Prince Valiant (1954, DVD-Video)
Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B-
As a
follow-up to reviewing the limited edition CD soundtrack to the film (which you
can read at http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=1043&filter=P),
we now take a look at the new DVD of Henry Hathaway’s Prince Valiant (1954). The
music was really good, but the film was not always up to its quality.
The cast,
on the other hand, fares better. This is
a film where people talk at each other, but sometimes this works, while too
many times it does not. Robert Wagner is
the title hero, but despite his efforts, never clicks in the role. He is joined by Janet Leigh, Debra Paget, an
ever-wackier Sterling Hayden and James Mason as the bad guy. Henry Hathaway’s directing is not bad either,
but battle scenes are limited and the film has a flatness that hurts it. Dudley Nichols’ screenplay, based on the
Harold Foster comic strip, does not quite pull of the translation it should
have, but this can be seen as a transitional work to the comic book films we
are getting today and that’s not bad.
This has more story substance than most of them, no matter its shortcomings.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.55 X 1 is an early CinemaScope film, so early that it
not only was it in the early wider version of the format (versus the later and
now standard 2.35 X 1 to make way for more soundtrack room), but it was
originally issued in three-strip dye-transfer Technicolor before Fox founded
the Deluxe labs. With that said, the
cinematography by Lucien Ballard, A.S.C., is impressive and the use of color
equally so. The image here is a bit soft
throughout, but the color turns on and off between scenes, which is a sign that
this is not a restored print. What saves
the picture is how good the color can get when it turns on.
The Dolby
Digital is available in 2.0 Spanish Mono, French Mono and English 2.0
Stereo. This has no surround information
and does not seem to come off of the 35mm magnetic soundmaster the CD was,
which is a shame. That CD sounded better
and a future sound upgrade would yield a far better film soundtrack if Fox
should restore the film further. Extras
include five Fox trailers, including one for this one, and a brief Fox
Movietone clip that celebrates the release of the film. Fans will be happy with this just-above-basic
DVD and it is something comic book film fans will want to catch.
- Nicholas Sheffo
