Boom Town (1940)
Adventure, Drama, Romance, Western • 1h 59m
Director: Jack Conway
Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill, Chill Wills, Marion Martin, Minna Gombell, Joe Yule, Horace Murphy, Marietta Canty, Curt Bois, Richard Lane, George Lessey, Sara Haden, Frank Orth, Charles Coleman, Nell Craig, Byron Foulger, Harry Hayden, Eddy Waller, Roy Gordon, Casey Johnson, Baby Quintanilla, Frank McGlynn Sr., Bess Flowers, Barbara Bedford, Hank Bell, Charles D. Brown, Francis X. Bushman Jr., James Conaty, Dick Curtis, Helen Dickson, James Dime, Eddie Dunn, Franklyn Farnum, Pat Flaherty, Sam Garrett, George Guhl, Frank Hagney, William Halligan, John Hamilton, Tom Hanlon, Holmes Herbert, Howard Hickman, Earle Hodgins, Shep Houghton, Jack Ingram, Sheldon Jett, Robert Emmett Keane, Mitchell Lewis, Tom London, Frank McLure, Carlotta Monti, Philip Morris, John T. Murray, Wedgwood Nowell, Ted Oliver, Nestor Paiva, Milton Parsons, Lee Phelps, Henry Roquemore, Larry Steers, Bert Stevens, William Tannen, Harry Wilson, Tom Wilson, Douglas Wood
Compare the discs
About the film
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil towns to get rich. Betsy comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and losing it all teaches McMasters and Sand the value of personal ties.
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Directors: Cedric Gibbons & Jack Conway
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
More Adventure on Blu-ray
Director: Anthony Mann
Kino Lorber Blu-ray reissue (4K restoration)
Massive picture upgrade as the 4K restoration addresses the massive color fringing that has plagued all previous dated masters. Oddly the titles are a different color now.
4K restoration is a gigantic and essential picture upgrade but only available on the Kino Blu-ray reissue. No UHD has been made or announced by anyone.
Director: Anthony Mann
This is an ancient Universal master of a film in dire need of restoration. This only looks somewhat better than the old Universal DVD upscaled and is clearly the same master. Tons of wear, color fringing and other issues abound. The film is stuck at the theatrical widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 when it was composed for Academy ratio. The proper ratio is only found on the trailer, original VHS master and Region 2 PAL DVD. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is their usual barebones affair except for flawed low res trailer files and a basic commentary. The film's 3.0 stereo mix is intact alongside the more limited mono mix thankfully. The Blu-ray does edge out over the old Universal DVD but that is merely due to it being the same master resolving better in 1080p. This presentation is sadly poor and the film deserves much better.
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: John Huston
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Eureka Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Older DVD or LaserDisc probably even better
All blu-ray releases so far is from the 2010 scan.
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
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