Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Video: Twentieth Century Fox Video

 

Disc:

Region: FREE (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:58:16.547

Disc Size: 39,095,775,482 bytes

Feature Size: 37,340,682,240 bytes

Video Bitrate: 30.49 Mbps

Chapters: 28

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: December 3rd, 2013

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3723 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3723 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1106 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1106 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio Spanish 1037 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1037 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS Audio German 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio Italian 1083 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1083 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, none

 

Extras:

• Trailer (English, Spanish + Portuguese) (9:05)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: John Wayne and Rock Hudson co-star in this action-packed Western set in the aftermath of the Civil War. To explore uncharted territories and begin new lives, Union cavalry officer John Henry Thomas (Wayne) leads his men west while southerner James Langdon (Hudson) takes his soldiers to Mexico. When the two forces find themselves caught between Mexican rebels and the Emperor's army, they must fight side by side to survive.

 

 

The Film:

This routine western finds Union Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne) and company attacking Confederate soldiers lead by Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson). After a crushing defeat, Langdon torches his plantation rather than have it fall into enemy hands. A group of Southerners accept the invitation of Emperor Maximilian to join them, and Langdon heads off with a wagon train of settlers to a new land. Thomas with his adopted Indian son Blue Boy (Roman Gabriel) bring a herd of 3,000 horses across the Rio Grand for sale. The two factions meet at a Fourth of July party and relive the war through a drunken brawl. When Mexican General Rojas (Tony Aguilar) holds the Southerners hostage, Thomas orders the herd to stampede into the General's camp as ransom payment for their former enemies. Merlin Olsen plays the blacksmith Little George. Both Gabriel and Olsen were pro-football all-stars for the Los Angeles Rams. Olsen continued his acting and sports announcing after his gridiron days were over.

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

A characteristically folksy Western, sprawling around in the post-Civil War rivalries between Union (Wayne) and Confederacy (Hudson, remarkably good). Wayne, discovering that the Union army is planning to cheat him on a horse-trading deal, decides instead to drive his herd down to Mexico to sell to the Emperor Maximilian; Hudson, meanwhile, is leading a wagon train of disgruntled Southerners to settle in Mexico at the Emperor's invitation. Their odysseys converge, and when their arrival in Mexico coincides with the Juarez revolt, they decide that the good old US of A provides better choices than these pesky foreigners after all. It's all stirringly traditional stuff, with a lively supporting cast, and made very easy on the eye by William Clothier's camerawork.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

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

The Undefeated appears stellar on Blu-ray from Fox.  The image is clean, sharp and bright. The 2-hour film is put to a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. Colors seem rich and truer than SD could relate. Contrast exhibits healthy black levels. Daylight scenes are very pleasing and there are frequent instances of depth. This Blu-ray is very consistent with no damage, nor speckles and the impressive cinematography looks marvelous in 1080P. This Blu-ray probably looks like an authentic representation of the film The Undefeated and it advances beyond the last DVD editions in several notable areas - primarily detail, depth and colors.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Audio gives two flavors - a DTS-HD Master 5.1 bump at a whopping 3723 or (the original?) mono DTS-HD Master 1.0 channel at 1106 kbps. I sampled both and the surround is quite potent. The film has plenty of action and battle sequences that export some hefty depth. The separations may not be buoyant but they exist with a few subtleties thrown in. Quite solid. Hugo Montenegro's (Hurry Sundown, The Wrecking Crew) score benefits but is not always the most responsive in terms of supporting various scenes. It sounds crisp though. There are optional DUBs and subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

Extras :

The supplements consist of three trailers for the film (English, Spanish and Portuguese). I think it deserved some discussion (the film has merit), maybe not a commentary but something, however nothing more was added.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
The Undefeated is a good film characterized by some excellent camerawork. Rock Hudson really stands out for his solid performance. It's a western and war film and has a lot going for it on Blu-ray. Strong a/v and hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised by the film as I was. Recommended! 

Gary Tooze

November 27th, 2013