The Blue Max is a well made, and very long, war-adventure-drama featuring fine performances from George Peppard and James Mason and has well done flight fight scenes to be put on film for the time.
The Blue Max
(1966)
Genre(s): War, Drama
Twilight Time | NR – 156 min. – $29.95 | February 11, 2014
THE MOVIE
Plot Outline: The Blue Max is based on the best-selling novel by Jack D. Hunter about an ambitious young German soldier (GEORGE PEPPARD) who, from the much of the World War I trenches, becomes determined to join the aristocratic ranks of his country’s heroic fliers. The film details his journey as he moves up the ladder and into the skies, providing along the way some of the most thrilling sequences of aerial combat ever committed to the screen.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5
The only features included are two Isolated Score Tracks, one accompanied with a commentary by film historians Jon Burlingam, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman who, at least in the case of Kirgo and Redman, have recorded commentaries on numerous other Twilight Time releases and although they’re academic in their conversation, still well worth listening to. The disc also has a Theatrical Trailer (3:09; SD).
VIDEO – 5.0/5
Twilight Time releases The Blue Max on Blu-ray presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and sporting a spectacularly good-looking 1080p high-definition transfer. Detail levels are excellent, nicely defined be it close-ups or even background objects and colors appear to be well balanced and have a bit of a punch to it.
AUDIO – 3.5/5
The movie is accompanied with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which comes across OK but much softer than expected. While dialogue levels are decent, the action elements don’t quite pack a punch, even so it’s an adequate lossless track.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, The Blue Max is a well made, and very long, war-adventure-drama featuring fine performances from George Peppard and James Mason and has well done flight fight scenes to be put on film for the time. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers some OK set of features, the video is excellent and never looked better while the lossless audio track is serviceable enough.
Published: 02/17/2014