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King of the Pecos [Blu-ray]
(Joseph Kane, 1936)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Republic Pictures Video: Olive Films
Disc: Region: 'A' (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 0:54:58.295 Disc Size: 10,893,777,878 bytes Feature Size: 10,770,892,800 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.00 Mbps Chapters: 9 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: January 22nd, 2013
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.37:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 824 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 824 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitles: None
Extras: • None
Bitrate:
Description: Don't mess with the Duke. especially when he's out for revenge! John Wayne, a slick gunfighter and lawyer returns home to avenge the murder of his parents by the local cattle baron (Cy Kendall). He first attempts to do so legally, but his efforts are thwarted and he resorts to taking the law into his own hands. Wayne joins a group of wronged landowners to battle the cattle baron and his gang of vicious henchmen. Fast-paced direction by Joseph Kane (Hoodlum Empire) and superior photography by Jack A. Marta (Cat Ballou) are just two of the highlights of this early great western. Muriel Evans (The New Frontier) once again plays Wayne's love interest.
The Film: Routine early John Wayne western directed without inspiration by Joe Kane ("Hoodlum Empire") from a story by Bernard McConville. It's set in the 1870s between the New Mexico and Texas divide, along the Pecos River, where land can be claimed by 'right of discovery.' Ruthless land thief Alexander Stiles (Cy Kendall) claims a million-acre empire in the Pecos and kills Mr. and Mrs. Clayburn when they refuse to sell in order to steal their Sweetwater small ranch for its water rights. Their young son John escapes and is raised by his grandparents. After ten years the strapping young John (John Wayne) returns as a lawyer and an expert shooter to Cottonwood to get revenge on Styles, who is now the wealthiest and most crooked man in the territory. It's learned that Styles forces the ranchers to sell him their cattle for the worthless notes he gives them, which can only be used to buy goods in the stores he owns. Excerpt from Dennis Schwartz at Ozu's World located HEREJohn Wayne stars in this Western as a law student seeking revenge on the ruthless land baron who killed his parents; after he is thwarted in the courts, he chooses to explore frontier justice instead. Excerpt from MRQE located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. We've reviewed a few of these hour-long, early 'Duke' B westerns from Olive before; "Red River Range", "Three Texas Steers" and "The Night Riders". King of the Pecos seems to follow the same Blu-ray transfer modus-operandi. The source condition must be decent as this also looks pretty solid. Improved contrast levels from SD, very few speckles and no undue damage. There is some nice grain texture and I can't imagine that it looked much better originally. For a film of over 75-years this looks quite decent although maybe a small notch below the first three we reviewed.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Audio comes in the form of a DTS-HD Master mono track at 824 kbps. Quite imperfect and dialogue is scattered but audible. Limitations are directly due to the source production. There are no subtitles offered and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.
Extras : None - not even a trailer.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze January 14th, 2013
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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