How The West Was Won

Filed Under: DVD New Releases | Article Tags : New on DVD

Warner Bros is set to release this classic Cowboy flick to DVD and Blu-Ray on August 26th September 9th in a newly restored print. The film that features Cinerama (you know, that really really wide screen format) will come in three flavors, Ultimate Collectors Edition, Two disc Standard DVD Collectors Edition and a Blu-Ray version. The pricing for these sets are $59.92 SRP for Ultimate, $20.97 SRP for the two disc dvd and $34.99 for Blu. The Ultimate edition will come with a 20-page theatrical press book reproduction, 10 behind-the-scenes photo cards and 10 postcards, and an exclusive movie poster offer. The Blu-ray edition will have a ‘Smilebox’ feature, so you can watch the entire film in its original Cinerama aspect ratio (2.89:1) on your TV, time for a bigger screen? It will also come with a special Digi-book packaging featuring 32-pages of rare press materials and behind-the-scenes photos. Other special features, which it doesn’t say if its on all of them include:

• Film Historian Commentary
• Dave Strohmaier’s critically-acclaimed, feature-length documentary Cinerama® Adventure
• The Making of How the West Was Won (Archival featurette)
• Original Theatrical trailer

Sounds like a pretty cool release, and in honor of this release Warners will also pump out a whole bunch of other classic westerns including:

Escape from Fort Bravo (1954)

Union officer William Holden contends with Confederate prisoners inside Fort Bravo…and fierce Indians outside. John Sturges (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven) directs.

Special Features:

· Theatrical trailer

Many Rivers to Cross (1955) For the first time on DVD

Trapper and resolute bachelor Bushrod Gentry comes to Kentucky, where a marriage-minded lass is waiting. Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker team in a comedy/adventure.

Special Features:

· Theatrical trailer

Cimarron (1960 remake)

Oklahoma is theirs…if they can tame it. Glenn Ford stars in the decades-spanning tale of the famed land rush and of settlers sinking deep roots. Anthony Mann (Winchester ’73) directs this two-time Oscar^® winner.

Special Features:

· Theatrical Trailer

The Law and Jake Wade (1958)

Lawman William Holden is sworn to uphold the law but destined for a showdown with his

outlaw past when former partner Richard Widmark resurfaces. Directed by John Sturges.

Special Features:

· Theatrical Trailer

Saddle the Wind (1958) For the first time on DVD

Blood for blood; brother against brother. An ex-gunslinger’s attempts to go straight meet a fury of violence ignited by his brother. Robert Taylor stars in Rod Serling’s taut tale.

Special Features:

· Theatrical Trailer

The Stalking Moon (1968)

A suspenseful manhunt saga. A relentless foe tracks Army scout Gregory Peck as he attempts to lead a woman (Eva Marie Saint) once held captive by Apaches to safety.

Special Features:

· Theatrical Trailer

Montana (1950)

The star heads for the wide-open spaces of Montana in this adventure saga about a bitter range war. Errol Flynn plays an Australian transplant looking to buy grazing land. But the cattle-raising locals won’t sell to interlopers, especially one they consider the most contemptible excuse for a human being ever to cross the Great Plains: a sheep rancher. Flynn’s San Antonio co-star Alexis Smith is a flame-haired beauty with an eye for the newcomer…until she learns his occupation. In time, she’ll put aside her disdain for the handsome stranger.

Special Features:

· Vintage Newsreel

· Warner Night at the Movies 1950 Short Subjects Gallery

· Joe McDoakes Comedy Short: So You Want a Raise

· Classic Cartoon: It’s Hummer Time

· Trailers of Montana and 1950’s Chain Lightning

· Bonus Gallery of Santa Fe Trail Series Western Shorts: Oklahoma Outlaws, Wagon Wheels West and Gun to Gun

Rocky Mountain (1950)

Errol Flynn saddles up for his final Western starring as Confederate Captain Barstow in a brawny tale directed by William Keighley (co-director of Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood) and filmed wholly in the rugged environs of Gallup, New Mexico. Co-star Patrice Wymore became Mrs. Flynn weeks before the film’s release. And drawling character actor Slim Pickens (Blazing Saddles) makes his debut as one of Captain Barstow’s men.

Special Features:

· Commentary by biographer Thomas McNulty [McNulty looks at Flynn’s career, his unique qualities as a Western hero and his romance with costar Patrice Wymore.]

· Warner Night at the Movies 1950 Short Subjects Gallery

· Vintage Newsreel

· Trailers of Rocky Mountain and The Breaking Point

· Bonus Gallery of Santa Fe Trail Series Western Shorts: Roaring Guns, Wells Fargo Days and Trial by Trigger

· Classic Cartoon: Two’s a Crowd

· Joe McDoakes Comedy Short So You Want to Move

San Antonio (1945)

San Antonio features blazing action in Technicolor^® (a rip snorting saloon gunfight), suspense (a tense showdown in the granddaddy of Texas monuments, the Alamo) and a beautiful girl (Alexis Smith as a sultry songbird) to add romantic luster to the heroics.

Special Features:

· Warner Night at the Movies 1945 Short Subjects Gallery:

· Vintage Newsreel

· OscarÒ-Nominated* Vitaphone Varieties Short Story of a Dog

· Vintage Shorts: Frontier Days and Peeks at Hollywood

· Classic Cartoons: A Tale of Two Mice and Wagon Heels

· Trailers of San Antonio and The Corn Is Green

Virginia City (1940)

In his second Western, Errol Flynn again teams with Dodge City director Michael Curtiz to play an undercover Union officer determined to stop a gold-laden train rolling to Dixie. Randolph Scott is a Johnny Reb ramrodding the shipment, Miriam Hopkins is a beguiling spy, Humphrey Bogart is a pencil-mustached desperado, and pioneering stuntman Yakima Canutt pulls off a daring stagecoach feat.

Special Features:

· Commentary by historian Frank Thompson [Thompson discusses this all-star collaboration with Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Randolph Scott and Miriam Hopkins, and the challenges faced by director Michael Curtiz throughout production.]

· Warner Night at the Movies 1940 Short Subjects Gallery

· Vintage Newsreel

· TechnicolorÒ Shorts: Cinderella’s Feller and The Flag of Humanity

· 1936 WB Short: The Light Brigade Rides Again

· Classic Cartoons: Cross Country Detours and Confederate Honey

· Trailers of Virginia City and A Dispatch from Reuters