Movie Reviews for The Quiet Man (Collector's Edition)

The Quiet Man (Collector's Edition)

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Movie Reviews of The Quiet Man (Collector's Edition)

Movie Review: The Quiet Man
Summary: 5 Stars

Another great movie by John Wayne and John Ford, what a pair and the cast was great and unforgetable

Movie Review: Great flick, poor video -- but still worth a try
Summary: 3 Stars

This raucously tongue-in-cheek, grand old movie has survived for what seems an eternity. The performances are so wonderful that every moment outshines a great many other classic films. So it seems a shame that I can't give TQM the 5 stars it deserves. But Artisan's Classic Edition DVD has far too many visual transgressions. The gorgeous bursts of color that won an Oscar for the 1952 release are almost totally absent in this third-rate digital print. The jacket blurb claims this is a "remastered" version; in fact it looks as if it were played on a cheap VCR; blurry, too dark (almost grimy and gritty at times), with no shadow detail whatever, color registration problems, badly oversaturated reds and blues, obvious flicker (odd for a "remastered" print), and with noise and digital artifacts galore. The blur and noise extend even into many segments of the added features. Looks out of focus on a good CRT monitor, and extremely annoying on highend LCD sets. On cheaper gear, it's nearly unviewable. I've seen comments in Amazon reviews saying that this edition looks better than earlier ones. Not true -- visually, they're all the same. On top of that, I have always had a problem with some oddities of John Ford's sense of humor: two big guys blasting each other with bare fists for the better part of an Irish afternoon isn't very funny, IMHO. In real life, these two would have spent a year in an IC ward recovering from wounds. It's likely that TQM will be one of many memorable films, like "The African Queen", that may never be seen in its original Technicolor glory. But it's to the movie's credit that despite the poor print, it remains an exceptional cinematic experience. The acting is superb in every way; Barry Fitzgerald and Ward Bond steal every scene they're in. Victor Young's music is beautiful, and the audio has the sweep and sweetness that I rememeber from 1952. Now, if only someone could give us a true and more conscientiouse visual restoration . . .