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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (April 2021): Kino have transferred Douglas Sirk's Battle Hymn to Blu-ray. The image quality is not crisp and colors look fairly dull in terms of contrast. Generally it looks unremarkable and soft but the 1080P is consistent throughout and I see no signs of digitization. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I presume this representation is fairly accurate to the available source. Outdoor sequences showcase depth.  

NOTE: We have added 56 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language with some Korean. There re plenty of war effects - planes and bombs plus a very supportive score by Frank Skinner (Gun For a Coward, The Sleeping City, The World in His Arms, Arabian Nights, The Lady Gambles, The Appaloosa, Madame X, Magnificent Obsession, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, All That Heaven Allows, Thunder Bay, and The Naked City) adding to the film's moods from hints at romance and spiritual contemplation to aerial battle sequences. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Film Critic Nick Pinkerton. He talks about the production quoting from Jon Halliday's book Sirk on Sirk..., Korean war not being particularly popular with Hollywood (quoting statistics from Hollywood Asian by Hye Seung Chung), the actress Anna Kashfi (Marlon Brando's first wife) playing En Soon Yang - and her career, the cinematography of Russell Metty (Spartacus, Midnight Lace) and much more. It is at his usual well-researched and highly informative level, if somewhat dry. There is also a trailer for the film.

Douglas Sirk's Battle Hymn is not to be considered with his famous melodramas of the same era, but is none-the-less a decent film, well played by Rock and support from Martha Hyer, Dan Duryea, Don DeFore, Anna Kashfi, Jock Mahoney, Alan Hale Jr. etc. It's a good story as well with themes of morality conflicting with war, belief in the human spirit and is uplifting. It's a film I had never seen and was pleased to see it via the Kino Blu-ray with the Pinkerton commentary.

Gary Tooze