Blu-Ray News #274: Sitting Bull (1954).

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Blu-Ray News #274: Sitting Bull (1954).

March 1, 2019 by Toby

Directed by Sidney Salkow
Starring Dale Robertson, Mary Murphy, J. Carrol Naish, John Litel, Iron Eyes Cody, John Hamilton, Douglas Kennedy

Shot in Mexico to save money, Sitting Bull (1954) was the first independent production shot in CinemaScope. As history, it’s hogwash, but as a cowboy movie, it’s pretty good — especially with that cast and with a sympathetic look at the Indians.

This picture seems to have falling into the public domain, which means we’ve been looking at terrible, pan-and-scan transfers for years. Spirit Media, from Germany, have announced a Blu-Ray release. Let’s hope it presents it the way it ought to be seen, with its CinemaScope intact and it’s Eastmancolor looking, well, as good as Eastmancolor can look. (Boy, it’s good to see somebody announcing a 50s Western on DVD or Blu-Ray.)

Thanks to John Knight for the news.

10 Responses

on March 1, 2019 at 12:50 pm | Reply john k

Yep! Toby as I mentioned previously there seems to be a lack of
50’s Westerns being released in general and an overall lack of Westerns
starring the likes of Robertson,Rod Cameron,George Montgomery,Rory
Calhoun and others.
Even more depressing with the avalanche of Horror/Sci Fi movies
hitting the streets.
Spirit Media’s quality is generally pretty good and they are “official” releases
not bootlegs so that also bodes well.
Certainly,these days any 50’s CinemaScope Western is pretty good news.
on March 4, 2019 at 5:50 pm | Reply John

A number of westerns has been added to Amazon Prime in the last few days, I’ve watched REVOLT AT FORT LARAMIE (Bel-Air, 1957) and really liked it, Titles added include APACHE w/Burt Lancaster, GUNSIGHT RIDGE w/Joel McCrea, RIDE OUT FOR REVENGE w/Rory Calhoun and BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE w/Randolph Scott. NOOSE FOR A GUNMAN, THE GAMBLER WORE A GUN and FRONTIER UPRISING all with Jim Davis have been added. Buster Crabbe’s GUNFIGHTERS OF ABILENE and GUN BROTHERS as well. Plus GUN STREET w/James Brown and OUTLAW’S SON w/Dane Clark. Many of the UA/Edward L. Cahn movies had been on Prime before and been taken down. They are back along with a number of the Cahn-directed mysteries and thrillers like HONG KONG CONFIDENTIAL, YOU HAVE TO RUN FAST, CAGE OF EVIL and others. TV episodes added are Season 1 of TOMBSTONE TERRITORY and Seasons 2 and 3 of BAT MASTERSON.
on March 5, 2019 at 1:41 pm | Reply Mike Richards

Are you Amazon UK or USA?
I have found Apache on UK, it’s a very nice widescreen print. We do get many Spaghetti Westerns, in varying quality from just about OK to excellent.
on March 5, 2019 at 3:51 pm | Reply gcwe1

Toby ,do you have a link to this SITTING BULL release.I can’t find it on Spirit Media webpage.I’m probably looking in the wrong place.I do have a public domain copy which is pretty poor,so lets hope this is better.
- on March 5, 2019 at 4:20 pm | Reply Toby
  
  I don’t the link. John, call you pass it along?
on March 5, 2019 at 9:17 pm | Reply Mike Kuhns

https://www.amazon.de/letzte-Gefecht-Blu-ray-Dale-Robertson/dp/B07P8WG1QR/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1551838579&sr=1-1&keywords=dale+robertson
on March 6, 2019 at 4:20 am | Reply gcwe1

Mike ,thanks for the link for SITTING BULL ,but I will have to order it else where as Amazon no longer ships to Australia.
on March 6, 2019 at 9:45 am | Reply john k

Thanks Mike for supplying Graham the link.
I’ve been trying to get on to Spirit Media’s Webpage but it appears to
be unavaliable at the moment due to an update.
on March 8, 2019 at 3:22 pm | Reply Tom Settles

There’s a pretty good hi-def widescreen of Sitting Bull on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj5vh1_HSEU
- on March 10, 2019 at 8:22 pm | Reply Barry Lane
  
  Yes, there is. Unfortunately, you have to see the film to appreciate the hi-def widescreen.