'How The West Was Won' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Josh's review of 'How the West Was Won' has been posted. He says it's more of a historical curiosity than a genuine piece of entertainment. Still, this Blu-ray restoration really serves the material and its merits well. Recommended for film buffs and Western fans. You know who you are.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/437/...estwaswon.html

[rmoody]

Can't thank you enough for putting up with Warner and reviewing this. I would have liked for you to have talked more on how Cinerama defined what we see today in movies. But, that's ok. I agree with how you scored the movie completely. Thanks again, as a big time western and movie buff in general, I loved the history of this movie and what is means to me as a modern movie fan. I hope to one day be able to see the last remaining Cinerama theater in North America in Seattle, WA.

Great review, really awesome work. Thanks again!

[joeymac]

You know some one has a curved white wall and is going to aim their projector at it. That would be a very cool experiment.

[Arkadin]

nice to see this finally get reviewed.
I understand the problems with Warner getting out screener copies was the problem, and it is most unfortunate that more people won't likely get excited about this absolutely amazing Blu-ray now that so much time has passed and the biggies--i.e. "Iron man", etc are all coming out now.
Hopefully people will find the time to get this after blowing all their money on all the other great releases coming out this fall.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by joeymac

You know some one has a curved white wall and is going to aim their projector at it. That would be a very cool experiment.

A number of home theater companies market curved front projector screens.

Smilebox is a simulated curve meant for viewing on a flat screen. I don't think it would work properly on a real curved screen. I'd expect to see too much distortion. The Letterbox transfer is probably a better option for projecting onto a real curved screen.

[Blu-Balls]

I don't agree with the PQ rating at all.

The movie is from 1962 and the PQ is absolutely breath-taking.

There is more detail in most scenes throughout this movie than there are for movies filmed and released in 2008!

[gene9p]

I'm going to check it out using my panny plasma and also on my infocus projector.....should be fun..I'm a big fan of this movie having first seen it as a kid on the big cinereama screen in manhattan

[joeymac]

Originally Posted by Josh Z

A number of home theater companies market curved front projector screens.

Smilebox is a simulated curve meant for viewing on a flat screen. I don't think it would work properly on a real curved screen. I'd expect to see too much distortion. The Letterbox transfer is probably a better option for projecting onto a real curved screen.

Interesting.. those curved screens are only gentle though aren't they? So they perfectly account for the curve of the projectors lens? But there must be a shape of screen you could jig together which does fit the distortion of the "smileboxing".... Of course there would be major focus issues if you were using a single projector. But the 3D effect if you got it right would be pretty cool.

[bluskiessmingatme]

Originally Posted by Attebery

Josh's review of 'How the West Was Won' has been posted. He says it's more of a historical curiosity than a genuine piece of entertainment. Still, this Blu-ray restoration really serves the material and its merits well. Recommended for film buffs and Western fans. You know who you are.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/437/...estwaswon.html

I would never, NEVER!, call HTWWW "more of a historical curiousity than a genuine piece of entertainment." That is really going to turn off a lot of people from even seeing this marvellous film and the Blu-ray edition. It is great entertainment. Calling it a "historical curiousity" would be like saying that "Ben-Hur might have been interesting in its time but its race pales greatly in excitement compared to that of something like "Gone in 60 Seconds" (have never seen GI60S, but assume it has a race).

Also, I believe the PQ to be a 5.

[Blu-Dude1976]

I kinda regret buying this one, the picture was great and all, but the movie didn't really start cooking until Eli Wallach showed up about 2 hours in! The romances didn't really work either.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by bluskiessmingatme

I would never, NEVER!, call HTWWW "more of a historical curiousity than a genuine piece of entertainment." That is really going to turn off a lot of people from even seeing this marvellous film and the Blu-ray edition. It is great entertainment. Calling it a "historical curiousity" would be like saying that "Ben-Hur might have been interesting in its time but its race pales greatly in excitement compared to that of something like "Gone in 60 Seconds" (have never seen GI60S, but assume it has a race).

There were many, many, many better Westerns than HWWW made prior to 1962.

Also, I believe the PQ to be a 5.

I'm very stingy with 5 star scores for video. 4 stars is still a very high score.

[rmoody]

Originally Posted by gene9p

I'm going to check it out using my panny plasma and also on my infocus projector.....should be fun..I'm a big fan of this movie having first seen it as a kid on the big cinereama screen in manhattan

Wow, just wow I am jealous. Do you remember what it was like? Tell all! Also, what aircraft is that in your avitar (off topic I know).

Originally Posted by Josh Z

There were many, many, many better Westerns than HWWW made prior to 1962.

I'm very stingy with 5 star scores for video. 4 stars is still a very high score.

Agreed on point 1 and as for point two...that's your opinion and all and I am cool with that and respect your reservation of the coveted 5 star rating. I thought the PQ was just awesome!

[bluskiessmingatme]

Originally Posted by Josh Z

There were many, many, many better Westerns than HWWW made prior to 1962.

I know that, but HTWWW is still great entertainment. Wild river rafting, buffalo stampedes, Indian chases, etc. Not exactly dry stuff.

Well, whatever, HTWWW is still one of my best pics for Blu for 2008.

[A M]

I saw this movie in three strip cinerama at the Cinerama Dome in a brand new print. I was gonna buy the blu ray but ultimately decided not to. Until you see it in three strip, there is no way to recreate the grandeur of the format. Even though I have seen standard 35mm Panavision movies on the same screen, it does not have the same impact.

In addition to being three strips of film, each one is exposed 6 perfs high (as opposed to 3-4 perfs for standard movies). That much film grain creates an image with a great deal of presence. It is not even so much clarity. as much as it somehow on a very subtle and almost subliminal level makes the whole image feel much more massive and immersive.

That feeling disappears completely in home video. I have a 50" HDTV, and feel it would even disappear in a 100" screen. Or even if the blu ray was projected at the Cinerama Dome. I don't ever want to see this film again in any way other than three strip cinerama. But that is just my opinion.

[MNTWISTER]

Josh, while I agree with you on the image on the disc (though I would have rated the picture a 5) but the sound, while maybe unspectacular to you, is definitly a 5 in my opinion. I never felt that comparing soundtracks of classic films from the 50's and 60's with today's recordings was fair, and while you don't really do that, too many reviewers do not consider what the quality of one soundtrack from the 50's is when comparing them to others from the same era. How the West was Won's soundtrack in a revalation in movie sound of the era. The clarity, separation and fidelity of the sound, plus using the older positioned microphones, in my opinion, sound better than many of today's mixes using 24 track digital recorders, and give the feel of the orchestra in front of you, without the added equalizing. The fact that the Dolby True soundtrack on the disc gives us the exact sound of the master, I believe this to be the best film to video transfer so far, especially of any soundtrack.

I wrote a column on the making of the movie and what went into recording the soundtrack, about Cinerama and the process used to restore the film for this video release, you can read it here:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...gel093008.html