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Click above to purchase "How The West Was Won" at amazon.com
How The West Was Won
review by Eric Dahl
Rated G
Studio: MGM
Running Time: 155 Minutes
Starring Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda,
Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard,
Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach,
John Wayne, Richard Widmark
Written by James R. Webb
Directed by Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George
Marshall
Retail Price: $19.98
Features: Behind-The-Scenes Documentary "The Making of
How The West Was Won", Theatrical Trailer
Specs: 2.35:1 Non-Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Surround Stereo, French Dolby Surround Stereo, English
Subtitles, French Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, Chapter
Search (32 Chapters)
Now, let's, for a second, take the time-travelling
Delorean back to the year of 1953. The old practice of going
to the movies was quickly being killed by an invention
called television, and the movie-moguls needed something to
get people back into the theater seats. Well, thus with a
film called "The Robe", the process of filming and
projecting a "wide-screen" image was first really
effectively put to use. The image, approximately 2.55 times
wider than it was tall, shocked audiences with it's
beautiful panoramic views. Hollywood has continued filming
and projecting in widescreen ever since. Now, the typical
theatrical aspect ratio is commonly divided between two
types: A "scope" film is 2.35 times taller than it is wide,
and a "spherical" film is 1.85 times taller than it is wide.
We rewind in time yet again to the year right before "The
Robe" was released: 1952. A new film format is just about to
be released. This format is called Cinerama. The Cinerama
image, even topping the gargantuan aspect ratio of "The
Robe", is 2.75 times wider than it is tall. Using a
three-camera filming process, the format can capture a
viewing field of about 150 degrees. That's practically your
entire peripheral vision from left to right. Projected with
3-projectors on a highly curved screen, the format,
depending on where you sat in the theater, would give you an
completely enveloping sense of being "inside the movie".
This, along with the then unheard of 7 track surround sound
system that it used, made Cinerama a reason to switch off
the TV, and make going to the movies the "event" that it
used to be. Flash forward 10 years. Cinerama's novelty has
started to wear off, as it is being used for mostly
travelogues (as our IMAX system is pretty much devoted to
right now) and something is needed to bring the masses
flocking back in.
Cue "How The West Was Won".
The film, with an unbelievable cast of all-stars, and
three directors (among them, the legendary John Ford) is
released. This is the first time that Cinerama is used to
actually "tell a story", and it is pulled off with a
resounding BANG. The film, with a budget of $12 million is a
success with $50 million taken in worldwide. It is also the
winner of three Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, Best
Film Editing, and Best Sound. Now, I know you're saying
"Enough backstory, I just wanna know how good the movie
is.". Well, here you go:
"How The West Was Won" can only be summed up in one word.
Well, maybe a couple of hyphenated words. These would be:
"could-this-possibly-be-any-more-epic"? The story of three
generations of a family, moving to the West while it was
still a raw, uncivilized place was, in my opinion, perfect
for Cinerama's "larger-than-life" technique. Now, I'm too
young to remember any real Cinerama theaters being operated,
although there is a restored one in Seattle, Washington,
which is 2 hours away from me, so I can only dream at how
amazingly awesome this movie would be in a real Cinerama
experience.
Anyway, it's the 1800s, and sisters Eve Prescott (Caroll
Baker) and Lily Prescott (Debbie Reynolds) are travelling
westward with their families, who are looking to build a
farm in "the virgin land of the west". This is pretty much
the story of them. Throughout the course of the story, Eve
falls in love with a mountain man (played by the always
wonderful Jimmy Stewart) named Linus Rawlings and Lily finds
love in a seemingly heartless, money-grubbing gambler
(Gregory Peck). The story alternates between the two, with
each having their fair share of subplots, and then even
continues a generation from there to Eve's children,
focusing on her son (George Peppard) who joins the Civil War
to fight for the Union side. There, John Wayne and Harry
Morgan can be found portraying Generals William Tecumseh
Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant respectively. Now, I won't go
into the multitude of other very famous people who show up
in the film, because I think it's more fun not knowing and
feeling your jaw drop lower and lower with every familiar
face that you recognize.
