The place: World War II Burma. The mission: Drive a fatal wedge between an enemy linkup. The troops: the 5307th Composite Unit, led by Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill (Jeff Chandler) and manned by Stock (Ty Hardin), Chowhound (Will Hutchins), Kolowicz (Claude Akins) and other young dogfaces who, after a few weeks of basic training, have the fate of the world loaded on their backs. Maverick director Samuel Fuller, whose later The Big Red One is a benchmark work about GIs in World War II’s European theater, turned to the war in the Pacific for Merrill’s Marauders. Few moviemakers capture life among the grunts as well as Fuller. He brings you up close and personal to the intense, gritty heroics of our World War II combat veterans.

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Video Quality

Warner Archive presents Merrill’s Marauders with a gorgeous 1080p master transfer released in 2019 in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio sourced from a new HD master created at the time. It would appear the Original Camera Negative was not available for this release, but viewers would be hard-pressed to spot the difference given the dynamite effort from the label. The film showcases no serious signs of wear and tear or debris. At worst, you get the expected softness during optical transitions that film fans know cannot be avoided.

There are not any unwanted digital fumbles such as compression artifacts, banding, or any other such issues. The colors of the environments are so striking at times that you nearly forget the characters are traversing through a warzone. Each hue is perfectly saturated in an ideal fashion. Black levels are deep with impeccable stability throughout. Detail and clarity are beyond reproach with the sumptuous natural film grain intact and resolved consistently. Warner Archive always puts their best foot forward.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that represents this one effectively. The score from Howard Jackson is used perfectly to settle you into this war epic filled with simmering emotions. Even when it is particularly active, it does not step on any important dialogue or background noises. There is quite a bit of chatter between the soldiers as they commiserate about their situations, but things kick into gear in your speakers when combat commences. There is no obvious age-related wear and tear to the track such as drop-outs, hissing, or popping. Warner Archive has made this audio presentation sing. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included for the feature film.

Special Features

Theatrical Trailer: A nearly four-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Merrill’s Marauders is an engaging war picture from Samuel Fuller that was impacted by studio interference. Nevertheless, the talent on both sides of the camera was so strong that the picture still resonates as something well worth your time. You understand the futility of war as you read the exhaustion on the faces of the soldiers and hear commands from above sending them to the slaughter. The performances are quite strong among the ensemble with the consistently underrated Jeff Chandler navigating this tricky character with grace. It is not perfect, but fans of the genre will find much to appreciate here. Warner Archive has released Blu-Ray featuring a wonderful A/V presentation but not much in the way of special features. Fans of war films should not overlook this one. Recommended

Merrill’s Marauders 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.