Hollywood legends Irene Dunne (When Tomorrow Comes), Randolph Scott (Western Union) and Dorothy Lamour (My Favorite Brunette) star in High, Wide and Handsome, a rousing musical adventure about a small town that strikes it rich. When their traveling show breaks down in a Pennsylvania village, Doc Watterson (Raymond Walburn, Christmas in July) and his lovely daughter, Sally (Dunne), find a place to stay with aspiring oilman Peter Cortlandt (Scott). All of Peter’s hard work pays off as he and Sally fall in love and he discovers a vein of oil that will make him and all his neighbors wealthy. When a railroad mogul schemes to get the land for himself, the community pulls together to build a pipeline to their dreams. Directed by the great Rouben Mamoulian (Love Me Tonight, The Mark of Zorro) and featuring songs by famed composers Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (Show Boat), this unforgettable classic is a heartfelt story of finding success against all odds.
For thoughts on High, Wide and Handsome, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
[youtube https://youtu.be/8VuXnHIaTrw?t=527]
Video Quality
High, Wide and Handsome makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with a brand new 1080p transfer from a 4K scan by Universal Pictures. This film is over 85 years old, but this presentation holds up decently despite a few flaws remaining even after the remastering process. The new transfer shows off a notable amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. There is a great amount of detail present with textures on the clothing and within the environment.
The gorgeous black-and-white photography shimmers in high definition with natural grain intact. Black levels are passable with no obvious occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is defined fairly well, and the track only experiences fleeting instances of flicker and density fluctuation in the print. A steady supply of stray lines and specks of damage remains, but there has been some care to clean this up a bit. Kino Classics has treated this one pretty well considering its age.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a fair DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie well enough considering its vintage. Music is an important part of this narrative, and the track can sound a bit thin in this regard, which likely dates back to the age of the source elements. The music is balanced well with the dialogue and other important information. Even during the more bustling moments, the dialogue is able to be discerned quite easily. This track does present a decent amount of age-related wear and tear and some faint hissing, but it is not a detrimental issue throughout. This audio presentation sounds as good as it likely can. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Film Historian Eddy Von Mueller delivers a really informative commentary track in which he talks about how this compares to contemporary musicals that started out on the stage, the background of the ensemble players, the music of the picture, the costumes featured in the film, background history on oil in the US and many other topics. This is a well-researched track that is worth checking out.
- Trailers: This disc provides a nearly three-minute trailer for High, Wide and Handsome. There are also trailers provided for Love Me Tonight, The Song of Songs, Supernatural, Pittsburgh and Caught In The Drift.
Final Thoughts
High, Wide and Handsome has some really stunning moments throughout, but the film does not maintain a consistency necessary to coin it a classic. The narrative is very unfocused and lacking depth compared to the quality of talent at the production’s disposal. The ensemble do the best with what they have to work with, and some of the musical moments will stick in your head. The film is entertaining, but it should have been so much better than it is. Kino Classics has delivered a Blu-Ray release that sports a fine A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. If you are a fan of the cast or the director, this release is pleasing.
High, Wide and Handsome is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Kino Classics 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.
