The Searchers – from VistaVision to Blu-Ray
Posted on May 31st, 2008 in General | No Comments »
Kudos to Warner Brothers for their masterful restoration of the John Ford classic The Searchers (1956), starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood. Originally filmed in VistaVision, which used double the amount of film of a standard picture of that era, it has been carefully restored from black-and-white masters. A review at DVDTown.com sings the praises of this Blu-Ray edition:
What can I say? I’m astounded that a 1956 film produced in VistaVision could look so spectacular on Hi-Def and actually be an improvement over all the previous SD releases. If you like this movie, you’ll probably have to own both the ultimate boxed set for all the extras and a Hi-Def version for the sheer pleasure of it. The 1.78:1 aspect ratio fills out the whole widescreen television area, and the 1080p picture (transferred using VC-1 technology) makes the film look 20 years younger. There’s so little grain and so much detail, with great color saturation, that it’s amazing. The box proclaims that the new Hi-Def transfer was made from restored VistaVision, and the effort paid off.
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