Wonderful Film - Be Careful Which DVD Edition You Get
*****5 stars for the film
Haunted by an incident that happened in the ring, American boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns to his Irish birthplace, seeking only his roots and a quiet, peaceful life.
He soon falls in love with the beautiful, tempestuous Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara). She is equally taken with him, but won't marry without the consent of her stubborn, blustering brother, Will (Victor McLaglen), who disapproves the match.
With the help of a well-intentioned scheme arranged by their friends, Mary Kate gets her brother's permission and Sean and she wed. Relationships spoil soon after, however, when Will refuses to pay the rightful dowry. Sean doesn't care, but Mary Kate is outraged and wants Sean to have it out with Will.
Time and again Sean backs down - determined not to use his fists - his inner tension building the whole while. But eventually he will have to decide between losing his wife's love and respect and facing his...
Crushing disappointment
I will not, as some feel necessary, go over the story/characters/performances of this film. Suffice to say, this is one the most enjoyable films ever made, blarney or not.
Rather, what I would like to briefly comment on is the utterly pathetic transfer of this classic film to DVD. It states quite clearly on the back of the cover that this film has been digitally remastered. I took that to mean both video and audio. WRONG. The picture quality of this DVD is shocking, one of the worst I have ever seen. Believe me when I say this -- the VHS version I purchased in 1991 has a better video clarity than this. At times it's actually difficult to make out the actors features. The company behind this, ARTISAN I believe they are called, should be ashamed. I have a copy of the recently released and remastered CASABLANCA DVD. That film was made in 1942, yet it looks as if it was just made, such is the sharpness of the video. The Quiet Man deserved the same treatment, but didn't get it...
Terrible DVD Transfer
i hate giving a classic a 1 star rating. the movie is nothing less than 5. but the dvd transfer is pathetic. i've seen better 2nd generation VHS to DVD transfers than this. what was the distributor thinking when they allowed this to be distributed to the public?? did they even bother to review the final product before its release? there's no excuse for this with todays movie restoration technology. hopefully we will see this movie re-released by a company who cares about art.
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