Glory (Region 2
PAL Superbit Edition)
Picture: B+
Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: A-
Glory still to
this day remains a hugely popular film, and not just to Civil War buffs like
the case with Gettysburg or God’s and Generals. First released by the original Tri-Star
Pictures in 1989, the film would garner lots of attention, especially for
Matthew Broderick and also two superb performances by today’s top two
African-Americans actors: Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman. Both are equally at the top of their game in
this film and their on-screen moments have energy that seems to stem from their
personal experiences of being colored.
The film seems to stage it’s action similar to that of two
direct sources and that comes from 1927’s epic Napoleon, which is famous for it’s large battle sequences and being
shot with a 3-camera setup making it a revolutionary film for the widescreen
innovation. The other direct influence
comes from Akira Kurosawa and films like Ran
or Kagemusha, which director Edward
Zwick took more influence from for his spectacular The Last Samurai. Zwick
would establish himself as a solid filmmaker with Glory and go on to make a few hit or miss films during the 90’s
including the indifferent Legends of the
Fall, the underrated Courage Under
Fire, and a film that was lost in the 1998 shuffle The Siege. Keep in mind
that these three films are worth mentioning also for the fact that they are all
available in DTS in the U.S. Starting
with Courage Under Fire and The Siege, both Fox films, were
released in clearly marked DTS editions, while Legends of the Fall received Superbit status after a few earlier
non-DTS issues.
This tells us that Zwick would probably prefer going DTS
for his films, unfortunately Warner released The Last Samurai, which had extras to boot, but was sorely lacking
DTS. When will Warner U.S. learn? Well, Columbia TriStar U.S. is also to blame
for not taking advantage of their Superbit possibilities and they release some
of the worst titles in content imaginable instead as Superbits, which only make
the DVD market more confusing than it needs to be. They also have a tendency to release multiple versions until
getting things just right, instead of doing it right the first time around,
which is what has consumers the most confused and irritated.
Columbia TriStar’s 2-Disc Special Edition of the film is a
classic example of this released in the U.S., which sadly missed a huge
opportunity by not including a DTS audio option. It would probably be wise for Columbia TriStar to re-release this
film again as a Deluxe Superbit giving it the royalty in both quality and
extras, but will that day ever come? In
the meantime the best way to experience the film for quality standards is through
the Region 2 Superbit Edition released in Japan that blows away ANY of the U.S.
releases for the film.
If you are interested in seeing the film it was meant to
be seen and heard than this is the closest way at this point in time. While you may not get all those extras like
the terrific 2-Disc set, the experience is much more solid in this
presentation. First, the 1.85 X 1
anamorphic transfer comes much closer to what the 70mm blow-up prints for this
film would offer, despite the film typically having a dirtier appearance to
give it an authentic look, the image looks stunning. Grain can be a bit too much at times, but black levels are deep
and dark, whites are never fully blown out, and color saturation looks
fantastic giving true life to Freddie Francis’s superb cinematography. Francis has a huge range of skill, often
working with David Lynch as the case with The
Elephant Man, Dune, and The Straight Story (another superb use
of color), and even Martin Scorsese
on his fine remake Cape Fear. It was smart for the film to be shot in a
1.85 X 1 frame since the film would make it’s way to Television and schools,
where it would be shown 1.33 X 1 cutting off information, but not nearly as bad
as if the film was shot in scope 2.35 X 1.
The production behind Glory
most likely knew this would be the case and chose the right path.
The DTS 5.1 mix for Glory
is quite the experience as it provides fresh sound to the dialogue and James
Horner’s memorable score. Sound is
primarily in the front soundstage during dialogue and lighter action scenes, but
the surrounds become engaged fully during the bigger battles and such. Canons roar, shots zing around the sound
mix, and bass becomes actively engaged making the film sound full and powerful,
more closely connected to the 6-track magnetic stereo mix that would have been
from the 70mm blow-up prints. Those
prints were also far better than the many “tissue paper” 35mm prints the film
was sadly saddled with before Tri-Star went bankrupt over Red Heat and Rambo
III, causing its merger with Columbia.
Here at FulvueDrive-in.com, we will always try to provide
the best information for films and always want the consumer to have the upper
hand when selecting DVD’s. It’s
unfortunate that the U.S. market is plagued with poor DVD’s, or multiple
versions of films making it impossible to choose sometimes without knowing what
you are getting. Glory is without a doubt one powerhouse movie that is worth seeing
and experiencing time to time, which makes it a very recommended title, but at
this time the only way to truly get the best performance-wise is through the
Japan Region 2 disc, which means you will need an All Region player here in the
U.S. to do so. However, the extras on
the Region 1 Special Edition are quite appealing as well and make that version
also a good recommendation, so owning both might be the best route depending on
your disposition.
- Nate Goss
