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A view on Blu-ray by Gary W. Tooze

Robber's Roost [Blu-ray]

 

(Sidney Salkow, 1955)

 

 

Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Goldstein-Jacks Productions

Video: Kino Lorber

 

Disc:

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

Runtime: 1:23:21.246

Disc Size: 19,193,295,759 bytes

Feature Size: 17,514,940,416 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.91 Mbps

Chapters: 8

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: December 1st, 2015

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1601 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1601 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)

 

Subtitles:

None

 

Extras:

• Trailers for The Gunfight in Dodge City (2:15), Man With the Gun (2:24) and Man of the West (3:01)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: The most savage killers lair in the west! George Montgomery (The Brasher Doubloon) stars as Jim Tex Wall, a rancher turned outlaw searching for three men who raped and killed his wife. Trailing the killers, he lands an honest job as a cowhand on the spread managed by the disabled Bull Herrick (Bruce Bennett, Sahara). When Bull s sister (Sylvia Findley) is kidnapped by a gang of outlaws, Tex seeing an opportunity to redeem himself; rides to her rescue. Veteran filmmaker Sidney Salkow (Twice-Told Tales) directs this gorgeously photographed western, featuring a stellar cast that includes the great Richard Boone (Big Jake), Peter Graves (TV s Mission: Impossible) and Warren Stevens (Forbidden Planet). Robbers Roost was the second version of the venerable Zane Grey (Western Union) yarn.

 

 

The Film:

The 1955 western Robbers' Roost was the second film version of the venerable Zane Grey yarn. George Montgomery stars as a taciturn outlaw who lands an honest job on the spread managed by physically disabled Bruce Bennett. When Bennett's sister Sylvia Findley is kidnapped by crooked Richard Boone and Peter Graves, Montgomery, seeing an opportunity to redeem himself, rides to her rescue. Fortunately for our hero, Boone and Graves are already at each other's throats, thereby weakening their resistance. Gorgeously photographed, Robbers' Roost suffers visually when seen in the faded color prints currently available to TV.

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

 

Jim "Tex" Wall (George Montgomery) is a man with a hidden agenda, he is after the men who raped his wife and stole his horses and nothing will stop him. When he arrives in a small town he joins up with a group of cattle rustlers lead by Hank Hays (Richard Boone) who are in constant battle with rival rustlers lead by Heesman (Peter Graves). But these two gangs find themselves in the unusual position of having been hired by recently crippled rancher "Bull" Herrick (Bruce Bennett) who figures they will be too busy making sure the others don't get a jump on them that they won't be interested in stealing his cattle. But it brings Tex in to contact with Herrick's younger sister Helen (Sylvia Findley) who whilst opposed to her brother's plans falls for Tex until she discovers a wanted poster with his face on it.

Excerpt from TheMovieScene.UK located HERE

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

Good old-fashioned western, Robber's Roost has arrived on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. The 1.85:1 framed visuals look consistent - there is a but of light damage marks and speckles but colors are fairly rich. The image quality is not dynamically sharp on the single-layered transfer with a decent bitrate but I suspect it's a workable replication of the original and present source. There is some pleasing texture, no depth but I'd say the defining attributes to this 1080P are the colors and the Durango, Mexico mesas and desert vistas. There are plenty of very low-lit night sequences but I didn't see any noise. This Blu-ray gave me a watchable, and reasonably strong, viewing in regards to the picture quality.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Kino Lorber use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track at 1601 kbps in the original English language. The effects are flat and limited to horses and gunplay. The film's music is credited to Tony Romano and we have cowboys songs by him and his guitar as 'Happy Jack' in the film - like This Is the Night, I Turned It Down and the titles theme, Robbers' Roost. It all sounds acceptable with consistent dialogue. There are no subtitles offered and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

 

Extras :

Only trailers for The Gunfight in Dodge City, Man With the Gun and Man of the West.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Robber's Roost is a decent western. I wouldn't say it's particularly memorable but if you are in the mood - it has strong characters and many of the attributes of the genre. The, bare-bones, Kino Lorber Blu-ray
is as good a treatment as the film will get for your Home Theatre! It's presently 47% OFF - and at that price has value for the western aficionado. 

Gary Tooze

November 24th, 2015

 

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.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction.

Gary's Home Theatre:

60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD

Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal Region FREE Blu-ray/SACD Player
Momitsu - BDP-899 Region FREE Blu-ray player
Marantz SA8001 Super Audio CD Player
Marantz SR7002 THX Select2 Surround Receiver
Tannoy DC6-T (fronts) + Energy (centre, rear, subwoofer) speakers (5.1)

APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V

Gary W. Tooze

 

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