Directed by Nicholas Ray
Starring Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Hope Lange, Agnes Moorehead, Alan Hale Jr., Alan Baxter, John Carradine, Rachel Stephens
Nicholas Ray’s mangled masterpiece The True Story Of Jesse James (1957) is coming to Blu-Ray from Twilight Time. It’s one of my personal favorite 50s Westerns — for Ray’s incredible use of CinemaScope if nothing else, and it’s the subject of what I think is my best post ever for this blog.
It’s coming November 20. Not sure what the extras will be, but I can’t wait.
I have the Koch Blu Ray but at times the color just does not look right.
I hope Gary at DVD Beaver does a comparison against the new
Twilight Time version.
The French Western Film Fansite have just reviewed Sidonis’ Blu Ray of
WINCHESTER’73.
It would seem Sidonis have used the same master as the recent
Australian release.
westernmovies note these various imperfections are still there but overall
the image is pretty strong.
Interestingly,westernmovies note that The Martin Scorsese Film Foundation
along with Universal have financed a complete restoration of WINCHESTER’73
and it’s about time.
It would seem other Universal classics are getting a complete make-over
DESTRY RIDES AGAIN among them.
I saw this as a youngster and loved it, l bought the Movie Classic comic, which l still have in my collection. I bought the DVD, which is OK quality, but doubtful if I will be seeing the Twilight Time Blu Ray, due to high price for UK buyers.
Thanks for the Winchester 73 info John K.
I also have the DELL Movie Classic comic of the film, along the WDL version printed in the same year in Great Britain, which, being from the DELL issue, carries the same American title, THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES, when in Great Britain, the film was actually retitled THE JAMES BROTHERS, which in my opinion was the better title. It seems that Fox have zero interest these days in remastering their old classics for either BluRay or DVD release and are leaving it to other companies to do it.
The True story of Jesse James is not considered classic, just an old movie. We do not know what shape the elements are in and the people at Fox are probably bright enough to make spot on educated guesses at the return on investment.
I agree that it’s not a classic Western, just a programmer. Programmers were films that were made to keep the cinemas supplied with product in between the more expensive, prestige productions. A film didn’t have to be a classic for DELL to issue a comic book adaptation of it, just popular at the time. I don’t think that such comics would be regarded as suitable material for children these days, and that includes the TV Western series issues, because each photo cover invariably had someone on it holding a gun, or a knife, or a sword in a threatening way.
I had not thought of theeDell Comics and cowboys holding guns. Most of us read those things and it is doubtful we committed highway robbery or mass murder. Not doubtful, we did not. We are living in strange and defeatist times. I have some hope, but not a glass full.
The crazy thing is that these days you COULD likely find a comic book cover with some mutated-muscled superhero firing some fantastical multi-barreled bazooka in one hand, while holding a bloody, decapitated head in his other hand. Plus, behind him will be some ridiculous balloon-bosomed female posing in a weirdly awkward but highly provocative stance. No one will bat at eye at this. But a cowboy depicted drawing a Colt from his holster? Yeah, I don’t doubt that would cause a furor, especially were a kid found to be carrying such a comic. School suspensions, town-hall lectures, sensitivity courses about guns, violence, and toxic masculinity.
Our modern culture is so pathetically demented. I really have nothing but contempt for it.
I’m with you.
Yes,David and the company that’s issuing the lion’s share of vintage
Fox titles is Twilight Time which as Mike reports have very high prices
especially for us UK fans with the greatly devalued pound.
Cannot fault TT on the quality of their transfers though.
I wonder if Twilight Time will finally release two of my “most wanted”
titles THE CANADIANS and THE FIERCEST HEART.
Plus THE DEERSLAYER. Must be 2.35:1 and 16 x 9 enhanced, though. None of the ancient pan and scan rubbish. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen THE CANADIANS and THE FIERCEST HEART in wide screen since I was 14 in 1961 and that’s going back a bit.
Interesting review of TAZA,SON OF COCHISE over at the excellent
French Westerns site http://www.westernmovies.fr
It’s somewhat alarming when they show the loss of information with the
comparison between 2.0 widescreen and 4×3
According to westernmovies the 3D master for this film appears to be lost.
Another French site DVD Classik have posted a nice review of Sidonis
SEMINOLE UPRISING Blu Ray with a whole host of screen grabs.
Always thought that SEMINOLE UPRISING was the weakest of the
George Montgomery/Sam Katzman Westerns.
Hi,
I wrote the review. Thank you for your good words.
There is a misunderstanding as to the 3D master of Taza, son of Cochise. I only said that no 3D master is available at the time from Universal. I don’t think the 3D prints are lost. Bob Furmanek said a few years ago on the HTF Forum that a restoration could be made but there appears to be no plan from Universal for now.
