MovieChat Forums > Strategic Air Command (1955) Discussion > DVD and Blu-ray coming 10/18/16

DVD and Blu-ray coming 10/18/16

posted 8 years ago by hobnob53
4 replies | jump to latest

Olive Films will release Strategic Air Command on both DVD ($24.99) and Blu-ray ($29.99) on October 18, 2016.

Though it was released in a fullscreen edition on VHS, this is the film's first appearance on disc in either format or in its original VistaVision widescreen aspect ratio. No extras, apparently.

SAC was James Stewart's paean to his beloved U.S. Air Force and he used his star power to get a reluctant Paramount to produce it, an eager USAF to cooperate in making it and a uninterested Anthony Mann to direct it. Sure, it's predictable, loaded with clichés, a bit slow in stretches and somewhat absurd in others, and June Allyson is simply unbearable. Nevertheless I kind of like it, mostly as a relic of its era. In many ways this is the quintessential mid-50s movie -- a look at American middle-class lifestyles in that comfortable postwar time, and a peek into the mindset of a nation on guard against the Soviet Union's growing global threat...which fortunately looms as an unspoken menace instead of the sledge-hammer anti-Communist screed too many films of that era allowed themselves to become.

Not to mention classic aircraft, beautiful cinematography and the incomparable Victor Young's lovely music. Some cool special effects too, by Paramount's expert staff.

[–] Vega_Lyra 8 years ago

You beat me to the post!

I love this film, but I've always been amazed the B-36 especially. The fact that it is a Mann/Stewart collaboration is a plus as well. I didn't realize Mann was uninterested in the film.

Was the old widescreen laserdisc (released around 1998) not in the correct aspect ratio? I have the fullscreen laserdisc but am aware of the release. It's expensive to this day when you can find it, although I imagine the prices will come down once the blu ray is released.

Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

I don't know about the laserdisc so can't say. I thought normally they were in the correct aspect ratio, although this isn't a very widescreen movie (I think 1.66:1), so in truth seeing it in a fullscreen format isn't losing all that much of the picture. (But yes, it still needs to be seen in its proper a.r.!) LDs have kind of gone the way of the VCR, although their quality was better than tapes.

I have to say the cover art on this release is terrible -- like one of those cheap p.d. knock-off covers you see. From an esthetic viewpoint it really is perhaps the worst art I've ever seen on any DVD -- dreary, dull, showing only a head shot of Stewart in his helmet, all using a bizarre and ugly color scheme consisting of purple and black & white. Here's a link to its page on classicflix.com (you can click the image for a larger view):

https://classicflix.com/strategic-command-p-16500.html

[–] Vega_Lyra 8 years ago

Funny, that was the first thing I noticed about the packaging. My Dad was around when the B-36's would fly over his house so he's always been a fan of this film. The "artwork" for the package was the first thing he mentioned when I forwarded over the information about the release. Terrible design! Oh well, the film is the important thing. Maybe I could design a custom sleeve for it.

Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

Yes, that's what I said -- the film is the only important thing. Still, one would hope for a more attractive product. You have to wonder what people are thinking sometimes. With all the possibilities for a film about aircraft, the skies and so forth, they come up with this awful thing? Stewart looks like he's out bombing an orphanage.

By the way, to answer your previous comment, yes, Mann didn't like the project when Stewart brought it to him. He thought the script was trite and that it offered too few opportunities for action, and didn't think that he could do much with it creatively. He was actually right but agreed to do the picture as a favor to Stewart. This was the next-to-last film they made together to be released (The Man From Laramie came out later that year).