Any Ranch That You Can See on Foot Just Isn’t Worth Looking At

by Tony Dayoub

When discussing movies that must be seen on a big screen, old standbys that usually come to mind are Jacques Tati’s Playtime, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and even Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, just released on Blu-ray. One that you rarely hear about is William Wyler’s 1958 epic, The Big Country. Shot in Technirama, Technicolor’s higher-resolution alternative to the CinemaScope process, The Big Country really pushes the limits of pioneer cinematographer Franz F. Planer’s expansive photography. Characters are often dwarfed by the California locations, which are as vast as the film’s title and storyline.

Contender for 2011's Best Looking Blu-ray Is Also the Year's Best Kept Secret

by Tony Dayoub

Besides running my review of the new indie, Beginners, a film I'm sure will end up on my year-end top 10 list, this issue of Nomad Editions Wide Screen also contains my weekly column, DVDs of the Moment. This week, I have the pleasure of discussing the new Blu-ray release of an epic western that has quickly become one of my all-time favorite movies, William Wyler's The Big Country (1958).

Featuring an all-star cast that includes Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Carroll Baker, Burl Ives, and Chuck Connors, this shot-in Technirama film is made for high definition, as Jeffrey Wells rather dramatically discusses in his post today at Hollywood Elsewhere. Some may find the fact that it is currently only available online through Wal-Mart, a drawback. But, at just under $10, it is a steal, especially considering that it is a remarkable upgrade from its 2001 DVD release. Though light on extras, there are a few new special features included in the Blu-ray release. More importantly, though, is the fact that the disc's gorgeous transfer is off of the 2007 Academy Restoration.

I've been watching many a classic Blu-ray since I began writing the DVD column, more so because 2011 has turned out to be a watershed year in terms of the number of Blu-ray catalog releases. And I can safely say that along with Paramount's The Ten Commandments (1956) and Warner Archive's remastered The Boy Friend (1971), Fox/MGM's The Big Country is a strong contender for best looking DVD of the year. Sure, the movie rehashes some elements of Wyler's own 1938 "southern," Jezebel (haughty, self-involved heiress irritates her noble fiance enough for him to call their wedding off; climactic pistol duel), but between Franz F. Planer's cinematography, Jerome Moross's Oscar-nominated score, and Heston being Heston (Wyler directed him in Ben-Hur the following year), this movie has a lot to offer tastes both high and low. Why don't you read why I love this movie and its new Blu-ray release?

CONTINUE READING AT NOMAD EDITIONS: WIDE SCREEN

Jean Simmons

by Tony Dayoub

A striking British beauty with a melodic voice, Jean Simmons classic performance style made her a shoo-in for roles with a theatrical quality. So it is ironic that though she had some brief stage and dance experience, she never had the opportunity to study extensively in the theater. She was discovered just after starting dance school in her teens. And when no less than Laurence Olivier invited her to study with the Bristol Old Vic theater company, she had to refuse because the Rank Organisation had her under contract.


This did not preclude her from giving us a memorable exotic dance sequence as the sexually precocious Kanchi in Black Narcissus (1947) or undertaking the pivotal role of Ophelia opposite Olivier in his Hamlet film adaptation a year later, a performance for which she would receive an Oscar nomination. In fact, roles that originated on the stage were an easy fit for her, as she would prove opposite Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra in 1955's Guys and Dolls based on Frank Loesser's Broadway musical.

Indeed, she could be counted on for any role that called for a touch of theatricality, whether it be in Biblical epics like, The Robe (1953) and its sequel, in William Wyler's western The Big Country (1958), as the slave girl Varinia opposite Kirk Douglas in the sword-and-sandal epic Spartacus (1960), or as the religious zealot Sister Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry (1960), directed by her future husband Richard Brooks (she had been married once before to actor Stewart Granger).

As the Method came into vogue, Simmons moved away from films to TV where she would parlay her style into scene-stealing turns in The Thorn Birds (1983), North and South (1985), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991), and the Dark Shadows remake (1991).

She died yesterday, just 9 days shy of her 81st birthday.

Recommended Films - Black Narcissus, Hamlet, Guys and Dolls, The Big Country, Elmer Gantry,Spartacus