 "Battle of the Bulge Blu Ray" | 2009-10-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A258Y38U2GH9B |
| This edition of the movie on Blu-Ray is everything I hoped it would be. It appears to have the full width of the original and the colors are vivid, from the red lapels on the general's overcoat to Robert Shaw's piercing blue eyes. I was surprised at the clarity of the picture for such an old movie. The only problem with that clarity is that the rear- projection shots look really fake ! And I noticed that you can see the multiple studio light reflections in Sgt. Guffy's tank helmet in some scenes. I would strongly recommend this version. Regarding the use of non-authentic armor, ( M-47 and M-24's)the film was shot in Spain and the filmakers use armor currently in the inventory of the host country. The best job I've seen with Tigers was Kelly's Heroes, where they used T-34's mocked up quite convincingly to be Tigers. |
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 "Surprisingly good quality Blu-ray edition. The movie itself, not perfect but a big-budget classic" | 2009-09-27 |
| - Reviewed By avrwc |
Two of the four stars are credited to the Blu-ray edition. For a movie this old, the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and the surprisingly bright and crisp picture, especially on the outdoors scenes should make it an almost mandatory upgrade from the DVD edition.
As for the movie itself... yes we all know that the Battle of the Bulge did in fact take place and that the Germans bet on the bad weather making the US air support near impossible. In fact, they premised their battle plan on bad weather. Strangely, the movie treats us with nearly 2.5 hours of mostly outdoor scenes done under mostly bright, crystal-blue skies after the German general explains that their surprised offensive was made possible by a couple of days of very bad weather. And it's not a low-budget movie, in fact, it was one of the more expensive war movies made in the 60's.
From an acting standpoint, more than Henry Fonda, Telly Savalas or Charles Bronson, this is Robert Shaw's performance. He is believable and, possibly to the chagrin of the producers, he comes pretty close to make the German colonel a rather sympathetic character. All the other first tier actors do a good job but Shaw eclipses them all as the square jawed, intransigent, unforgiving but strangely fascinating German warrior.
For extra features, the Blu edition comes with a contemporary trailer and 2 contemporary featurettes, one of the history of the Battle of the Bulge and the other on the filming of the movie, all three in 'low res'. The bombastic, wide screen, color trailer and the two black and white, 'narrow screen' featurettes I found actually interesting as time capsules of the 60's ways of promoting a 'super-production' of this 'never-seen-before' caliber. For this, the Battle of the Bulge is a keeper. |
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| "Inaccurate historically but highly entertaining" | 2009-08-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2CTWRL4NKAMVL |
| I originally saw this film in 1973 on a black and white television set, and was immediately impressed by its spectular battle scenes, which, after all these years, are still amongst the best ever made, even though they were filmed without the aid of computers, unlike those of today's movies. While the Battle of the Bulge is inauthentic by reenacting a real military campaign with fictional characters and contrived scenes (for example, in truth the German offensive was not halted by the death of their commander and some of his tank crew members in a failed attempt to capture an American fuel dump), it is very enjoyable for those who like Word War II action, or action in general, especially now, in a digitial format. |
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 "One of the funniest war movies ever!" | 2009-07-12 |
| - Reviewed By rjeffb |
Did I say "funny"? Yes, indeed, this movie is often (unintentionally) hilarious - when it isn't being obscenely overblown and tedious, that is. Comedic highlights include:
1. Blatant historical inaccuracy. Now, I'm not talking about the kinds of things that only a history buff would notice (German Panther and Tiger tanks just happen to be re-painted U.S. M-48s...characters shooting heavy machine guns from the hip...officer and NCO paint marks missing from backs of helmets...) but stuff that simply rules out any suspension of disbelief: the entire battle depends upon continuous fog and snow, a point that is continuously and emphatically repeated by numerous characters throughout the entire film...and yet every outdoor shot highlights a crystal blue sky and blazing sun! The director could have at least kept the camera angles low so the audience could imagine that the weather matched the dialog. And exploding artillery rounds routinely wipe out entire squads 50 yards away (see below for associated histronics), while an entire tank turret is blown away and the major Hollywood star inside not only survives but so does his cigar. Apparently, Telly Savalas's contract provided better protection against high explosives than steel armor!
2. Speaking of dialog, another source of humour is the brain-numbingly stupid script, with actors suddenly appearing from stage left, barking a random order like "make sure every shot counts!" before disappearing. A direct forerunner of the repeating gag in "Airplane!" when Leslie Neilson keeps appearing in the cockpit to tell the pilot "We're all counting on you..." Unfortunately, the resulting grins are sure to have long disappeared by the time the film enters its third hour.
3. Inexcusable continuity gaffs, like the close-up of soldiers slapping plastique explosive to an M-48 - ahem, I mean German - tank, cutting to a medium shot and the explosives are now no longer there - but the tank blows up anyway!
4. But the topper, hands down, is the truely awful acting. I'm speak not of the main characters like Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, who do their best with the lines available (although Robert Shaw gets high comedy marks for a bad German accent that comes and gos throughout the movie). I'm talking about the bit players and extras. Every exploding round results in every nearby extra dying by simulataneously throwing their arms up and taking a high-divingboard leap...
...or maybe they were just surrendering to the script and ducking for cover! |
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| "older movie" | 2009-07-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3SDR8GZOVFEYY |
| I have always enjoy this movie, but seeing it on Blue-Ray made it seem special,sharper clearer picture |
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 "Blu-ray: PQ Quality has serious Lens Flare / Fogging Issues" | 2009-05-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3HPOCPJJQNMWN |
I purchased this Blu-Ray based on reviews on this forum and a professional review on another forum. Unfortunately I should've expanded my research to other sites. The overall PQ is good from a color, contrast and sense of depth perspective. However, there is a serious lens flare / fogging issue, these are terms other professional reviewers and users have used to describe the issue. It primarily occurs during indoor scenes but a great example of it is when the train is about to exit the tunnel at 1:37 into the movie. It also primarily occurs on the left side of the screen, I saw it numerous times in the lower left hand corner. It appears the image softens, flares, or fogs there on numerous occasions. I found it rather distracting and my eyes tended to look there for flaws which diminished the overall viewing pleasure of the movie. I deducted a full two stars for these flaws, they occur numerous times throughout the movie in varying degrees. This appears to an issue with the source since other users have seen this on the HD DVD version and regular DVD version. I do not recall seeing this on TV but then again that was in Pan and Scan 4:3 which would've have truncated the problem area. The issue is only a few inches in on the left side, the main center / majority of the image looks fantastic.
The Audio quality was OK; I realize it is a 43 year movie so I gave it a fair rating all things considered. The rears and subwoofer are utilized on occasion but most of the sound stage is up front and center which is probably due to the fact that the original source was a mono track. |
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