As to the loss of information, this is only because the older DVD was an open matte format with more images than intended by the studio. The Blu-Ray is more respectful of the way the film was first released. One question remains unsolved : what ratio did Sirk intend ?
We also reviewed the Bluray of Seminole Uprising there :
https://www.westernmovies.fr/dvd/testdvd-963-seminoleuprising-earlbellamy.html
Hi Cole,
Wonderful to have you contribute here-I hope this will be
a more regular event.
Thanks for putting the record straight regarding the Taza
3D master.
I think the 2.0 ratio works fine on many Universal films
especially MAN WITHOUT A STAR to name but one.
Sidonis do a great job and obviously love Westerns but
I do wish they would stop using those “forced” subtitles.
Sidonis also love those programmer Westerns starring guys
like George Montgomery that no one else seems interested
in releasing,especially on Blu Ray.
Thanks John :). You’re right. Man without a star is beautiful in widescreen (especially on the german & french blu-rays).
The subtitles are said to be a contractual obligation of the copyright holders. I am sure that Sidonis would love to make more sell out of France. What is strange is other editors like “Elephant films” or “ESC Editions” doesn’t use “forced subtitles”.
Unlike Audie Murphy or Randolph Scott, George Montgomery has been forgotten too long on DVD & Blu-Ray. We have been lucky in France to get a few of his Columbia films. I don’t think they sold well but hope that we get films like Jack McCall Desperado or a few from his United Artists period like Gun Duel in Durango.
My contact at Explosive Media (great outfit) tells me that
Scott and Murphy are very good sellers in Germany as well.
Wouldn’t bother with GUN DUEL IN DURANGO but JACK McCALL
DESPERADO is great fun-Wild Bill Hickok the bad guy this time around-
history Sam Katzman style!
Shout Factory are releasing a 50th Anniversary edition of HANG’EM HIGH BLU RAY on November 27th with extras to be announced at a later date.
Our friend Cole Armin has done a great review of the Sidonis
THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES.
Cole gives a neat comparison between the old Sidonis DVD and the
newly scanned Blu Ray version;the same master was used in the 2017
Koch,Germany version.
Please refer to http://www.westernmovies.fr
TAZA began production after UI had changed over 100% to widescreen cinematography. There’s more information on this page of our website: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/the-first-year-of-widescreen
Thanks Bob for this much appreciated confirmation. Is there any hope of a 3D Blu-Ray (UK or US) release restored by the 3D Film Archive in the forthcoming years ?
Toby,I know will be thrilled that Mr Furmanek is keeping up with
his blog.
Now that Kino Lorber have a deal with Universal just think how wonderful
it would be to see those beloved Universal Westerns in 2.0 widescreen.
BORDER RIVER,RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO,SASKATCHEWAN ,BLACK
HORSE CANYON,RAILS INTO LARAMIE…..
I’m amazed that those final Sam Katzman serials were widescreen-
who would not love to see GUNFIGHTERS OF THE NORTHWEST in that
format.
I’m very interested in this Martin Scorsese Film Foundation surely a restoration
of SILVER LODE in it’s correct ratio would be on his radar.
There is one particular Universal B western (a favorite of mine) that I would love to see in its proper 2.00:1 widescreen ratio : Dawn at Socorro starring Rory Calhoun. As far as I know all TV airings, the US and french DVDs have been cropped to Academy ratio 1.33:1.
Hi Cole-
You are so right Elephant and ESC do not use “forced” subs.
I see no reason why Sidonis do not follow their example.
Elephant are a great outfit-I wish they issued more Westerns-their
transfers are top drawer.
I’m looking forward to their announced release DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER
in high def.
Sad to hear Sidonis’ George Montgomery Westerns were not good
sellers-perhaps if it were not for the forced subs they would have sold more.
I guess at the end of the day Sidonis are paranoid about getting bootlegged
but serious collectors want the real thing not some crappy BD/R that
the Spanish used to put out.
A top drawer Montgomery is THE TEXAS RANGERS from the great Phil
Karlson.
Totally agree DAWN AT SOCORRO is a knockout although I would call it
a programmer as opposed to a mere B movie.
Hi John, I hope that Death of a Gunfighter isn’t an old Universal master. We’ll just have to wait and see.
For George Montgomery, this is just a guess on my end, there is no word from Sidonis yet about that.
I agree that Texas Rangers is a great film too that I hope will have a release.
As for Dawn at Socorro, when I see “B Movie” this is not pejorative. I really treasure the 1950 Universal Technicolor productions (and especially the one you quoted above) !
