Screen legends Alan Ladd (Lucky Jordan, Shane) and Deborah Kerr (From Here to Eternity, The King and I) give sterling performances in the romantic war drama, Thunder in the East. In the mountainous Indian province of Ghandahar, 1947, shortly after the country has gained its independence, American gunrunner Steve Gibbs (Ladd) finds himself caught in a raging rebel conflict when he is unable to sell his arms to a peace-minded government official (Charles Boyer, A Woman’s Vengeance). Amidst it all, Steve falls in love with the beautiful and blind Englishwoman, Joan Willoughby (Kerr). Action and romance crescendo in a gun-blazing climax as an army of rebels lays siege to Ghandahar, ensnaring the two lovers. Rousingly directed by Charles Vidor (Gilda, A Farewell to Arms) and co-starring Corinne Calvet (Peking Express) and Cecil Kellaway (Unconquered).

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Video Quality

Thunder in the East makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with a brand new 1080p transfer from a 4K scan courtesy of Paramount conducted in 2022. We have had some issues with other recent Paramount-handled releases from Kino in terms of presentations looking overly smooth to the point of suspecting DNR had been taken too far. Those discs may have more of a “brand new” look than Thunder in the East, but this release looks much more natural to our eyes. The presentation has a softer appearance at times and intermittent speckling to the print, but most elements appear organic. There is no doubt that this has been cleaned up, yet thankfully some thought was put into it.

The comely black-and-white photography retains some texture within the production design and costumes. The new transfer also captures the depth within the film’s composition. Black levels are decent with no egregious occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is capably defined, and the track seldom experiences flicker or density fluctuation in the print. Kino Classics has done a good job with this one that could have easily suffered the fate of other weaker releases.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a faithful DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie well enough. There are quite a few thrilling sequences throughout the journey, but the dialogue can be understood even during the more chaotic developments. This track presents a slight amount of age-related wear and tear and some faint hissing, but it is not a persistent issue. Dialogue and background elements are balanced with all competing elements. The score is largely robust with occasional signs of strain, which likely can be attributed to the age of the source elements. Thankfully, this does not clip the dialogue or other important information. Kino Classics has provided a good presentation. There are optional English SDH subtitles included for the feature film.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Costume Historian Elissa Rose deliver a great commentary track in which they discuss where this fits into the career of Charles Vidor, the background of the ensemble players, the score of the picture, the special effects work, how this compares to the original source material, some of the problematic elements, and many other topics.

Trailers: There is a two-and-a-half-minute trailer provided for Thunder in the East. This disc also provides trailers for Lucky Jordan, China, Calcutta, O.S.S., Chicago Deadline, The Chalk Garden, A Woman’s Vengeance, and Back Street (1941).

Final Thoughts

Thunder in the East is a pretty solid war drama that attempts to bring an engaging personal element to the story. It mostly succeeds in this respect, largely thanks to the charm of Deborah Kerr, but there are several dated elements that make it take a step back. The film is never boring throughout its swift runtime, but the melodrama might be too much for some audiences. Kino Classics has delivered a Blu-Ray release that sports a solid A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. If anything about this intrigues you, it is worth a viewing. Recommended

Thunder in the East will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray on May 14, 2024.

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.