"Run for the Sun" (1956) (Jungle movie) Spanish DV

[movieman]

This review was previously posted in "The Richard Widmark Fan Club" on Yahoo! Groups (this posting is slightly edited to meet the policies of this forum:

"Run for the Sun" (1956) was released on DVD, in Spain, back in 2004.
The title is: "Huida hacia el Sol" with "Run for the Sun" in smaller
print.
It's a multiregion DVD 5 disc. This site says it's a PAL release:
http://www.moviesdistribucion.com/?TBSQ ... 7773&FBSQ=

It includes the original soundtrack.
The back of the cover says MGM Entertainment and includes the famous
Lion logo. This makes it an official release. It was released by a
company named "RsR Multimedia".
I watched it using the program "InterVideo WinDVD 7" which on my
computer is locked in region 2. An advantage of this program is the
feature of color adjustment.
You can also use the "VLC media player" (released by the videoLAN
team) downloadable for free on the net.

I bought it from the seller "osgame" (OCIO: music, games& films) on
eBay.es (Spain).
URL:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/
eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160134566892&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=006

I had no problem with this purchase. It was nicely packed and reached
me, in Norway, in approx. 5 days from date of posting.

The movie:
Starring Richard Widmark and Jane Greer in top form. Greer is nearly
as pretty as in the film noir classic "Out of the Past" (1947), and
this time in color. Anyway, she looks gorgeous in "Run for the Sun".
Her performance is also low-key and natural (even by today's
standards).
Mr. Widmark turns in an excellent performance as well.
I won't delve into plot details here. The opening part of the movie
is quite slow, at least someone thinks so. It's my opinion that the
time taken to introduce us to the characters is nothing to complain
about. The dialogue is good, Greer is pure eye candy and the
beautiful lensing/ photography by the master cinematographer Joseph
LaShelle is enough to keep my attention.
There's a big plot hole concerning a bullet, but I won't delve
further into this. Those who want to read about it can have a look at
the user comments in the Internet Movie Database entry at: http://
imdb.com/title/tt0049696/

It's the first jungle-adventure movie I've ever seen and is,
presumably, the best of the jungle adventure films released in the
1950's.
I won't call it a classic, but it's an "engrossing, extremely well-
made film.", to quote the film critic Leonard Maltin in his "2001
Movie & Video Guide".

The disc:

Film transfer quality:

The movie is presented in a widescreen print preserving the Super-
Scope 235 aspect ratio.
This widescreen format is one of the widest ever used. The framing
and picture compositions looks correct to my eyes.
Don't know if it's anamorphic, but I assume it is because the picture
is very clear and detailed. I could see some pixelation around the
opening titles and in dark scenes, while watching it on my 19 inch
4:3 LCD computer screen, but it's nothing to worry about.
I was quite overwhelmed by the sharpness and detail of the picture.
Colors are also very nice. It's without doubt a well preserved print.
Don't know how it looked on TCM but it's without doubt the best this
movie has looked on an official DVD release.

The Sound:
The sound on this release is in, original, English Dolby Digital
Mono. I assume it's mono. It sounds excellent to my ears. Nothing to
complain about here. The lip-sync is also about perfect.

Any extras?

None!

I guess you now understand that this DVD is a "must-have" for the
Richard Widmark fan (a classic movie fan might also like it).

Sincerely

Mr. Even, Norway.

[movieman]

I forgot to mention that the DVD also includes a Spanish soundtrack.

Mr. Even