Region 1 Paramount (USA)
NTSC, 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced
123 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 2.0 mono English, DD 2.0 mono Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: audio commentary with Peter Bogdanovich; selected scene commentaries with Dan Ford; The Size of Legends, The Soul of Myth; theatrical trailer; stills galleries
Released: 19 May 2009
Paramount Pictures is re-releasing some of its beloved catalog titles in new Centennial Collection editions to celebrate the studio’s 100th birthday. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance carries the Number 8 on its spine.
John Ford, John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, and Vera Miles are all “giant” names in American cinema, so a movie like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance carries a lot of baggage. Even if this isn’t a “great” movie, it is at least a meeting of “greats”, right?
Frankly, I was shocked by the lumpy pacing and generally inert atmosphere. It takes quite a while for the movie to get started, and the serious, “face value” moments are downright laughable. The movie generally sparks to life only when Lee Marvin and Lee Van Cleef show their sneering visages. Vera Miles is a charming spitfire but doesn’t get as much screen time as the stolid James Stewart, who made me want to slap him back to reality even though his predicament gains his character some amount of sympathy.
Although John Wayne appeared in many Westerns, he seems oddly out of place in this one. He redeems himself during a funny scene involving a small town picking two delegates to send to a territorial convention about statehood; he’s clearly enjoying himself every time he rebuffs a newspaper editor about the fact that the bar is closed during the political meeting. Wayne also exhibits genuine pathos when he goes on a drunken rampage through town towards the end of the movie.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has an interesting quirk/gaffe. In one scene, Stewart presides over a classroom. Stewart asks if anyone knows what the basic law of the country is, the one that’s modified by amendments. Wayne’s black employee stands up to talk about Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution, but Stewart corrects him by saying, “Declaration of Independence”. The black man continues by reciting some lines from the Declaration of Independence. I don’t know if the writers made a mistake, if the filmmakers meant for Stewart to make the mistake, or if the filmmakers meant for the black man to make the mistake. Debating which mistake is “real” should provide lots of fun for historians and sociologists. Were the filmmakers inept? Were they making fun of the Stewart character? Were they making fun of black people?
Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image looks quite impressive. Although there are some instances of minor print damage, the picture is quite sharp and clear for an SD transfer. There is an appropriate level of grain that never develops into mosquito noise. The image has a wide spectrum of blacks, greys, and whites that reveal how gorgeous black-and-white photography can be.
Audio:
The DD 5.1 English re-mix doesn’t sound too different from the original DD 2.0 mono presentation. Basically, the sound field collapses to the center channel with occasional stereo spreads for music and various sound effects. Dialogue and music are surprisingly robust considering that many old mono tracks are thin and harsh.
Extras:
--Disc 1--
You can watch the movie with one of two audio commentaries. The first one is hosted by Peter Bogdanovich with recordings of interviews with John Ford and James Stewart. The second audio commentary is really a selection of scenes accompanied by comments from Dan Ford (John Ford’s grandson), John Ford, James Stewart, and Lee Marvin. Neither is particularly interesting, and it seems like anyone with an interest in the movie or the cast should spend time gathering information in printed form instead of wading through audio comments of varying technical quality.
--Disc 2--
“The Size of Legends, The Soul of Myth” is a seven-part documentary about the making of the movie. “The Size of Legends” covers a wide range of subjects in an attempt to place the movie in a socio-industrial context, though as with the audio commentaries, it seems like reading up about the same information would be less snooze-inducing.
Finally, you get a theatrical trailer and four stills galleries.
--Miscellaneous--
You also get an insert booklet and a cardboard slipcover.
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