Not about being pejorative or not. Words have meanings and those Universal films are not B’s. The final series B westerns were the Wild Bill Elliott and Wayne Morris films at Monogram/Allied Artists. After that, there were a few one offs. This designation goes to both production budget and the manner in which they were sold to exhibitors.
Hi Cole ,I too hope that Sidonis release TEXAS RANGERS .I have a contact at Sidonis so next time I email or talk to him I will ask about it.I have asked him before about Columbia and Universal titles now that they have a contract with those two companies and he told me there are many titles they would love to release,but they have to be choosy because of budget issues.I believe that the forced subs are part of the contract deal,but I wish they weren’t necessary as they do some good transfers.
Hi gcwe1, You are right. French DVD labels have very few ressources and we are lucky to have all these gems released. Thank you for showing your interest to Sidonis so as to ensure future releases.
Cole-
Great review (on http://www.westernmovies.fr) of Boetticher’s SEMINOLE.
I love the way you guys compare the Blu Ray to the old DVD.
I was never happy with the DVD version and I see that the Blu Ray is a
marked improvement-especially with the flesh tones.
The Quinn documentary would certainly be a bonus..is there an English
language version?
Sadly I will not tolerate those forced subs which totally ruin the film for
me,so I will go for the Koch version,which you say is from the same master.
Cole,you are so right in what you say about the varying quality of the
Universal masters…sometimes they are superb (NIGHT PASSAGE,
THE RARE BREED) other times they are not. Two Universal titles
on Blu Ray that need color correction work are THE LAST SUNSET
and THE GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID.
Hi John, Thanks.
The Anthony Quinn documentary directed by Gene Feldman was originally aired on TV in 1990 in English. Beware, as the Sidonis Blu-Ray only has a dubbed version in French (with partial parts in English with french forced subtitles). I am not aware of a release in English. (Fox included the Biography documentary “Anthony Quinn Lust for Life” on their DVD & Blu-Ray releases of Zorba the Greek.)
I really hope that a UK label (like Powerhouse Indicator or Arrow) releases a “Budd Boetticher at Universal” boxset with Seminole, The Man From the Alamo, Cimarron Kid, Horizon West (provided that strong HD transfer exist for the latter) and a 3D version of Wings of the Hawk. We would have nearly all Boetticher films on Blu-Ray. Surely these films are not the most famous ones of Boetticher but still have a fan base.
Yes, Universal is capable of pretty great prints. It’s too bad that some films like the two you raise haven’t had the right treatment. I hope that The Last Sunset is restored as I wasn’t amazed at the Koch version.
Hi again Cole,
I do hope that you will be a regular contributor to this blog-your input
has been great so far.
A fellow from France called Chip who I guess you might know (Chip’s a
great Mark Stevens fan-me too,) used to comment on these pages on
a regular basis.
Cole your Boetticher Universal Westerns Box Set is a wonderful idea-lets
see how Indicator’s sales went for the Renown set.
The Spirit Media,Germany Blu Ray of MAN FROM THE ALAMO was
very good-far superior to the DVD.
There was talk of Mark Stevens’ sensational JACK SLADE being released
in France but it did not happen. I understand Paramount now own the rights
so hopefully Kino Lorber might release it. JACK SLADE is a “cult” movie
waiting to happen-had say,Sam Fuller or Joseph H Lewis directed it,it would
already be one.
Hi John, chip is a “regular” from the Western Movies forum (and I am sure is reading here right now as well) and I appreciate that he shares his passion for Mark Stevens!
Jack Slade was supposed to be release a few years ago by Artus Films (who released Only the Valiant, Mohawk, Treasure of Ruby Hills…). At the time, the released was cancel as Artus couldn’t get a correct material from Paramount. There has been no word since.
This is a forgotten film that deserves much better. I do hope that Kino Lorber gets a 4K restored print from Paramount with Toby providing an audio commentary, that would be a steal !
Toby would love to do a JACK SLADE commentary….Dorothy
Malone,Barton MacLane and that’s just for starters…
One day…we live in hope!
I note that DVDClassik have just reviewed Sidonis’ Blu Ray of
George Sherman’s LAST OF THE REDMEN.
As usual there are a huge gallery of screen grabs.
DVDClassik go into great detail about the transfer and the limitations
of Cinecolor.
As far as I am concerned,and considering it’s Cinecolor the screen grabs
look pretty good-far superior to what has gone before.
Having such a minor film on Blu Ray,is indeed a revelation.
George Sherman had already moved on to class A Westerns for Columbia
like RENEGADES and RELENTLESS so it’s odd to see him directing
a Sam Katzman quickie with a decidely second string cast.
