Directed by George Stevens
Starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Jack Palance, Brandon De Wilde, Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan, Emile Meyer, Elisha Cook Jr., John Dierkes
Kino Lorber has announced a Blu-Ray and 4K release of George Stevens’ Shane (1953). They’ve already plugged a 4K release of High Noon (1952), another of 50s Westerns’ Big Three — High Noon, Shane and The Searchers (1956). They say Warner Bros. is currently at work on The Searchers.
This 4K and Blu-Ray Shane release will come from a scan of the original camera negative and will undoubtedly be beautiful. Loyal Griggs’ incredible cinematography in this film looks more like a painting than a movie — making it ironic that it was subject to cropping during the post-CinemaScope widescreen freakout of 1953. Luckily, it doesn’t suffer too much, though the original 1.37 version looks best.
Of course, Shane is absolutely essential — it’s a great film — no matter what format you’re using. Get one.
