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The Red Badge of Courage
Stars:
Audie Murphy and Bill Mauldin
Writer:
John Huston
Adaptation
By: Albert Band
Based
On The Novel By: Stephen Crane
Director:
John Huston
Feature
length: 69 minutes
Extras:
Trailer
Languages:
English and
French Language Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Chapter
Stops: 21
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1951/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
With
the upcoming “Gettysburg” prequel “Gods And Generals” a few weeks away
from theatrical release, Warner Home Video has released John Huston’s screen
adaptation of “The Red Badge Of Courage.” “The Red Badge Of Courage” is
one of those books that I think many if not all American kids end up reading in
school or for school so it is not surprising that this classic American story of
the Civil War would be dramatized by John Huston starring real life World War II
hero turned movie actor Audie Murphy and Bill Mauldin. The fear and bravery of
Stephen Crane’s characters are bought to life and focuses very much on the
human drama of both the Union and Confederate soldiers who both have no desire
to kill each other except that they are under orders and yet we see some
memorable moments that have nothing to do with actual battle scenes like when an
unseen Confederate soldier yells out to Murphy’s character to “step out of
the moonlight” and wishing him “not to get a red badge of courage.” We
feel the fear and the human drama between Murphy and the unseen man, who share a
brief moment of kinship. Of course we see some terrific battle sequences with
Union cavalry riding to their doom while yelping and whistling and some
beautiful focused long shot close-ups where we see a character’s expression in
full detail with near perfect focus to the visual compositions behind him.
The
film had been entangled in studio controversy during the production and severely
edited before the initial release, but “The Red Badge Of Courage” remains
among the top ten films of 1951 by the National Board of Review.
A
beautiful (1.33:1) black and white aspect ratio preserves the way the film was
theatrically exhibited and one can truly appreciate the detail on this DVD,
which is surprisingly clean and free of compression anomalies. A clear English
Monaural Soundtrack that is free of any analogue hissing is provided and
there is a French Language Monaural Soundtrack as well.
English
Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and French and Spanish
Language Subtitles are encoded on to the DVD as options too. The theatrical
trailer (2:55) and a cast and filmmaker list are included as well. The menus are
standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
Look
for “The Red Badge Of Courage” on DVD-Video now from Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.