You know you are in trouble when Buster Crabbe gives the best performance
in a movie. I guess that Harry Cohn discovered that Sherman owed them
one more movie hence Sherman downgrading for this picture.
At the time Sherman was directing A Westerns for Universal and was fast
becoming one of their top contract directors. Boetticher told an interesting
tale that MGM wanted Sherman to direct LONE STAR a Gable picture.
Universal,however refused to release him which Budd thought was a big
mistake as he was convinced that Sherman could have persuaded Gable
to come over to Universal.
Cole,if you are still with this I look forward to your review of LAST OF
THE REDMEN…shame about those forced subs otherwise I would have
brought this film in a heartbeat.
John, we reviewed Last of the Redmen at the beginning of August : https://www.westernmovies.fr/dvd/testdvd-962-lastoftheredmen-georgesherman.html The Cinecolor is above average and way better than on the DVD of Columbia’s Coroner Creek for instance.
I am a huge fan of under-recognized George Sherman -and so is french director and critic Bertrand Tavernier. He also deserves a Blu-Ray boxset of his films -in Germany, there was a trilogy set from his Universal period !
I have to agree with you that Sherman did much memorable films at Columbia, my two favorites of this period being Reprisal! & The Hard Man (available in the Sidonis collection and also in HD on Amazon.com). Of course, the bulk of his best westerns took place at Universal. He has such an impressive filmography and was able to direct so many great films in a such period of time.
Speaking of Lone Star, legend – When the legend becomes fact, print the legend- is there was a misunderstanding in the first name and that Vincent Sherman got the job instead of George. I am curious on how different the picture might have been.
Cole,
Thanks for the link-your screen grabs look even better
than those on DVDClassik.
I totally agree REPRISAL! and THE HARD MAN are outstanding
I’d love to have both in high-def and 1.85 widescreen.
Cole ,I am still getting used to BLU RAY .I bought a multi region one about 2 months ago but had to return it to the manufacturer because of lines appearing every now and then .They said there was a fault with it so I should get it back in a week or so.Do you know much about the film SARTANA DOES NOT FORGIVE with Gilbert Roland and Jack Elam?I have the German release with English subs but I have seen the English trailer .I suspect that no one has released it with an English soundtrack because of licensing expense.
I also bought THE COMPLETE SARTANA from Arrow Video but have not yet been able to play it.
Does anyone have trouble playing DVDrs on BLU RAY players?One of my DVDrs loads ok on my BLU RAY player but would not navigate to other chapters ,and yet it plays fine on my multi region DVD player.I believe there are 2 types of DVDrs.
Hi gcwe1, I haven’t seen Sartana does not forgive. You might be right about the licensing expense (sometimes there are precise copyright holders for each dubbing – In france A fistful of dollars wasn’t released until 2010 on DVD because of the original french dubbing company).
I have had a few issues with the Warner Archive collection DVD-Rs because the disc were scratched during transport. But generally DVD-Rs play correctly on my Panasonic Blu-Ray player.
Hi Cole ,I recently purchased THE DETECTIVES with Robert Taylor and COMBAT Season 5 in colour both on DVDr so hopefully when I get my BLU RAY player back they will play ok.I had an issue with one of the MONOGRAM COWBOY COLLECTION and wouldn’t you know it ,it was the Rod Cameron film .I mentioned to my contact at Sidonis about English not being included on some European releases of American made films and he said it did not make sense not to include English but I do understand the licensing issues .It’s just frustrating when you see a film like AT GUNPOINT with Fred MacMurray issued by 3 different companies and no English soundtrack .
Lone Star is one of several films Gable and a friend of his, Wayne Griffin, hunted up stories, which they personally optioned, and then sold to MGM as possible vehicles for more pictures their top star would do. This was intended to be creative financing. A way for Gable to increase his already high salary. And it worked. Griffin, by the way, was the radio producer for Burns and Allen
Regarding The COMIC BOOK comments above; to David, Bert and Barry; I AGREE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY . All OF YOU RIGHT ON THE MARK about these GOD AWFUL SO-CALLED ”COMIC BOOKS” OF TODAY (and of the last half-century) -which clearly belong in a category at the very bottom of ANY LISTINGS OF BAD THINGS PRINTED- EVER-, PERIOD! And remembering how wonderful those DELL COMIC MOVIE issues were-back in the day…-and wishing I would have kept a few of them! Like most of you out there, I’m also looking forward to the release of TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES! (SCOPE!!) STILL WAITING FOR: FROM HELL TO TEXAS , SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD, and HOUND DOG MAN….!!! (SCOPE!!!)