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She Wore a Yellow Ribbon [Blu-ray]
(John Ford, 1948)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: RKO Radio Pictures Video: IVC (Japan) / Warner Archive Collection
Disc: Region: FREE ( both) (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)Runtime: 1:43:52.142 / 1:43:40.088 Disc Size: 21,917,097,842 bytes / 31,207,763,861 bytesFeature Size: 21,804,490,752 bytes / 30,336,141,312 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.92 Mbps / 34.92 Mbps Chapters: 11 / 31Case: Transparent Blu-ray case / Standard Blu-ray Case Release date: April 8th, 2016 / June 7th, 2016
Video (both): Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1617 kbps
2.0 / 48 kHz / 1617 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /
1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
/ DN -4dB
Subtitles: Japanese , none
English (SDH), Spanish, French, none
Extras: • None
• John Ford Home Movies (4:05) • Trailer (2:32) Firstly, Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films says that they bought the rights to the RKO catalog for the countries outside France (thanks Julien!). It means that all the RKO films released by IVC have been mastered by Lobster Films and won't be sold in France. They do indeed start with the Lobster Films logo.
O ur comments are similar to IVC's The Magnificent Ambersons Blu-ray.We are excited about the forthcoming RKO Collection Blu-rays from Japan by IVC - Cat People, They Live by Night, Suspicion, The Fugitive, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master and Bringing Up Baby. We are well aware of Warner's statement:"Distribution rights to RKO films in Japan were sold off years before we ended up owning that library. We have no knowledge of what is being released there. We can only state that it does not involve the use of our original elements" Bitrate:
Description: The second of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the only one of the three to be lensed in Technicolor. In an Oscar-calibre performance, 42-year old John Wayne plays sixtyish Cavalry Captain Nathan Brittles. In his last days before his compulsory retirement, Brittles must face the possibility of a full-scale attack from the Arapahos, fomented by the recent defeat of Custer and by double-dealing Indian agents. After a series of minor victories and major frustrations, Brittles decides to ride into the Arapaho camp, there to smoke a pipe of peace with his old friend, Chief Pony That Walks (Chief John Big Tree). Before he leaves, he is presented with his retirement present by his troops: a pocket watch, with the inscription "Lest We Forget" (Wayne's playing of this scene, barely holding back tears as he adjusts his spectacles to read the inscription, is one of his finest moments on film). Brittles is able to forestall an Indian attack, just in time for his official retirement. The film really ends here, but there are two more potential climaxes before the words THE END dissolve into view. The patchiness of the Frank Nugent/Lawrence Stallings screenplay (attributal to the fact that it is adapted from two different short stories) prevents She Wore a Yellow Ribbon from reaching the same lofty heights as the Ford/Wayne collaborations Fort Apache (1947) and Rio Grande (1949). The gratuitous offscreen narration of Irving Pichel is also rather distracting. Even so, Wayne's flawless performance, coupled with the supporting contributions of Ford's stock company (John Agar, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen et al) and the Academy Award-winning photography by Winston C. Hoch, automatically elevates She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to classic status.
The Film: The second film in John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy" features John Wayne at his best and boasts some incredible, Oscar-winning Technicolor photography of Monument Valley. Capt. Nathan Brittles (Wayne) is a career officer in the US Cavalry marking the final days before his forced retirement from the service. In the wake of the massacre of Custer and the Seventh Cavalry, the local Indians are becoming agitated, and, worse, confident. Brittles is assigned to escort two women (Joanne Dru and Mildred Natwick) from the fort to the stagecoach stop at Sudrow's Wells, but the Indians are on the warpath and there is little chance now to evacuate the women from the area. Wayne gives one of the finest performances of his career here, in the first serious role Ford gave him. (Wayne himself later said that Ford never respected him as an actor until he made RED RIVER.) As Capt. Brittles--the character a full generation older than the actor--Wayne is at his most human, a man who has made the Army his whole life, even sacrificing the lives of his family to its service, and now having to watch his Army career end on a note of failure. The passing of time is the film's recurring theme, suggested as Brittles arrives late with his troops, is forced to retire because of his age, leaves a dance to speak to his dead wife; even the inscription on the watch the troopers give him, "Lest we forget," plays on this theme of time lost and recalled. Ford's main inspiration. Excerpt from TVGuide located HERE
For in this big Technicolored Western Mr. Ford has superbly achieved a
vast and composite illustration of all the legends of the frontier
cavalryman. He has got the bold and dashing courage, the stout masculine
sentiment, the grandeur of rear-guard heroism and the brash bravado of
the barrack-room brawl. And, best of all, he has got the brilliant color
and vivid detail of those legendary troops as they ranged through the
silent "Indian country" and across the magnificent Western plains.
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. I have the same major complaint with this HD presentation as the other recent RKO Collection IVC Blu-rays we have covered (The Thing From Another World, The Magnificent Ambersons, Suspicion , I Walked With a Zombie, Cat People (1942); the operative word being 'consistency'. While there are many sequences that look adequate - they are quite a few that are overly green, are damaged or are far too dark (see bottom captures). The IVC shows some minor rounded corners. Colors have some richness but still may underwhelm in comparison to their potential. Personally, I relish any opportunity to see the film again in a bone-fide transfer but this IVC does fall very short of my, hopeful, expectations for HD visuals. IVC and Lobster Films just don't have the best sources for these films - Warner does. You may judge for yourselves with the screen captures below.
The matched images below are presented without comment. I'd hate to be accused of 'stating the obvious'.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Japanese Blu-ray excessively dark... and green
Audio :Typically flat, linear PCM mono track at 1536 kbps (16-bit) - that actually sounds pretty decent at times. As well as a score by Like the video there are some inconsistencies and it could have done with being more robust (24-bit) although the flat-ness was accurate. There are optional Japanese subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE.
Warner use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel at 1617 kbps (24-bit - as opposed to 16 on the IVC) and offer two lossy DUBs - in French and Spanish. Like the video the Warner is greatly improved over the Japanese transfer. The score is by Richard Hageman (Ford's Wagon Master, 3 Godfathers, Fort Apache etc.) and we get She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (over opening credits and sung by troopers), The Girl I Left Behind Me, O Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie, Dixie (as sung by unidentified singer at funeral) etc. sounding much stronger than the IVC. There are optional subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE.
Extras : No supplements at all.
While we, at least, get some extras here - it is solely inadequate considering the magnitude of the film. We get 4-minutes of John Ford Home Movies (in color) and a trailer. No discussion on the film or liner notes.
IVC (Japan) - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray
BOTTOM LINE:
Not even close - the Warner Archive is light-years ahead with their Blu-ray release in terms of a/v and even extras. A must-own package despite the limited extras. A very strong recommendation! Gary Tooze April 17th, 2016 September 29th, 2016
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