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Universal Studios Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of James Stewart: The Western Collection on 20th May 2008 priced at $39.98 SRP. Celebrating the screen icon’s 100th Anniversary this set features six films with co-stars including Marlene Dietrich, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Maureen O"Hara and Shelley Winters. # Actors: James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Shelley Winters, Maureen O"Hara, Brian Donlevy # Directors: Anthony Mann # Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC # Language: English # Region: All Regions # Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 # Number of discs: 6 # Rating: # Studio: Universal Studios # DVD Release Date: May 20, 2008 Seems like everyone is putting out western collections this year, and Universal is no exception. The westerns included in this set are: Destry Rides Again (1939) Winchester "73 (1950) I will three things about this movie... SAVE YOUR MONEY... this movie is nothing like the 1950 edition, Jimmy Stewart is great in the 1950 movie of winchester 73. Buy them both, and I think you will see what I did, I wanted the 1967 edition to see how close it was to the 1950 edition, not even close. I would not rate the 1967 edition at even one star... Bend Of The River (1952) Man-with-a-past Glyn McLyntock (James Stewart) guides a wagon train of settlers to new land in Oregon. They first battle man and mountains to reach the land and later looming starvation when their vital first year supplies are delayed and hijacked by men maddened with gold fever. All the while McLyntock is haunted by his secret past: Can a bad man change? Perhaps more importantly, will others let you change? Jimmy Stewart and Anthony Mann collaborated on some of the best westerns ever. In them they usually explored the inner demons the main character was wrestling with. Beyond vague references to McLyntock"s past (He"s THE Glyn McLyntock of the Missouri border wars, one character tells us, explaining it all) and hints that he was once the odd-man out during a lynching party, we"re spared the gruesome details. McLyntock"s past is left unexplored, the point being that he has the capacity to be very bad, and is trying his best to start anew. I can"t think of any other actor, then or now, capable of convincingly playing a basically decent character who, when pressed, allows the devils to erupt. The same can, and can"t, be said for Arthur Kennedy"s Emerson Cole, another gun sharp who, like McLyntock, has a capacity for goodness but seems a little weaker when confronted with temptation. McLyntock and Cole are from the Kansas and Missouri area, "good, clean country" moral center and settler leader Jeremy Baile (Jay C. Flippen) says, ""til man came in to steal and kill. Can"t let it happen here." Of course Baile doesn"t know anything about McLyntock"s past and trusts him completely, a trust McLyntock values enough to make him that much more concerned about keeping his secrets secret. A strong cast and story makes BEND OF THE RIVER one of the best movies of the 1950s. As usual in a Mann western, the story is played out against a glorious, Technicolor background. In this case Mount Hood, Sandy River, and Timberline, all in Oregon. The story is credible and, as usual, Stewart is excellent as the outlaw trying to reform. Strongly recommended. The Far Country (1955) In the 1950s, Jimmy Stewart began his second career. In the 1930s and 1940s he had established himself as one of Hollywood"s most likeable leading men, and had starred in a string of great comedies, many of them classics. After serving as a bomber pilot in Europe (one of the few Hollywood stars to do a full tour of duty in the field of battle), Stewart returned, but was not as a rule able to reduplicate his pre-war success, his only great films between 1946 and 1950 being the classic holiday film IT"S A WONDERFUL LIFE and the gritty Chicago detective film CALL NORTHSIDE 777. But beginning in 1950, Stewart teamed up with director Anthony Mann for a string of superb Westerns that surpass any group of Westerns ever made, with the exception of John Wayne"s partnership with John Ford. While in his comedies Stewart had always been a good-hearted, solid, highly likeable gent, in these Westerns he usually was complex, haunted, driven, and as a rule somewhat anti-social. It was a dramatic change from his earlier films. Stewart was able to use these roles as a springboard back to other, sometimes even bigger roles, completely revitalizing his career, and establishing him as an actor capable of some darkly complex, varied roles. THE FAR COUNTRY is the fourth collaboration between Stewart and Mann. It is not one of the finest films in the series, but that isn"t because this isn"t a very good film, but because the others were so exceptionally fine. As in most of these films, Mann is concerned to show men and women on the outer edge of Western expansion, struggling not merely with nature, but with the vagaries of human nature. The wildness of the settings always serves as not merely a backdrop but as a symbol of the struggles of human beings against one another. There is little admirable in the men who are involved in fulfilling Manifest Destiny; these are greedy, hard, cruel, capable, and vicious men, and the wise person trusts no one but oneself. But in each film, the smaller, dearer, more human virtues of love, forgiveness, and hope manage miraculously to win out. The frontier turns men into such rugged individuals that they become slightly less than human. These films invariably end with Stewart"s character moving gradually and perceptibly towards humanity. Mann was one of the directors who first broke out of the confining Hollywood back lots to film primarily on location. Unlike John Ford, who continually refilmed in Monument Valley, each Mann film would opt for a new locale: WINCHESTER 73 in Arizona, BEND IN THE RIVER near Mt. Hood another other locations in Oregon, THE NAKED SPUR in Colorado, THE MAN FROM LARIMIE in New Mexico, and this film in Jasper and Banff National Parks in Canada. The quality of this cast can"t be exaggerated. Stewart adds yet another stellar performance to his resume as Jeff Webster, a not-very-nice and profoundly self-interested