Daughter
Of Dawn (1920/Milestone
Blu-ray)/Man In The
Wilderness (1971/Warner
Archive Blu-ray)/The New
World (2005/New
Line/Warner/Criterion Blu-ray)/Who'll
Stop The Rain
(1978/United Artists/MGM/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Picture:
B/B/B+/B Sound: B/C+/B+/C+ Extras: C/C-/B+/C+ Films:
B/B-/B (B+ Extended Cut)/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Who'll
Stop The Rain
Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is
limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last,
while the Man
In The Wilderness
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.
Survival
is a theme of some of the greatest films ever made, excluding
exploitation cheapies of course, amusing and forgettable as they can
be.
Norbert
A. Myles' Daughter
Of Dawn
(1920) is lucky as a film that it survived at all. Thought to be
lost for 90 years, a complete print was only recently unearthed in a
really remarkable find and now, we have the film to see again.
Hardly even seen in its time, the melodrama with an all Native
American cast (300 in all from the Comanche and Kiowa tribes) uses
the conventions of melodrama to show off various aspects of a culture
that as been kept alive to this day by said tribes (et al), but
having a record (albeit held together by a fictional narrative) made
entirely in Oklahoma (The Wichita Mountains in particular) and
becomes a priceless record of the original native peoples of what is
now The United States of America.
Seeing
this other world, just our world a century or so ago, can be
haunting, sad, amazing and stunning, offering a mix of emotions and a
deeper hidden truth of what has been lost, what has been barely
preserved and kept alive and the way of life that held the territory
together until it was discovered and conquered by outsiders. That
the protagonist if female-centered is interesting and as compared to
later Hollywood female-centered 'weepies' and 'woman's films' we now
know as soap operas, how women play in this world can be familiar.
However, there are also some interesting differences that will
surprise you.
Despite
the age of the film, Milestone still delivers more extras for this
Blu-ray than you might expect in the form of the following clips:
Finding the Film (with Bill Moore, Oklahoma Historical Society),
Heritage: Darren Twohatchet, Comanche, Heritage: Dorothy Whitehorse:
Kiowa, Magdalena Becker (William D. Welge, Oklahoma Historical
Society) and three entitled The Music Score each respectively with
Mark Parker, Oklahoma City, University School of Music, Benjamin
Nilles, Oklahoma City University Symphony and John Cross, Oklahoma
City, University School of Music. They could never be long enough,
but they're all good.
Richard
C. Sarafian's Man
In The Wilderness
(1971) offers a group of fur-trapping men from a long time ago out to
make money in conjunction with a rich captain (John Huston) who will
help them make money from their finds. However, they betray one of
their own (Richard Harris) and leave him for dead. But they left too
soon and he is still alive, they're violent efforts to throw him out
did not kill him and he will now seek revenge against them. Sounds
familiar? It is the same tory that the Leonardo DiCaprio film The
Revenant
was based on, which we reviewed at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14198/The+Angry+Hills+(1959/MGM/Warner
Warner
Archive has restored and reissued this Warner Bros. film on Blu-ray
and though it is not a perfect film by any means, it holds up well
enough and is finally available in a worthy edition for people to
enjoy and compare to the hit remake. Sarafian (Vanishing
Point,
Lolly-Madonna
XXX,
Sunburn,
Fragment
Of Fear)
was in prime form and is able to put most of what he intended on the
big screen. This is shot to be seen large.
Original
Theatrical Trailer is sadly the only extra.
Terrence
Malick's The
New World
(2005) is one of his most remarkable films, telling the story of the
romance of Captain
Smith (Colin Farrell in an underrated turn, about to be hung for
mutiny when he is sparred for a 'more important' purpose) and
Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher in a remarkable, star-making
performance; we should have seen her more after this) as he arrives
on a huge ship Jamestown, headed by a cold captain (Christopher
Plummer in one of his best roles in a career where he is always
working) who could care less about anything but his agenda of gaining
wealth, knowledge and power. However, instead of a fake melodrama,
the film makes the extremely beautiful title land a major character,
a place to love that is a strong as the love between the two leads.
There is also immense attention to detail in bringing Native American
culture and its world to life that is palpable and stunning.
Made
by New Line before Warner folded them up into their own studio,
Criterion has gone all out here for this incredible new Blu-ray
edition with one of the best restorations of a recent film (last 25
years) we've seen anywhere. Though the dialogue is well-written, it
is the quiet moments that often shine, telling us the truth of the
situation constantly and as soon as the film beings, you are
instantly enveloped. Malick's stunning comeback out of self-imposed
retreat produced a trilogy that began with The
Thin Red Line
(1998, also on Criterion Blu-ray) and continued after with The
Tree Of Life
(2011, reviewed elsewhere on this site) that joins Badlands
(1973) and Days
Of Heaven
(1978, also both out on Criterion Blu-ray, luckily) as the most
underrated filmography of a modern filmmaking master. Audiences
still have not caught up with him, even if more well-known filmmakers
(Christopher Nolan) know (or Michael Cimino knew) better.
Also
incredible is the on-the-money casting. The extras all seem like the
real thing and often are, then you have the supporting cast that
includes Wes Studi, Christian Bale, David Thewlis, Ben Chaplin, Noah
Taylor, Eddie Marsan, John Savage, August Schellenberg, Michael
Greteyes, Yorich van Wageningen, Raoul Max Trujillo and Jamie Harris
among many make this a pure cinematic experience to be seen all the
way through (I like the Extended Cut the best because it works best)
as this is a great film finally restored to all of its unseen glory.
