Searchers, The - BLU-RAY Version (1956)

A customer from Belfast , 21/08/2007

Good to see classic western worthy of update and polish on blu-ray. The story as ever a good family story, but the main reason I got it was to see how it loobked in the new format. Result? Visually stunning, really amazing quality picture, surprising how much detail is locked away in the original film stock, almost 3d at times. For me only spolit by slight lip sync problems at times, the first I have encountered playing a blu ray film back on ps3 through Panasonic plasma. Could just be my set-up but only flaw otherwise. Well worth the view.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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* * * This review contains spoilers * * *

sagebirt from Port Talbot [Highly rated reviewer] , 26/01/2008

quite simply one of the greatest american pictures of the twentieth century. With 'the searchers' we are looking at the work of one of the greatest actor/director partnerships of all time. A director in John Ford that inspired fellow greats as Akira Kurosawa, an actor in John Wayne that inspired countless awful comedic impressions and unjustly so in my opinion. One of the most underated actors of our time, wayne takes a almost villainous charcter as Ethan Edwards and makes the audience love him (admittedly at the end of the film when he shows his true colours). Possibly the standout directors of all time in John Ford who gives us the action of the old west but with charcters we can remember indefinately. With so many layers 'the searchers' can appeal to so many different demographs. If you are a film fan you HAVE to watch this film.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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A customer from York , 27/01/2008

I quite enjoyed the movie despite it not being the sort of thing I'd usually watch. I'd never watched a John Wayne movie before but thought I'd give it a go to see how well it made the move to Blu-Ray.

The acting was a little over the top and silly at times, but it's a nice harmless story with a happy ending. Worth watching at least.

I was actually really surprised by how good the picture was considering the age of the source material being over 50 years old. Granted it's not as good as some of the more modern pictures, but it holds up remarkably well. Contrast and colour are consistent throughout. There's several scenes with a good amount of detail in them too. Film grain is visible but it's by no means a bad thing in my opinion. It certainly never detracts from the good points of the image. No visible noise either. Only slight negative would be that blacks got blocked out in a few places. But this may just have been a compromise based on the quality of the source material.

One more thing to note... one of the other reviewers mentioned lip-sync problems...I saw absolutely no hint of lip-sync issues on my setup so I suspect it was an issue with his equipment rather than the Blu-ray movie itself. (I use PS3 + Sony 32D3000)

3 stars for a decent movie and a good quality image.

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chrissym from Norwich [Highly rated reviewer] , 10/04/2008

If you can forgive the old fashioned style acting, the somewhat static camera movement and the corny over done score this film is a real treat. The picture quailty is a marvel to behold. Simply amazing to think watch you are watching was filmed fifty years ago. To be honest it didnt move me at all on an emotion level but it still needs to be seen, ideally on a big screen on Blue Ray. And its also very, very funny in places!

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A customer from Belfast , 21/08/2007

Good to see classic western worthy of update and polish on blu-ray. The story as ever a good family story, but the main reason I got it was to see how it loobked in the new format. Result? Visually stunning, really amazing quality picture, surprising how much detail is locked away in the original film stock, almost 3d at times. For me only spolit by slight lip sync problems at times, the first I have encountered playing a blu ray film back on ps3 through Panasonic plasma. Could just be my set-up but only flaw otherwise. Well worth the view.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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chrissym from Norwich [Highly rated reviewer] , 10/04/2008

If you can forgive the old fashioned style acting, the somewhat static camera movement and the corny over done score this film is a real treat. The picture quailty is a marvel to behold. Simply amazing to think watch you are watching was filmed fifty years ago. To be honest it didnt move me at all on an emotion level but it still needs to be seen, ideally on a big screen on Blue Ray. And its also very, very funny in places!

Read all highest rated reviews