Ryan's Daughter Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka' Michael's Day')

Directed by David Lean
UK 1970

The logic behind inflating Robert Bolt's minimalist romantic drama Ryan's Daughter into a 12-million-dollar epic seems to have been "When David Lean directs, it's a super-spectacular." Sarah Miles (who at the time was married to Robert Bolt) stars as Rosy, the daughter of Irish pub keeper Tom Ryan (Leo McKern). Married to tweedy, sexless schoolmaster Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), restless Rosy has an affair with British officer Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones). When village idiot Michael (an Oscar-winning turn by John Mills) innocently uncovers evidence of Rosy's indiscretion, the local gossips begin wagging their tongues. Shaughnessy chooses to remain above the scandal, assuming that Rosy will come to her senses. Later, Rosy's father informs on a group of IRA insurgents, hoping to keep the peace in his village. The locals assume that Rosy, still enamored of Doryan, is the informer, and exact a humiliating punishment. Realizing that his very presence has caused disgrace for Rosy, Doryan kills himself. For Rosy and Shaughnessy, life goes on...not happily ever after, just ever after. The film was lensed on location in Ireland by frequent Lean collaborator Freddie Young.

****

Lean's depiction of provincial Ireland during the unrest of 1916 may suffer a little from its rather worthy romanticism, but this does not dilute its powerful, epic vision.

Rosy Ryan is a young woman with dreams beyond spending her time with the village wastrels. She marries the learned, widowed schoolmaster but is soon distracted by a handsome, war- scarred officer from the loathed British Army.

The beautiful coastline is used to create memorable scenes, notably the community working together to rescue Republican weapons from the sea, and the experienced cast are uniformly excellent. Daddy Mills won an Oscar for his portrayal of the backward, patronized village idiot.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 9th, 1970

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Comparisons:

Warner (2-disc Special Edition) - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC vs. Resen - Region FREE - Blu-ray

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC LEFT

2) Resen - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers
		This is available at Amazons across Europe but as we have been convinced it is an illegal bootleg that we don't want to endorse. Certainly this is a film that should see a more robust HD transfer at some point - we can hope, soon. We suggest purchasers wait for a proper BD - which will, no doubt, blow this low-Rez streaming image away. Patience my friends.
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC	Resen - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:47:44 (disc 1) + 1:38:27 (disc 2) = 3:26:11	3:26:17.782
Video	2.2:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.41 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,344,344,228 bytes Feature: 32,074,514,496 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 18.62 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Disc 1
Bitrate: Disc 2
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 5.1)	Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	English, Spanish, French and None	Spanish, Portuguese, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Aspect Ratio 2.2:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by: Lady Sandra Lean, Sarah Miles, Petrine Day Mitchum (Robert Mitchum's daughter), assistant director Michael Stevenson, second unit director Roy Stevens, art director Roy Walker, assistant editor Tony Lawson, location manager Eddie Fowlie, stuntman Vic Armstrong, biographer Stephen M. Silverman, and directors John Boorman, Hugh Hudson and Richard Schickel Unknown Format • Vintage documentaries: Ryan's Daughter: A Story of Love; We're the Last of the Traveling Circuses • The Making of Ryan's Daughter (a three-part 35th-anniversary documentary) • Two theatrical trailers DVD Release Date: February 7th, 2006 Double Slim Keep Case Chapters: 24 + 26 = 50	Release Information: Studio: Resen Aspect Ratio: Aspect Ratio 2.2:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,344,344,228 bytes Feature: 32,074,514,496 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 18.62 Mbps Edition Details: • Trailer (2:50) Blu-ray Release Date: April 14th, 2015 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 8

Comments:

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

ADDITION: New Line Films - Region FREE Blu-ray (March 2016): Ryan's Daughter is a stunningly beautiful film. The Spanish 1080P transfer appears to be a bootleg and a bump from 720. It looks quite strong - but more credit to the film. It does, indeed, exceed the 10-year old DVD image with the higher resolution showing richer, at times slightly warmer, colors, depth, crisper detail. It is, thankfully, transferred in AVC - but should have filled more of the dual-layered disc producing a higher bitrate and even more spectacular visuals. It's quite a poor 720 bump as compared to how this film should look on a proper, sanctioned, BD.

The audio is lossy - which is truly a shame as the score by Maurice Jarre (The Tin Drum, The Man Who Would Be King, The Damned) is such an attractive aspect of the film. The standard Dolby (in both, original, English or optional Spanish) sounds adequate but the absence of an uncompressed transfer should be considered a unfortunate omission. The only extra is a trailer so we can consider this bare-bones. I'm usually not too picky about the chapter stops but you know you inferior authoring when there are only eight for 3.5 hour film. It is a bonus to have the entire film on one disc now - certainly a film that should see a more robust HD transfer at some point - we can hope, soon.

We suggest purchasers wait for a proper BD - which will, no doubt, blow this low-Rez streaming image away. Patience my friends.

***

ON THE DVD: It's early in the year but I definitely think this is the best transfer I have seen so far in 2006. It is advertised as from a 'New digital transfer of restored 65mm picture and audio elements' which may be accurate but hardly seems to give it full justice. Sharpness and detail are crystal clear, the image has wonderful depth and colors seem to jump off the screen. I suspect that it is one of the best DVD image transfer I have ever seen. The largely untested 5.1 soundtrack is likewise excellent. To further expand this theatrical presentation the overture, intermission, entre'acte and exit music are thankfully included. The commentary and extras offer some wonderfully illuminating moments in the creation of the film and director Lean himself.

The film is far from Lean's best work, in my opinion, but it has his 'epic' production fingerprints molding the powerful visuals and romantic vision. This is a David Lean film and Warner have risen to the occasion and given us a miraculous digital keepsake.

Gary W. Tooze

Musical interludes are on both DVD and Blu-ray

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Disc 2

New Line Films - Region FREE - Blu-ray

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Subtitle Sample

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC TOP