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FIRST TIME ON
BLU-RAY!

US+CANADA
PREBOOK: 12/20/16
STREET: 1/24/17

WAGON TRACKS DVD
CAT: OF1315
UPC: 887090131513
SRP: $19.95

WAGON TRACKS BD
CAT: OF1316
UPC: 887090131612
SRP: $29.95
WAGON TRACKS

WILLIAM S. HART (Tumbleweeds, Wild Bill Hickok)
JANE NOVAK (Desert Fury, What Price Love?)
ROBERT McKIM (The Mark of Zorro, The Bat)
LLOYD BACON (The Greater Profit, Hearts and Masks)

Directed by
LAMBERT HILLYER
(Outlaw Brand, Dracula’s Daughter, TV’s The Cisco Kid)

Wagon Tracks, preserved by the Library of Congress and mastered for home video from the original 35mm nitrate print, is a classic tale of the old west starring William S. Hart (Wild Bill Hickok).

YEAR: 1919
GENRE: WESTERN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH intertitles
LABEL: OLIVE FILMS
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 68 mins
RATING: N/R
VIDEO: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; B&W / Color tinted
AUDIO: STEREO


Wagon Tracks is a film brimming with adventure, romance and frontier justice, starring the king of the silent film westerns, William S. Hart (Wild Bill Hickok, Tumbleweeds).

Buckskin Hamilton (Hart) is out for justice and close on the heels of the outlaws that gunned down his younger brother in cold blood. Set in 1850, with the great Gold Rush as a backdrop, Wagon Tracks takes the viewer on an adventure across the wide open spaces of the untamed west.

In 1919, the year of its release, the Los Angeles Times said of Wagon Tracks, “The great desert screen epic is with us at last,” and called C. Gardner Sullivan’s screenplay “a masterpiece.” Now, future generations will have the opportunity to judge for themselves with this newly minted version which features an original score written and performed by Andrew Earle Simpson.

One of my favorite Harts. If you haven't seen it, you'll find it a treat.

Bob

boblipton wrote:One of my favorite Harts. If you haven't seen it, you'll find it a treat.

Bob

Agreed on that one. Very impressive indeed!

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:

boblipton wrote:One of my favorite Harts. If you haven't seen it, you'll find it a treat.

Bob

Agreed on that one. Very impressive indeed!

Elated that Olive is doing this. If I'm not mistaken, this will be the first William S. Hart film released on BD. It looks like the LoC source (35mm nitrate print) is well suited for mastering to a high resolution format (hopefully with restoration and/or clean-up where needed). Silent film collectors should be riding tall in the saddle!

My only concern is the 68 min. length (short feature) combined with premium BD pricing. Not trying to stirrup trouble, but a second feature (even in SD) or Hart documentary would be a nice addition given the higher BD bit-rate available. It might just tip the scale for barbed wire fence straddlers (ouch!).

Hopefully, a few extras will be on hand to fill out the package. If anyone has more details, please share them. The Olive bunk house isn't known for offering much in the way of supplements, but recent signature edition efforts like High Noon demonstrate an interest in providing superior content to lasso higher end niche markets.

Is from the Library of Congress with a great score by Andrew Simpson (who is a regular at the Library's Packard Campus Theater).

This will be the third William S. Hart video on my collection. I don't know if it has been mentioned here previously but, Flicker Alley released The Toll Gate/His Bitter Pill, double feature on DVD-R not too long ago.
I plan to buy Wagon Tracks soon. I am anxious to know what it looks like on Blu-ray.

Does anyone know about the region coding of Olive Films Blu Rays?

silentmovies742 wrote:Does anyone know about the region coding of Olive Films Blu Rays?

Olive is Region A (North & South America), so their releases should play fine on all U.S. BD players. If you have a Region B player (UK & Europe) Region A discs should be playable as well since most European BD players (to my understanding) are designed for the region to be easily be changed by the owner. Hope this helps.

R. Cat wrote:

silentmovies742 wrote:Does anyone know about the region coding of Olive Films Blu Rays?

If you have a Region B player (UK & Europe) Region A discs should be playable as well since most European BD players (to my understanding) are designed for the region to be easily be changed by the owner. Hope this helps.

I'm afraid that's only true for a very small minority of BD players here (at least in the UK). Unlike DVD players, which can usually be made region-free with a simple hack, UK BD players nearly always have to be physically modified to play Region A (I'm not of course referring to US Blu-rays which are actually region free). Such players are available from specialist suppliers.

My understanding from reviews is that all Olive Blu-rays are restricted to Region A - though I've no first-hand evidence. I know some Blu-rays (e.g. certain Cohen titles) that have been claimed to be Region A are in fact region free.

Jonathan wrote:

R. Cat wrote:

silentmovies742 wrote:Does anyone know about the region coding of Olive Films Blu Rays?

If you have a Region B player (UK & Europe) Region A discs should be playable as well since most European BD players (to my understanding) are designed for the region to be easily be changed by the owner. Hope this helps.

I'm afraid that's only true for a very small minority of BD players here (at least in the UK). Unlike DVD players, which can usually be made region-free with a simple hack, UK BD players nearly always have to be physically modified to play Region A (I'm not of course referring to US Blu-rays which are actually region free). Such players are available from specialist suppliers.

My understanding from reviews is that all Olive Blu-rays are restricted to Region A - though I've no first-hand evidence. I know some Blu-rays (e.g. certain Cohen titles) that have been claimed to be Region A are in fact region free.

Thanks for the info, this is very good to know. I was aware that most European DVD players were universal or easily user switched to the prevailing region to unlock content, so I presumed that European BD players were sold with similar flexibility.

Basically, I believe that the enjoyment of world cinema (and TV programming) should not be solely at the mercy of biased content providers. While rights holders are due a fair profit, any perverse greed motivated intrusion of choice through region coding is anathema to free markets.

Note: As an aficionado of international film living in the U.S. I had two OPPO BD players modified for universal playback. ...As an OC music lover I even had one of 'em modified with tubes for high performance audio playback, but that's another story.

R. Cat wrote:Note: As an aficionado of international film living in the U.S. I had two OPPO BD players modified for universal playback. ...As an OC music lover I even had one of 'em modified with tubes for high performance audio playback, but that's another story.

I have an Oppo and love its flexibility when it comes to hi-res audio formats (SACD, DVD-A, HDCD etc.), can't imagine what a tube-modified model would sound like. I am impressed!

s.w.a.c. wrote:

R. Cat wrote:Note: As an aficionado of international film living in the U.S. I had two OPPO BD players modified for universal playback. ...As an OC music lover I even had one of 'em modified with tubes for high performance audio playback, but that's another story.

I have an Oppo and love its flexibility when it comes to hi-res audio formats (SACD, DVD-A, HDCD etc.), can't imagine what a tube-modified model would sound like. I am impressed!

Thanks! The "full truth" mod (performs like Clockwork... angel trumpets and devil trombones, indeed)

http://www.modwright.com/modifications/ ... be-mod.php" target="_blank