'Hondo' is coming June 5

[Landy]

More John Wayne!

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/6449/hondo.html

[dommie]

Great news. Didn't expect to see this on Blu anytime soon. Keep more classic Wayne coming. The Quiet Man, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Red River to name a few.

[indy197905]

This was originally a 3-D movie but sadly it doesn't look like it's being released in 3-D

[Mr.btk]

I believe Hondo was the only John Wayne movie released in 3d? With so many movies now out in 3d and televison manufacters pushing 3d televisons you would think they would release this in 3d to cash in on the latest fad! I also have heard that it was released in standard 2d in most theaters back then due to the fact that not many theaters could properly show 3d movies.My guess is the original
3d master no longer exists or is in such poor shape that it could not be used for release on blu ray without paramount spending big $$$!I remember one of our local tv stations
back in the early 70's showing Hondo in 3d and that you had to go to certain sponsers to pick up the special 3d glasses!From what I remember the movie was in rough shape and suffered badly from all kinds of dirty specs,hairlines etc.! I also remember several times when they had to stop the film because it was jittering so much during certain parts of the movie that they had to try and fix the problem!The only real 3d effect I remember in that movie was when John wayne punched somebody and I ducked because I really thought the duke was going to hit me!So many people were calling in complaining that the picture did not look right that they put on the bottom of the screen that this movie is in 3d and requires special glasses that were given out free!Needless to say they never showed another 3d movie again on that station! So in closing to me any release of this moive 3d or not is fine with me as I plan to buy all of the Duke's movies on Blu ray or HD anyway!

[dommie]

The film had a number of shots done specifically for the 3D of the day. At the open of the film, Wayne (or his stunt double) rides straight up to the camera and his horse jumps over the camera, disappearing at the top of the frame. Midway through the film, there is a knife fight with an indian and there are a few shots of both men stabbing directly at the camera.

After Wayne's death in 1979, I remember a single viewing of the film on an early pay TV system in LA known as On TV. After that, the film was locked up, and unavailable, for many years by the Wayne estate, along with a few of his other films (i.e. High and the Mighty, McLintock, Island in the Sky) although there was a bad print of McLintock floating around during the early days of VHS. In the late 90's the estate released their pristine prints of the film for release on VHS. The print of Hondo was a 2D version and it is my guess that, as has been mentioned here, there is no decent 3D print around anymore.

[uc7]

The 3D version was on TV in 1991. I think I may still have it on VHS.
They ended up restoring the movie for DVD, but anaglyphic 3D wasn't all that popular and I bet they didn't even give 3D restoration much of a thought.
It's too bad. An older 3D conversion from anaglyphic to polarized would be a lot of fun. Even if a great print existed, I'm not sure that the studio would be willing to put in the work.