it was released in 1967, though this doesn't prevent it from having an enjoyable over-the-top quality at various junctures (catch Jane Fonda performing fellatio on Michael Caine's alto saxophone, for instance). The last of Preminger's overblown adaptations of best-sellers (his later films became smaller-scale and much weirder), this may have a lot more juice than sustenance, but at least Preminger keeps the juices flowing.

Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Chicago Reader located HERE

***

Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder) directs this epic adaptation of K.B. Gilden's novel about racial prejudice and emotional unrest in 1940s Georgia. Henry Warren (Michael Caine) is an unscrupulous and racist landowner obsessed with buying up all available land in a Georgia farming town. Blocking his path are sharecroppers Rod McDowell (John Phillip Law) and Reeve Scott (Robert Hooks), one white and one black. The star-studded cast includes Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway, Diahann Carroll, Burgess Meredith, Robert Reed and George Kennedy. Screenplay adapted by Thomas C. Ryan and Horton Foote.

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Theatrical Release: February 6th, 1967 

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DVD Review: Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC

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Distribution Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 2:22:10
Video 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.29 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 English (Dolby Digital 1.0) 
Subtitles None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Olive Films

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1

Edition Details:

• none 

DVD Release Date: May 17th, 2011

Keep Case
Chapters: 8

 

Comments:

Hurry Sundown has interesting performances but is an enigmatic film - unusually pieced together by Preminger. Olive Films is handling more older Paramount titles that have not yet seen the light of day on DVD - as they have done with WUSA , Where Love Has Gone, The Mountain and Rope of Sand. My favorite where the three Noir films they released - Appointment With Danger, William Dieterle's Dark City and Rudolph Mate's Union Station as well as the enjoyable Hammer-esque sci-fi Crack in the World from the mid 60`s - now announced for Blu-ray in July 11' HERE.

This is a typical Olive Films release - dual-layered, progressive, anamorphic and looking reasonably impressive for the SD format. There is some horizontal stretching on the 2.35:1 Panavision aspect ratio. Detail is pretty strong and consistent but colors may be faded somewhat as they can tend to look dull.

The disc is bare bones with no extras nor subtitles offered. This is competently transferred and supports the film well with a damage-free, presentation with no unsightly boosting.

The mono sound is audible and clean. Focusing on the performances may be the best way to appreciate Hurry Sundown. It has a 'Tennessee William' feel and may have worked better theatrically with the characters carrying the dramaturgy and minimizing the direction. There are plenty of films I'd recommend ahead of this but those keen on some of the 'names' may wish to indulge their curiosity.    

Gary W. Tooze

 



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DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC



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