The Far Country (1954)
Western • 1h 37m
Director: Anthony Mann
Cast: James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan, John McIntire, Jay C. Flippen, Harry Morgan, Steve Brodie, Connie Gilchrist, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, Royal Dano, Jack Elam, Kathleen Freeman, Connie Van, Emile Avery, Al Bain, John Barton, Gregg Barton, Arthur Berkeley, Robert Bice, Eugene Borden, Rudy Bowman, Chet Brandenburg, Andy Brennan, Paul Bryar, Jess Cavin, Martin Cichy, Bud Cokes, Tom Coleman, Roy Damron, George DeNormand, Dick Dickinson, James Dime, John Doucette, Tex Driscoll, Billy Engle, Angeline Engler, Robert Foulk, Terry Frost, Joe Garcio, Slim Gaut, Helen Gereghty, Rudy Germane, Herman Hack, John Halloran, Chuck Hamilton, Chick Hannan, Carl Harbaugh, Don C. Harvey, Chester Hayes, Gina Holland, Jimmie Horan, George Huggins, Dave Kashner, Jack Kenny, Donald Kerr, Ethan Laidlaw, Mike Lally, Richard LaMarr, Walter Lawrence, Cactus Mack, John Mackin, Ted Mapes, Russell Meeker, Frank Mills, Charles Morton, Forbes Murray, Anton Northpole, William H. O'Brien, Damian O'Flynn, Eddie Parker, Jack Perrin, Jack Perry, Stuart Randall, Allan Ray, Ford Raymond, John Rice, Chuck Roberson, Victor Romito, Paul Savage, Jeffrey Sayre, Rube Schaffer, Cap Somers, Marjorie Stapp, Brick Sullivan, Dick Taylor, Harry Tenbrook, Jack Tornek, Dale Van Sickel, Eddy Waller, Joe Walls, Fred Walton, Guy Wilkerson, Chalky Williams, Jack Williams, William J. Williams, Henry Wills, Harry Wilson
Arrow Video Blu-ray
Video format
Best English-friendly & video release · updated today
Overview
During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Canadian town.
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Olive Blu-ray
Barebones Olive BD of a Paramount HD master. Visually it's solid overall with some moments of great clarity, primarily in the big outdoor and aviation sequences. Otherwise it shows its age.
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Arrow Video Blu-ray
Arrow's deluxe presentation is a fantastic package with great supplements, art and printed materials. Sadly the master is a heavily processed Paramount affair. It has seemingly been severely grain managed and the mono audio is horribly thin when it shouldn't be. Stereo and 5.1 options are also given but they seem to be more of home video remixes. They do not have the fidelity issue of the compromised mono but also show marked differences as if they were remixed from stem sources. This seems to have suffered lesser degrees of the problems that plagued The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance's 4K master. This is the best version to date but one wishes Paramount could leave scans alone.
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
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
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Eureka MOC Blu-ray
The film only exists in MGM letterbox masters and the HD version upgrades the DVD presentation. Sadly the film still needs a modern restoration and a better audio source. The master holds up very well today regardless and has a very natural appearance. The Eureka BD is far superior to the Kino in encode and extras making it easily the only version to consider.
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Criterion Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Blu-ray upgrade removes the pictureboxing of their old DVD transfer. New HD discussion extra added to the DVD supplements package and reprints the rare out of print source novel as a paperback.
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Shout Factory Blu-ray
Shout's BD has both cuts of the film in addition to the 3.0 stereo and 2.0 mono mixes making it the first time the full theatrical cut is available with the 3.0 mix. The new commentary is good. The 3.0 stereo sounds wonderful and the mono sounds solid.
That's where the positives end. This is the same terrible Universal DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc with a terrible encode making both versions share the disc separately taking up more space. This master was already poor for DVD and is nearly unwatchable here on the Shout disc. It looks virtually identical to the upscaled DVD most of the time with only a bit less noise due to it being 1080p. This is one of the most appalling cases of "DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc" you can possibly find. Absolutely shameful video presentation. This should have never been released this way. Sadly it's still ever so slightly better than the DVD and the only way you get the proper theatrical cut with lossless 3.0 stereo. This is still the best source we have for the film.
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
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 BD 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 BD 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: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
More Western on Blu-ray
Director: James Neilson
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
2003 Universal DVD
The Universal HD master is appalling. This is a large format early Technirama film that has been hit with a massive amount of DNR resulting in a smeary appearance throughout with little detail. On one hand it is still a better scan than the old DVD with better color and element issues addressed. On the other it is barely above the DVD upscaled in other moments. The mono audio has been horribly processed to sound thin, canned and lacking in overall fidelity. The DVD clearly uses the same source element for picture and sound and here the sound is left alone. It sounds miles better. The Kino BD is technically the best US release but this master has been released in Europe where it likely has better encoding. The Kino BD adds a basic commentary. This film needs a proper transfer and audio presentation desperately. The HD master is so lackluster that the DVD despite its age is arguably preferable in visuals and certainly far superior in audio.
Undercrank Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents Blu-ray
Director: George Pal
Sources: mega.nz (opens in a new tab)
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
TV series
Original TV Version: Japan LaserDisc, US OOP Bandai DVD for English dub
"Remix" Remaster: Italy Dynit Blu-ray, US Funimation/Crunchyroll Blu-ray for English dub
The "Remix" remaster has slightly different cuts for some episodes, and completely redone audio mixes. The original TV version of the English dub also has an entirely different audio mix from either the Japanese mix or the "Remix" remaster.
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