Fate is the Hunter is actually a pretty decent film focusing on faith and, obviously, fate, making it something more than merely an overwrought 1960s disaster drama. The performances from Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan and Rod Taylor are all superb and the effects, save for some wonky editing, were impressive for their time.
Fate is the Hunter
(1964)
Genre(s): Drama, Mystery
Twilight Time | NR – 106 min. – $29.95 | May 13, 2014
 |
MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Ralph Nelson Writer(s): Ernest K. Gann (book); Harold Medford (screenplay) Cast: Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, Rod Taylor, Suzanne PleshetteDISC INFO: Features: Commentary, Trailer, Isolated Score Track Number of Discs: 1Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 1.0), Music (DTS-HD MA 2.0) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35 Subtitles: English SDH Disc Size: 43.2 GB Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A |
THE MOVIE
Plot Outline: From the best seller by Ernest K. Gann, Fate is the Hunter details a horrific airplane crash and, in its aftermath, the desperate attempt to discover what brought plane, passengers, and crew to their fiery fate. Directed by Ralph Nelson, with superb black-and-white cinematography by Milton Krasner, this combination of disaster movie and mystery interweaves the stories of a dogged investigator (GLENN FORD), the doomed pilot (ROD TAYLOR), his bereaved girlfriend (NANCY KWAN), and the tragedy’s sole survivor (SUZANNE PLESHETTE), building to a climax of breathtaking tension.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5
Along with a 6-page essay booklet, the features on this are limited with an Audio Commentary with Actress Nancy Kwan and Film Historian Nick Redman, an Isolated Score Track and the Theatrical Trailer (2:20; SD).
Also on the disc is the 2010 documentary, To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey (1:46:31; HD).
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Presented in stark black and white, Fate is the Hunter looks brilliant with a 1080p high-definition transfer and in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio. Outside of a few momentary dust marks, I was impressed with the transfer with excellent detail levels and even darker spots looking really good.
AUDIO – 3.75/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is more than adequate for this movie where action scenes, mainly the opening crash, comes through pretty well while dialogue levels sounding nice and clear throughout.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Overall, Fate is the Hunter is actually a pretty decent film focusing on faith and, obviously, fate, making it something more than merely an overwrought 1960s disaster drama. The performances from Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan and Rod Taylor are all superb and the effects, save for some wonky editing, were impressive for their time. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time has great audio and video transfers while the features, even limited, are well worth checking out, especially the commentary.
Published: 05/18/2014