![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/0a/9f/00239f0a_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/0a/9f/00239f0a.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962)
2DVD9 + DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 | Cover + DVD Scans | 158 mins | 5,00 Gb + 4,41 Gb + 3,96 Gb
Audio: #1 English, #2 German, #3 Spanish - AC3 5.1 @ 384 Kbps (each), #4 Hungarian AC3 1.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subs: Czech, Danish, English HoH, Finnish, German HoH, Hungarian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish
Genre: Western
2DVD9 + DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 | Cover + DVD Scans | 158 mins | 5,00 Gb + 4,41 Gb + 3,96 Gb
Audio: #1 English, #2 German, #3 Spanish - AC3 5.1 @ 384 Kbps (each), #4 Hungarian AC3 1.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subs: Czech, Danish, English HoH, Finnish, German HoH, Hungarian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish
Genre: Western
Directors: John Ford, Henry Hathaway
Stars: James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck
Sprawling epic which follows the Prescotts, an emigrant family through four generations, from the Erie Canal in the 1830's to their settled home in the West a half a century later. On the way they encounter river pirates, and escape with the help of fur trapper Linus Rawlings, who subsequently marries one of their daughters, Eve. The parents are drowned on a foundering raft, and the other daughter Lilith becomes a riverboat singer and catches the eye of a genteel adventurer Cleve Van Valen. They cross the plains together in a wagon train and make and lose a fortune in California; meanwhile Linus has turned farmer and, comes the Civil War, joins the Union Army and is killed at the Battle of Shiloh. One of his sons Zeb also joins the army and stays after the war as a cavalry officer and is sent to Colorado to help guard the pioneering railroad against the Indians, whose land they are crossing…
Three generations of the Prescott family are seen to conquer the Old West, from their early travails in fording the Erie Canal, to encounters with bandits and Indians in the trek across the Great Plains, to dealings with the railroad and the San Francisco Gold Rush, up until service in the Civil War. "How the West Was Won" is a star-studded, expensive and expansive epic adventure film that is somewhat marred by its overlength, but kept in tack on the whole due to its hokey sense of fun and peril. Directed by three greats, John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall and narrated by Spencer Tracy, the film is also buoyed by the cameo appearances made by such stars as John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Gregory Peck while other familiar faces such as Richard Widmark, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, and Walter Brennan. There are also several impeccable action sequences, including a dynamic Indian raid, that help pick up the pace following dull stretches of the film.
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/1f/9f/00239f1f_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/1f/9f/00239f1f.jpeg)
People have always been, and always will be, impressed with big movies; this Western was one of the very biggest. It was one of the top hits of 1963, and earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It won three: Best Screenplay, Best Sound and Best Editing. It was one of the only narrative features filmed in the huge Cinerama process, which simultaneously projected one, wide image across three screens, via three projectors. This process was very expensive and cumbersome and difficult to edit, so MGM threw everything but the kitchen sink into their film. How the West Was Won consists of five episodes, following roughly two generations of settlers through many years of migration, Civil War, railroads and all the drama surrounding them. It starts as sisters Eve (the amazingly sensuous Carroll Baker) and Lily (Debbie Reynolds) accompany their family in a cross-country trek to set up a farm. Eve marries a trapper (Jimmy Stewart) and stays put while Lily continues on to California and marries a gambler (Gregory Peck). Their children continue with more adventures.![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/22/9f/00239f22_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]]()
The technical process is still stunning, even on TV; Warner Home Video's new, letterboxed DVD does a fantastic job synching all the elements into a nearly seamless, widescreen, letterboxed picture. We've all seen widescreen before, but not with this immense depth of field. It's almost surreal; when a character walks from the foreground to the background, they appear to shrink in size, since they're covering a huge amount of ground in a compressed bit of screen space. It's a strange and not altogether unpleasant ride, even if it has its drawbacks. It doesn't allow for many close-ups, so very often you can't see who the big-name stars are unless you can recognize their voices. And it makes editing, especially during action sequences, exceedingly difficult. The giant images smashed one on top of the other can be disorienting, and it's difficult to match angles in the same space.![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/23/9f/00239f23_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]]()
The best reason to see the film is John Ford's segment, "The Civil War," which comes directly in the middle. Ford is the only one who seems able to transcend the cheesy, preachy quality of the all-important screenplay; he also understands how to edit around the gargantuan frames, making his action sequences quite a bit more exciting. In it, Eve's son Zeb (George Peppard, quite good) joins his father fighting in the Civil War. After the Battle of Shiloh, he decides that war isn't as glorious as he thought. On a whim, he decides to desert with a Confederate "Reb" (Russ Tamblyn), but stops when he overhears two generals talking: Grant (Harry Morgan) and Sherman (John Wayne). Ford gets more power out of this simple idea than the other directors with their grandiose scenes. He transforms the novelty film into something better than it ever should have been.
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/22/9f/00239f22.jpeg)
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/23/9f/00239f23.jpeg)
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/24/9f/00239f24_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/24/9f/00239f24.jpeg)
Three cheers are much in order for Warner Home Video with their release of this superb issue on Blue Ray disc of MGM's 1962 blockbuster epic HOW THE WEST WAS WON! Firstly the nine star rating adjudged the disc is NOT for the movie - which I think is generally agreed to be something of a much flawed western extravaganza - but for the quite awesome two disc presentation this time around on Blue Ray.![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/2a/9f/00239f2a_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]]()
Virtually gone are the once irritating panel lines that were left by the filming with three cameras. Now we have the definitive version of the movie that is nothing short of stunning! With extremely well defined sharp as a button imagery, pluperfect colour resolution and outstanding audio sound (Alfred Newman's brilliant score comes across with dynamic clarity!) the entire visual experience is certainly something to behold!![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/28/9f/00239f28_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]]()
The first disc presents the film in a terrific 2.35 widescreen version with some excellent extras that includes a documentary giving us the history of Cinerama and how the public responded to its introduction in the early fifties. There are also some great clips from the first Cinerama picture "This Is Cinerama" (1953) presented by explorer and Cinerama pioneer Lowell Thomas.![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/26/9f/00239f26_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]]()
But it is disc two that really takes the biscuit! Here we get a "smile box" version of the complete HOW THE WEST WAS WON. This is the "wrap around" totally curved format of the film which simulates the cinema Cinerama viewing experience. And by simply moving your seat closer to your TV (the greater your TV screen the greater the effect) you can well imagine watching the movie in your bygone Cinerama theatre. It is all quite astonishing really and makes a great fun demo. to show off to your friends!![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/21/9f/00239f21_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]]()
Amazingly this unique presentation - with all its technical brilliance - actually makes the movie better than it really is!IMDB Reviewer
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/2a/9f/00239f2a.jpeg)
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/28/9f/00239f28.jpeg)
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/26/9f/00239f26.jpeg)
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/21/9f/00239f21.jpeg)
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/27/9f/00239f27_medium.jpeg)
How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]
![How the West Was Won (1962) [Re-UP]](https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/27/9f/00239f27.jpeg)
Special Features:
DISC ONE:
- The Film (Part 1 - 81:15)
- Audio commentary by David Strohmaier, director of Cinerama, Inc. John Sitting, film historian Rudy Behlmer and stuntman Loren James
- Theatrical trailer (3:03)
DISC TWO:
- The Film (Part 2 - 76:51)
- Audio commentary by David Strohmaier, director of Cinerama, Inc. John Sitting, film historian Rudy Behlmer and stuntman Loren James
DISC THREE
- "Cinerama Adventure": Comprehensive documentary about the Revolutionary Movie Exhibition Process (92:55)
Many Thanks to Original uploader.