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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Henry Hathaway
USA 1938

 

From Henry Hathaway, the outstanding director of Garden of Evil, The House on 92nd Street, Kiss of Death, Rawhide, 23 Paces to Baker Street, Nevada Smith and True Grit, comes this sprawling epic starring screen greats Henry Fonda (The Ox-Bow Incident), George Raft (They Drive by Night), Dorothy Lamour (Disputed Passage), John Barrymore (Twentieth Century) and Akim Tamiroff (The General Died at Dawn). This wild-eyed “western of the North” is the tale of one man’s transformation from fisherman to vigilante, forced by honor to stand alone against Russian pirates. It was the early 1900s, and Alaska was proving itself to be the last of the American frontiers. Men and women of all backgrounds raced to make a better life for themselves in this virgin territory, while others strove to rob its riches and claim its beauty as their own. Jim Kimmerlee (Fonda) just wanted to make an honest living off of the rich Alaskan salmon fisheries. He was about to find out, however, that whether in friendship, love or war, frontiers are neither easily forged nor soon forgotten. Beautifully shot in glorious black-and-white by Charles Lang (A Farewell to Arms) with a memorable score by Dimitri Tiomkin (Rio Bravo).

***

Alaskan salmon fisherman Jim Kimmerlee encounters his old buddy, Tyler Dawson, who has been away hunting seal to earn enough money to buy his own steam schooner. When Russian fisherman Red Skain ties up to Jim's fish traps, Jim cuts his line so that he will be unable to steal from him. Tyler defends Jim from Red, and Red leaves the scene. Later, Tyler returns to town and to his girl friend Nicky Duval, who owns the local hotel. Newspaper reporter Windy Turlon reports that local fishermen, including Jim, Lefty, Skaggs and Partridge, are joining forces to retaliate against the pirates who have been stealing from their traps.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 26th, 1938

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Coming to Blu-ray by Indicator in the UK in April 2025:
Distribution Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:50:21.615         
Video

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 33,921,373,218 bytes

Feature: 32,407,468,032 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.39 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1556 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1556 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Kino

 

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 33,921,373,218 bytes

Feature: 32,407,468,032 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.39 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• NEW Audio Commentary by Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Actress/Film Historian Rutanya Alda
• Trailers


 Blu-ray Release Date: September 15th, 2020
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 9

 

 

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (September 2020): Kino have transferred Henry Hathaway's Spawn of the North to Blu-ray. This doesn't look right to me. It's on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate but the grain is exceptionally clunky and shows artifacts. You can see looking at the full-resolution captures. I don't know if it was an SD source but the image is unnaturally textured raising some red flags. It, surprisingly, wasn't as noticeable in-motion but you could still see anomalies in the 1080P transferred image quality. I will investigate what the issue might be and write back here if I find anything.

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. There are boating related effects and a dramatic ice-flow sequence that carry minor weight. The score is by the iconic Dimitri Tiomkin (Night Passage, High Noon, Angel Face, Strangers on a  Train, The Men, Dial M For Murder, Jungle Queen, The Thing From Another World etc. etc.) sounding wonderful in the lossless. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray has an audio commentary by author/film historian Lee Gambin and actress/film historian Rutanya Alda (via her phone, I think.) Her acting credits, impressively, include The Deer Hunter, Garrett & Billy the Kid, The Long Goodbye, The Panic in Needle Park, and Rosemary's Baby among others. They discuss the film opening in the documentary-style with all the outdoor Alaskan shots showing the natural world looking after itself ex. bears catching and eating salmon, Eagles etc. They discussion the themes of redemption and romance, the impressive score, the indigenous representation in the film, Hathaway as an underrated director... it's at their usual educational and entertaining level. There are also some trailers but none for Spawn of the North. 

Henry Hathaway's Spawn of the North is quite a mix - comedy, adventure, romance etc. It, strangely, worked - more credit to Hathaway and the performances. I was keen that Albert Lewin (director of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman) was the producer. The Kino Blu-ray has the video issue that we will research. The commentary and film itself have value. Stay tuned.

Gary Tooze

 

Menus / Extras

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

  

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Coming to Blu-ray by Indicator in the UK in April 2025:
Distribution Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray


 


 

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