individual trying to score big enough to get his own spread in Utah. Ruth Roman manages to hold her own with the mean, but she doesn"t generate the onscreen charisma that a Barbara Stanwyck would have been able to in the same kind of role. John McIntire is suitably nasty as the film"s chief villain. It is the supporting cast that makes the roster so outstanding. Was there some secret contract that every Western made in the fifties had to have either Walter Brennan, Jay C. Flippen, or Jack Elam in it? This one manages to find all three. When you add other veteran character actors like Henry Morgan you have a group of familiar and highly competent actors who managed carry off Mann"s vision with great aplomb. The film features a marvelous score, though curiously no one is credited with it. A search on the Internet revealed that four composers were responsible for it, including the great Henry Mancini, though the style isn"t one a person normally associates with him. There is no way to know who was responsible for what in the score, but it is compelling throughout. Like with Mann"s other Westerns, this is a glorious thing to watch. With the pristine Canadian locales, it possesses a visual exoticism that is rare in Hollywood Westerns. With such backgrounds as Jasper and Banff provided, the photography is gripping throughout. Unlike many other directors who would film a part of the film on location but much or even most in a Hollywood back lot, this film is clearly photographed in the field. It was an expensive way to make a film, but we today are the beneficiaries of their added efforts and expense. This isn"t the Mann-Stewart film that I would recommend most for the newcomer to their series. That would be either THE NAKED SPUR or THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, but all of these films are exceedingly fine, and all of them are important to the career of both men. No one who loves movies could find any of them disappointing. The DVD is not stuffed with extras, but the print is decent, and the price is exceptionally reasonable. Night Passage (1957) Night Passage was the movie that ended the partnership of actor James Stewart and director Anthony Mann. Their classic Westerns, such as Winchester "73, The Man From Laramie, and of course, The Naked Spur, were all classic Westerns with gritty,edgy performances by Stewart. But Stewart and Mann parted ways on this script involving a disgraced railroad detective who tries to redeem himself by capturing a group of train robbers. Maybe it was the fact that Stewart would sing and play the accordion in the film. Maybe it was the fact that Dan Duryea"s character was suspiciously like his role in Winchester "73. At any rate, this film is still a treat and an delight. Stewart plays a character very much like his Mann films, and Audie Murphy gives one of his better performances as the Utica Kid, one of Duryea"s gang member, and someone who shares a secret with Stewart. And Duryea plays his part with gusto. Western fans of the Mann/Stewart films should enjoy this film, regardless of the similarities, or even the differences between those films and Night Passage. The Rare Breed (1966) THE RARE BREED certainly lives up to it"s title. A western drama with the emphasis on character and not the typical mix of "guns and cowboys". Maureen O"Hara reunited with her "McLintock!" director Andrew V. McLaglen and her "Parent Trap" co-star Brian Keith for this oddball combination of western thrills and human drama. Martha Price (Maureen O"Hara) and her teenaged daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) have arrived in America with their prized Hereford bull, in an attempt to cross-breed it with the traditional long-horn. She is met with resistance by bulldogger Sam Burnett (James Stewart), but he reluctantly agrees to accompany her to the estate of Alexander Bowen (Brian Keith), the most powerful cattle baron in the district. The emphasis is on simple human drama in this enjoyable period piece; yet there is still some room for a spectacular action sequence involving an horrific long-horn stampede. Maureen O"Hara gives a very grounded and sensitive performance as the pioneering Martha, and Juliet Mills is a delight as her spunky, forthright daughter. James Stewart and Brian Keith play off each other beautifully in their rivalry for O"Hara"s affection. To the best of my knowledge, Maureen O"Hara is the only actress to have played opposite both Juliet Mills and her younger sister Hayley Mills (in 1961"s "The Parent Trap"). THE RARE BREED is truly that rare western that dares to go beyond the cliched confines of the genre. Highly-recommended. *************************************************************************************** They are all already on DVD. The press release says that Universal will repackage the same content with the exception of The Far Country. Its original aspect ration is 1.85:1, but its May 2003 DVD release was in the full screen format. However, the specs for this set show The Far Country as being released in 1.85:1. Here you get to see James Stewart evolve as a western star. In "Destry Rides Again" he plays the same old likable character we have seen throughout the 30"s. It was too bad it was made in the golden year of 1939, or else the film would probably be better known. "Winchester 73" sees the beginning of Stewart"s teaming with Anthony Mann. Together they made what can almost be described as film noir westerns. Here Stewart plays a much darker and more complex character than you are probably accustomed to seeing in westerns of this era. The trend continues in "Bend of the River" and "The Far Country". "Night Passage" was supposed to be another Mann/Stewart western, but the two had such a falling out during filming that another director took over and the two didn"t work together again. For whatever reason, this film isn"t quite as good as the others in this set, but it is still worthwhile. Finally there is "The Rare Breed". Stewart"s later comedy/western combinations didn"t work as well as his earlier more complex efforts in my opinion, but star power makes this one hold up, with Maureen O"Hara and Brian Keith also featured. Plus there are some interesting plot twists involving Stewart"s character. Comments Please login to post comments or replies.