A guitar-picking good ol’ boy. A clean-cut all-American. A Navajo. A bookworm. A lumberjack. A slum kid. All enter Marine boot camp to be trained, hardened and ready to answer their country’s Battle Cry. Scripted by Leon M. Uris from his own novel, directed by action master Raoul Walsh and starring a who’s who of ’50s movie stars, Battle Cry is an epic ode to World War II Marine heroism and homefront sacrifice, a saga following recruits from boot camp to a New Zealand base of operations to the war they knew would someday come their way: the bloody invasion of Saipan. Enlist now alongside the fighting men and stalwart women of Battle Cry for boisterous tenderness and gung-ho excitement.
For thoughts on Battle Cry, please check out my thoughts on No Streaming Required:
Video Quality
Warner Archive provided Battle Cry with a worthwhile 1080p master transfer in 2.55:1 when it was released in 2017 from presumably a 2K scan of the Interpositive, but we cannot find confirmation of this. No matter how the master was created, Warner Archive gave the movie a noble second life on disc. The colors exhibited within the uniforms and environments are bold and vibrant. Highlights are tame during the runtime and black levels are deep.
The film is ostensibly free of imperfections with no egregious instances of damage or dirt detected. The pleasing natural film grain brings out valuable detail within the cinematography. The optical dissolves have inherent limitations, but otherwise, this transfer maintains an ideal level of clarity. Compression artifacts, banding, and other such nuisances do not appear as an issue in this transfer. Warner Archive has delivered the goods.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a spacious DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that makes this one feel as epic as it should. Dialogue and environmental sounds are harmonious with the music so everything has the utmost presence. Exchanges come through crisp and clear with no elements stealing focus. The more action-forward moments are handled well and wake up the track considerably. The score from Max Steiner saturates the room with excellent fidelity. There is no outrageous age-related wear and tear to the track such as hissing, dropouts, or popping. Warner Archive always seems to do a nice job with its war pictures. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included for the feature film.
Special Features
- Theatrical Trailer (4:02)
Final Thoughts
Battle Cry is a war picture that takes the time to immerse you into the lives of the men destined for the battlefield, and the story is all the more effective for it. Those who come to this genre for big action sequences may walk away somewhat disappointed by the relatively minor amount of combat, but those who want to feel more emotionally connected to what they are seeing on screen will be duly rewarded. Raoul Walsh always brings something fresh to the genre, and his work here is pretty great. Warner Archive has released a Blu-Ray that sports a sterling A/V presentation but essentially nothing in the way of special features. Recommended
Battle Cry can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