Any serious film fans or filmmaker should consider this a must-see.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text, tech details and three excellent essays on the
film, then you get more on all the Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray One with
The
Extended Cut
of the film includes an Original Theatrical Teaser, Original
Theatrical Trailer and vintage featurette The
Making
of "The New World".
Blu-ray Disc Two offers The
Theatrical Cut
of the film with two new featurettes in Actors
and Production,
while Blu-ray Disc Three that offers The
First Cut
of the film adds featurettes Editors,
The
Versions
and Extended
Cut.
Karel
Reisz's Who'll
Stop The Rain
(1978) is the only film here to take place at the time near the time
of its theatrical release. Towards the end of the Vietnam fiasco, a
quick-buck illicit drug sales opportunity turns up for a war reporter
(the underrated Michael Moriarty) who needs to turn to a shipping
friend (a great early performance by Nick Nolte) to get the heroin
back to the U.S., something he reluctantly agrees to. To make things
worse, the reporter's wife (Tuesday Weld) is an addict and their
operation is known by a few thugs who want the money and heroin for
themselves at all costs.
The
result is a great deal of violence and terrorism for only a small
bag, but I guess this was a more shocking, impressive amount about 40
years ago. However, it is the MacGuffin to get the story going (even
of the script and film wallow in it a bit more that they should) and
all climaxes into a savage battle that practically brings Vietnam
home. With Coming
Home (also issued by
Twilight Time) and The
Deer Hunter arriving the
same year, you can see how this film partly got lost in the shuffle,
but it too reflects how the 'he's back home from Vietnam' cycle of
films that ignored the war directly was finished.
Reisz
(The
French Lieutenant's Woman,
Sweet
Dreams)
is a decent journeyman filmmaker who was abled to mostly pull off the
ambitions in his best films, yet a few flaws always seem to surface,
though they are no match for the wrecked, sloppiness of bad films
(including on the subjects addressed by this film) we get today.
The result is a decent film everyone should see once. MGM has
licensed this United Artists film to Twilight Time, who has issued it
as one of their Limited Edition Blu-rays. As usual, the company has
isolated a film that reserves a much wider audience, rediscovery and
is worth your time.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and yet another excellent, underrated essay by the
great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-ray disc adds an
interview with Supervising Editor John Bloom, an Isolated Music Score
and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
These
Blu-ray editions all look as good as they possibly could in the
format with few complaints, starting with the 1080p 1.33 X 1 black &
white digital High Definition image transfer on Dawn
looking remarkable for its age and despite the age of the materials
used, the detail and depth will surprise many not used to silent
movies looking so good. It is the remarkable survival of an orphan
film.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Wilderness
has been restored thoroughly by Warner form the original 35mm
anamorphic Panavision camera materials an the results are solid,
gritty and show off the atmosphere to best effect of the work of the
underrated Director of Photography Gerry Fisher (All
The Right Noises,
The
Offence,
S*P*Y*S,
Brannigan,
Running
On Empty,
Wolfen,
the original Highlander)
makes this look as great as it can be uncomfortable and dirty. It
has its own density that holds its own against The
Revenant
and was originally issued in three-strip, dye-transfer Technicolor
prints that this transfers hints at being impressive indeed.
But
the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on New
World
is even more impressive with its combination of 35mm anamorphic
Panavision and 65mm Super Panavision 70 footage that is as stunning
as it is jaw-dropping and beautiful beyond expectations. At the
time, when films were not shooting totally on 65mm film negative like
recent releases (Dunkirk,
Hateful
Eight,
the Murder
On The Orient Express
remake), they would shoot partly on 65mm, the rest on 35mm (like The
Patriot
with Mel Gibson), though the 65mm format (and its cousin VistaVision)
have been kept alive over the last few decades by 70mm blow-up prints
and for visual effects use, IMAX 70mm-shot films and other occasional
all-70mm films (Far
and Away,
Baraka
and Samsara
included). Color, depth and detail are incredible and you truly feel
like you're there when you start watching, especially in the Extended
Cut. Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki supervised the 4K
transfer and this easily outdoes the previous basic Blu-ray edition
from a few years ago.
That
leaves us with the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfer on Rain, shot on 35mm film and not showing the age of the
materials used to often. Sure, the films stocks look like their era,
but this is impressively clean and is well-lensed by Director
of Photography Richard H. Kline (The
Andromeda Strain,
The
Boston Strangler,
Camelot,
De Palma's The
Fury
(the same year as this film) Soylent
Green)
offers only subtle contrasts between Vietnam and the nightmare all
come home to. It may seem gritty and even crude, but its on the
money and realistic.
As
for sound, New
World
is by far the sonic winner here with an extraordinary DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix befitting a 70mm epic (the 35mm is
shot with big screen 70mm presentation in mind) with superior visuals
and one of the late, great James Horner's best scores. Detail,
depth, directionality and soundstage placement are superior, large,
open, very high fidelity and will impress audiophiles as much as it
will major cinema fans.
Dawn
ranks second place with its new music score for its silent footage in
PCM 2.0 Stereo that sounds fine, but I like the images so much, the
music can be a distraction. That leaves Wilderness
and Rain,
both originally theatrical monophonic films, here in DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) Mono lossless mixes that sound as good as the films
can sound, but also show some flaws inherent in the original
recordings unfortunately. I doubt they could sound much better.
To
order the Who'll
Stop The Rain
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while
supplies last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
… and
to order the Man
In The Wilderness
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
