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Three Faces West [Blu-ray]
(Bernard Vorhaus, 1940)
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: 1:19:09.244 Disc Size: 17,401,180,086 bytes Feature Size: 17,361,659,904 bytes Video Bitrate: 26.98 Mbps Chapters: 8 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: May 14th, 2013
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 829 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 829 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitles: • None
Extras: • None
Bitrate:
Description: John Wayne (Rio Grande) stars in this romantic drama packed with action, suspense and intrigue. He plays John Phillips, the resident leader of a weather-ravaged Dust Bowl town who welcomes a gifted surgeon, Dr. Karl Braun (Charles Coburn) and his lovely daughter, Leni (Sigrid Gurie) into his community. Dr. Braun and his daughter are refugees fleeing from the Nazis oppressed Austria and are looking to carve out a new existence for themselves. After barely surviving two horrendous sand storms, the town's residence look to move the whole town to fertile new grounds in Oregon and John is the man to lead them to the new frontier. Directed by Bernard Vorhaus (Lady From Louisiana) and beautifully shot by the great John Alton (Border Incident) with a rousing score by Victor Young (Johnny Guitar).
The Film: The Refugee was the original release title for the offbeat John Wayne vehicle Three Faces West. Wayne, Sigrid Gurie and Charles Coburn are starred as John Philips, Leni Braun and Leni's father Dr. Braun, who like so many other victims of the Depression are forced to move bag and baggage from the Dust Bowl to the West Coast. A fugitive from fascist oppression in Austria, Dr. Braun hopes to carve out a new existence for himself and his daughter Leni by tilling the soil, but she is more interested in being reunited with her Austrian boyfriend Eric von Scherer (Varno) once she arrives in Oregon. In charge of the migration westward is John Phillips who loves Leni but keeps his feelings to himself. But when Leni discovers that her sweetheart has thoroughly embraced the Nazi cause, she finds solace in the arms of the faithful Phillips. Among the screenwriters of The Refugee was Samuel Ornitz, later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. Excerpt from MRQE located HERE
The "We the People" radio program is devoting a broadcast to the
story of refugee doctors, driven from their homeland and looking for
positions in the doctorless towns of America when Dr. Karl Brau, one of
the physicians, relates the tale of how he and his daughter Leni were
driven from their homeland in Vienna. As a result of the broadcast,
father and daughter are summoned to the town of Asheville Forks, North
Dakota by John Phillips, the leader of the farmers' organization there.
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Three Faces West gets another modest Blu-ray transfer from Olive Films. This is only single-layered but contrast looks quite adept. There are speckles throughout but this is because of the condition of the source - which is reasonable but has not had restoration. There is some grain visible and a minor sense of depth at times. Detail is modest but the 1080P still gives a very watchable presentation. The Blu-ray improved the presentation over an SD rendering and any minor flaws had no detrimental effect on my viewing.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :The audio is via a DTS-HD mono track at 829 kbps. It is, predictably, flat. The score is composed by Victor Young (The Sun Shines Bright, Johnny Guitar, China Gate etc.) who has done over 200 films. There is no depth or range to speak of but there is a consistency and clarity and it seems a faithful transfer without major flaws. There are no subtitles and m y Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.
Extras : No supplements - not even a trailer which is the bare-bones route that Olive are going with the majority of their releases.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze May 9th, 2013 |
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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