The Quiet Man [DVD] [1952]

Although the image quality on this DVD is disappointing, I guarantee that after a couple of minutes you will forget it and focus easily on the movie itself. "The Quiet man" is one of John Ford's masterpieces and this great director deservedly received Oscar of best director in 1952 for this movie. "The Quiet man" was also nominated for the best picture, but lost to "The greatest show on earth" of Cecil B. de Mille. "The Quiet man" is a real treat, packing incredible fun, extremely well interpreted and so gentle and tender that it leaves after viewing a warm feeling in the heart. To avoid spoilers, let's just say what is showed in the first minutes of the movie - an Irish emigrant, Sean Thornton (John Wayne), after spending years in USA comes back to Ireland, to settle and enjoy in peace the money he made working across the ocean. When looking for a house and a piece of land to buy he notices a gorgeous local girl Mary Kate Danaher (the magnificent Maureen O'Hara). Mary Kate is probably the most beautiful woman in the whole county, but at past 30 she is still single because of her incredible temper, backed by a venomous tongue and easily used fast and strong fists (and claws!). Instantly thunderstruck, Thornton starts courting her with the most honorable intentions. But things of course can never be that simple and even a peaceful Irish village can become the scene of the most homeric dramas, especially considering that Thornton has some secrets in his past... And then Mary Kate's gigantic, brutish, foul mouthed and permanently angry older brother "Red" Will Danaher takes an instant dislike to the newcomer... "Red" Will is played here by Victor Mclaglen, a very interesting personage and an old friend of John Ford. McLaglen won an Oscar for main leading role in 1935 for his incredible performance in "The informer", and this role in "The quiet man" got him his second nomination, for best supporting role. He did not get it this time, but he should have! All the three main actors give here an extremely touching performance - and even if you dislike John Wayne, well, I think after viewing this movie, you may change your mind... This movie has many charms: actors, music, scenery, dialogs, but one of the most important is that it is TOTALLY POLITICALLY INCORRECT!! Especially any feminist watching this movie will probably find herself in danger of lethal heart attack or at least a seizure...))) Also, if you dislike Christians and especially clergy (both catholic and protestant), you will NOT like this movie. Me, being a devoted papist, I loved the Christian message of this movie greatly as well as the personage of local priest, as fanatically devoted to fishing trouts as to fight against Satan and all his works...)))) I saw this movie many times and every time it made my laugh out loud and it left me feel warm, happy and peaceful in my heart. I really hope you will like it too.

Excellent quality, good film.

This is one of those films that used to come on TV quite frequently on a Sunday afternoon in my youth 40-50 years ago. Watching it now brings back happy memories of the smells of afternoon tea, Bovril or Marmite toast, biscuits and cake, a faint but strangely pleasant whiff of garden bonfire from my Mum's clothes, and delight at enjoying films like this together. Action, intrigue, comedy, wit, nostalgia, romance, fabulous evocative music, it's got it all in spades. It really is one of John Wayne's best films, it can be watched over and over and over again. A fine example of the cinema magic that can come about when so much talent comes together in one place at the right moment. The only problem with it is finding a decent quality version. Even when it last came up on TV, which was a good while ago now, it didn't look very good - blurry and strange washed out colours. The DVD I have is the same, very poor quality, although it does at least play unlike some other folks report. A real shame, because it is one of the greats. I wish someone would produce a fully restored version.

Was discussing old films with a friend and naming all the old John Wayne movies that we grew up with. When he mentioned this film I had never heard of it! So I bought it and watched it. I loved the film. It has a simple story, the scenery is spectacular and the two leads are a pleasure to watch. The story unfolds at a leisurely pace giving you time to relax and savor the whole experience rather than just rushing through on adrenaline. There is a strong cast of quirky supporting characters. It opens your eyes to of a way of life that is long gone and to certain customs that are hard to believe existed in Ireland. For example, a woman in Ireland couldn't marry a man if her brother objected! The film is bathed in sweet nostalgia and I enjoyed it but I think that for a younger audience it might be deemed a bit slow.

One of the Duke's best

The movie itself has been reviewed on many occasions so this review confines itself to the quality of the dvd production and any problems with the disk itself. The quality of the video is excellent, sharp and clear, and is the best I have seen in the multitude of releases of this particular movie; every other version I have seen lacks the clarity that comes with this particular release. The subtitle track matches the English soundtrack perfectly as far as I am able to ascertain. There is another subtitled version with both Chinese and English subtitles which suffers badly in comparison with this release. The only downside to this very beautiful production is that Paramount/Viacom have gone to utterly absurd lengths with DRM in order to prevent disk copying and while the disk should play properly in a standard dvd player, there may be difficulties if the disk is played for personal use in a laptop or desktop computer. Some playback software will play this dvd, but some will not. As always, DRM hurts the legitimate consumer.

Good service, delivered on time

Very enjoyable.

Unbelievable job they did with this outstanding film! The picture is so clear and beautiful, it's liking watching the film for the first time. Can't take my eyes off all the gorgeous scenery perfected in blu-ray format. Looks like 4k.

Classic Irish movie, best enjoyed sipping a dram of the Quiet Man Irish whiskey. CD arrived well packed and in good shape.

La versione spagnolo/inglese permette di godere del sound track originale e di far pratica di spagnolo. Soddisfatta

Très bon, bonne qualité dommage uniquement sous titre en français

2012年米国OLIVE FILMSからリリースのBD。オリジナルは1952年REPUBLIC。監督はジョン・フォードで、出演はジョン・ウェイン、モーリーン・オハラ、ヴィクター・マクラグレン、バリー・フィッツジェラルド、ウォード・ボンド他。 個人的には佳作の多いフォード作品中のベスト5にランクインする、名作中の名作。「人間愛」をこれほどケレン味なく繊細かつ正攻法で描き切った作品を他には知らない。 さて昨年に復刻シネマライブラリー社から国内版BDもリリースされているので、画質を比較してみた。復刻シネマライブラリー版は、それまで流通していたのDVDとは比べ物にならない高画質であるが、色調がややキツめで若干ハデな感じがある。それに比べると本ディスクは色調は柔らかくキメ細やかである。私が約3年前に最寄りの映画館で観た本作のディジタル・リマスター映像の印象は、本ディスクの方がより近い。ただしその差はわずかである。 ちなみに「大砂塵」も復刻シネマライブラリー社とOLIVE FILMSからBDが出ていて、以前に比較させていただいた。「大砂塵」に関してはOLIVE FILMS版の圧勝であった。ただし本作は「大砂塵」ほどの画質の差はないので、本作の復刻シネマライブラリー版をすでにお持ちで満足している方は、あえてこちらに手を出すこともないと思われる。 結論としてはまだ復刻シネマライブラリー版をお持ちでなくて、本作の魅力を知り尽くしていて、英語に多少の自信があって、そしてあくまでも高画質にこだわりたいかたには、OLIVE FILMSリリースの本ディスクをおススメしておく。