Blu-Ray News #355: Audie Murphy Collection II (1950-1954).

Kino Lorber’s second hi-def batch of Audie Murphy Westerns is coming in June. This set includes Sierra (1950), Kansas Raiders (1950) and Destry (1954).

Sierra (1950)
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Starring Wanda Hendrix, Audie Murphy, Burl Ives, Dean Jagger, Tony Curtis, James Arness, Jack Ingram, Houseley Stevenson, I. Stanford Jolley

Audie and his dad, Dean Jagger, have been hiding in the mountain for years. A chance meeting with Wanda Hendrix brings civilization to their doorstep, where it’s not welcome.

Wanda Hendrix and Audie Murphy were newlyweds when production began on this one. They were separated before its release. Some really nice horse stuff (some of it lifted from 1949’s Red Canyon) and a great cast of character actors.

I’m doing a commentary for this one.

Kansas Raiders (1950)
Directed by Ray Enright
Starring Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady, Tony Curtis, Richard Arlen, Richard Long

U-I mangles history again, but who cares? Murphy is Jesse James, Brian Donlevy is Quantrill. Yet another solid Western from Ray Enright, with typically-gorgeous cinematography from Irving Glassberg.

Destry (1954)
Directed by George Marshall
Starring Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Lyle Bettger, Thomas Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, Lori Nelson, Wallace Ford

For this 1954 remake, U-I puts Murphy and Mari Blanchard in the roles played by James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in 1939’s Destry Rides Again. George Marshall directed both versions. (There was a semi-remake in 1950, Frenchie, with Joel McCrea, Shelley Winters and Marie Windsor.) In this one, it’s good to see Murphy play against type a bit, and it’s always great to see Wallace Ford. Of course, Mari Blanchard looks terrific.

All three of these pictures boast the usual U-I 50s Western Technicolor sheen. (Destry should be widescreen.) They’ll look wonderful on Blu-Ray. Highly recommended.

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DVD/Blu-Ray News #342: The Rawhide Years (1955).

Directed by Rudolph Maté
Starring Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy, William Demarest, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, I. Stanford Jolley

Explosive Media is really coming through for the rest of the year, bringing some prime 50s Westerns from Universal-International to DVD and Blu-Ray. I’ve already covered Seven Ways From Sundown (1960) and Hell Bent For Leather (1960), excellent Audie Murphy pictures, coming in May and June.

Watch this blog, since we’ll do one of these releases a day through the week.

Coming in July is Rudolph Maté’s The Rawhide Years (1955). Tony Curtis is a riverboat gambler who flees when he’s implicated in a murder. He returns three years later to clear his name, track down the real killers and be reunited with his girl (Colleen Miller).

Curtis is cool and Arthur Kennedy makes a nasty villain here. Irving Glassberg shot this in Technicolor and 2.0. Rudolph Maté and editor Russell Schoengarth keep things moving at a steady pace. Can’t wait to see this in high-definition. Highly recommended.

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