The acting and the script are great, the story is pulled
off fantastically, and the film at approx. 155 minutes only
lagged for me in a couple of short places, but that's
probably due to the complete exhaustion which I had prior to
watching the film. Your mileage may vary. After years of
catching only bits and pieces of it, when I finally sat down
and watched it all the way through, I thoroughly enjoyed the
film, and am glad to have it as a part of my DVD library.
"How The West Was Won", presented here in non-anamorphic
2.35:1 widescreen, in my opinion, has somewhat of a poor
transfer. First off, the film, shot in Cinerama's extreme
aspect ratio of 2.75:1, has been cropped here, like it was
for normal theatrical engagements, to the aspect ratio of
2.35:1. This means a loss of about 15% of the picture that
was seen in the Cinerama version of the film. Occasionally,
you can tell because someone is half cropped off the side of
the frame. Another problem, although unsolvable, that I have
with the picture is that, because of Cinerama's 3-camera
projection system, there were always two vertical lines
about 2/3 of the way across the picture on both the left and
right sides of the screen when it was shown in the theater.
The trick was always to keep all 3 projectors aligned
perfectly, or the illusion of the enveloping picture was
lost. The 2 lines where the alignment took place are on the
DVD transfer, too. It's not really all that grating or
annoying, but it does take some getting used to. You'd think
that in this day and age of digital restoration, someone
could go in and digitally erase the lines connecting the 3
sections of picture, but alas it hasn't been done yet. Other
than that, the film's colors are good, with nothing too
washed out, but occasionally, there are some color shade
differences between the three frames: yet another thing that
could be fixed with a proper restoration. The blacks are
solid and good, and nothing is too sharp or too soft. Yet
another problem are the almost continuously visible flecks
and white specks which are physical film defects. Now, what
this film needs is a true and thorough restoration:
something which will bring back the potential beauty that I
can see in the picture under all of the film defects. Maybe
it's too late to do anything about it, but if it is at all
possible to restore, this film should get the 5 star
treatment as soon as possible. Until that time, this is the
best that the film is ever going to look, and it's sad,
because it deserves so much more than this.
The audio is another issue involving this disc that
puzzles me. "How The West Was Won", presented in Cinerama,
was utilizing a 7-track surround sound format, and yet this
disc only contains Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Stereo. Why
couldn't they pull the soundtrack from the original film and
put it here? That is another aspect of the presentation that
would be greatly improved with a restoration effort. The
soundstage is limited to the front channels with no rear
surround activity that I could detect. The presentation
would most likely seem center-channel oriented monophonic if
it weren't for Alfred Newman's absolutely beautiful score
which pipes in through the left and right speakers from time
to time, reminding you that you are listening in stereo. The
audio quality isn't even close to being noteworthy, but it
does an adequate job.
Only two extras are to be found here: a short documentary
on the making of the film, and the original theatrical
trailer.
The Behind-The-Scenes Documentary "The Making of 'How
The West Was Won'" is an informative little piece,
clocking in at just over 15 minutes. The documentary opens
with a brief history of the Cinerama process, and then moves
on into how the film was shot and how some of the stunts
were done. Hand-held home camera footage shows first-hand
how some of the stunts were done, and the interviews with a
stuntman from the film are quite interesting. All in all, a
nice extra, but it would have been great if it were a little
longer. This extra was presented in 1.33:1 Non-Anamorphic
Full Screen and Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono.
The other extra, the Theatrical Trailer is just
the preview that was shown before films at the time. It
showcases the films numerous stars, and makes the film look
very enjoyable. This extra was presented in 2.35:1
Non-Anamorphic Widescreen and in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.
Overall, the film is excellent, but the presentation is
quite lacking. This is the best that is probably going to be
available for a long time, so if you're a fan of the film,
definitely get this disc. If you're only looking for
reference quality picture or sound, look elsewhere: you
won't find it here. For the DVDs inexpensive price (retail
is $19.90, but it can be bought in a online or in a store
for $16.99), if you're just looking for a good movie for a
good price and it doesn't matter how it's presented, please
give "How The West Was Won" a shot. If there is enough
interest generated from this title, maybe a restoration
could be in this film's future. I really hope so, because
this is one film that definitely could benefit from such an
undertaking.
 (4/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (2.5/5)
(2.5/5)
 (2/5)
(2.5/5, NOT an average)
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