Red River is to be released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 6, 2013 in France by Wild Side Video.
It looks like it will be the director's cut, along with a documentary on the film's restoration. The BD/DVD combo-pack will also include an 80-page book.
Superb! That's a great one to add.
I'm still surprised that both France and Germany are releasing some fantastic westerns and Duke films on blu ray which haven't seen the light of day in the US or UK.
Yup, already ordered along with the other Duke releases...
Can't wait! 
Not real fond of the cover art. Duke's hat is all wrong. Take away the crossed sabres and it looks more like a cover for Hondo or El Dorado.
Totally agree, poor choice of poster art for the cover. It is from an original release but not one that I'm fond of. Where's the moustache for a start!
Hopefully all this will fade away when we see how fantastic it looks on Blu ray.
I may do my own cover if I find I can't live with it.
Display MoreHere's the deal, Olive Films, the studio releasing these DVD's, has licensed the Republic library from Paramount. These titles they are releasing, have never been released on region one DVD, in addition these titles represent 4 out of 8 of the Mesquiteer movies Duke made right before Stagecoach. As such these are the last of his 'B' movies.
As for the other movies you listed,
The Alamo is owned by MGM, and they are not interested in restoring it, making the current DVD the only option.
Red River is also owned by MGM
The Quiet Man is part of the Republic library so I fully expect to see a restored print released on DVD/Blu-Ray by next Christmas.
Totally understand re the 3 pictures I mentioned, I just picked them randomly as examples.
Here's hoping they do Angel and the Badman, Dark Command and Sands of Iwo Jima soon. Now that would be fantastic!
Four of Duke's Three Mesquiteers movies are arriving on DVD/Blu-Ray!
Thanks for the heads up, although its a random selection to say the least!
My copies are so ropey they are barely watchable so I'm not holding out much hope for a Fort Apache level of quality transfer.
What I do not understand are the Blu ray releases.
We're getting Three Texas Steers, which has some guy in a Gorilla suit as a main character, but no Alamo, Quiet Man or Red River for instance!
I know there are issues with some titles but there are loads of classic Duke films which deserve remastering before these.
It would seem that "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is to be released on Blu-ray in Germany, is this correct? Hopefully not long till it gets released in the USA, and will hopefully be region free. Anyone from the UK feeling like we are missing out on all these Blu-ray releases lately?
Hi there and welcome,
We're actually better off in the UK as all the European releases are region B or region free so we can watch them all!
You can also order them directly from Amazon.de which is a breeze.
No, I didn't rip the Blu-ray, which wouldn't do anything to fix the problem. It's a mastering flaw and as such would take some work to delete every 1000th frame and recompile. AviSynth can delete every x number of frames, so technically it can be done.
I was really hoping they would re-issue the Blu-ray without the flaw.
Send an e-mail to Soul Media like I did and complain.
Sounds like a plan.
It's hugely frustrating as the transfer itself is great, I just ended up waiting for te glitch rather than enjoying the film. Thanks for the info.
Display MoreI have the Danish Blu-ray of The Barbarian and the Geisha, and find it disappointing because, in my opinion, it isn't encoded very well. The print itself is lovely, albeit a little grainy, but does suffer from less than stellar AVC encoding. Although licensed from Fox, the video was supplied by Hollywood Classics Ltd. and the BD distributed in Scandinavia by Soul Media.
I should mention that Soul Media's BD of North to Alaska has a mastering flaw: every 1000th frame is repeated throughout the entire film, causing a very slight pause about every 42 seconds. This defect ended up on the DVD, too (it's a combo pack), although at a different interval because of the different frame rate. I sent Soul Media an e-mail and they said nobody has complained about such a defect. But it illustrates a lower level of quality supplied by Hollywood Classics Ltd.
The Region A BD of The Barbarian and the Geisha, released today exclusively to US Walmart stores, is all Fox so to speak. Hopefully they've put more effort into the encoding.
The Danish BD and Japanese DVD (an official Fox release) both have 2-channel stereo audio, yet typical of Fox's CinemaScope the 4-track stereo soundtrack is nowhere to be heard except for a little matrixing. The UK DVD from Fox has 2-channel stereo, too.
Walmart Canada doesn't carry the new title, but it's supposed to go into general release after Walmart US's exclusivity deal. I'd be curious to know if the encoding is better and if it has the original audio (unlikely).
Hi Rough Rider,
I bought a copy of North to Alaska, against my better judgment, and my blu ray has the same, frustrating glitch!
Did you rip the Blu ray to see if it ironed it out? Only asking as I've had a few DVDs in the past that wouldn't play on any machines so I ripped them and they worked fine!
Sounds like a plan! Enjoy your Sunday!
Will do! Hondo should be on it's way pretty soon which will be, hopefully if they haven't bodged the remastering, a real treat!
WOW! Only 7 days! Did you pay extra for that speedy service Dooley?
Nope, standard delivery!
I ended up having to order from a marketplace seller on Amazon.com as Walmart don't ship outside the USA and couldn't find them for sale anywhere else. Looking forward to The Big Trail, think I'll watch Barbarian and the Geisha first as I think after The Big Trail it'll seem somewhat lacklustre!
My Walmart copies of The Big Trail and Barbarian and the Geisha arrived today.
Super speedy 7 days turnaround to the UK. My Sunday viewing has just been organized
My copy of Circus World on DVD came from Merry ole England! Took 3 weeks!
That's not too bad, got plenty of other Duke films to watch in the meantime. Still wading through the huge 34 film Universal box set! 
Well i bought my copy of the Barbarian and the Geisha at Walmarts yesterday. Two discs inside, thats cool. Haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but i have to agree with Ringo, NOT impressed with these cheap cases.
It's quite a recent thing the 'Eco' cheap boxes made with thinner plastic. I tend to swap mine over with better quality ones, I bought a 100 a while back in one go so they end up pretty cheap and still going, I felt its worth it to protect the discs.
I'm hoping my copy of Barbarian and the Geisha won't take too long to make its way over the pond to the rainy UK. Anyone would think I'd never seen the film before!
Same here, Hondo. I have 2 Blu-ray players and 2 DVD players. So it comes in handy when there's both formats in one package. Or if one of my kids wants to borrow a movie that just came out, but they don't have Blu-ray, so they can still see it in the DVD format. And I try to always buy the combo pks just for that purpose.
The combo releases are also great when you're on the move.
I had She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and The Searchers on the ipad for the 11 hour flight from London to Vegas! It's much easier to rip from DVD than Blu Ray.
I also had Rango on there. Has anyone else seen it and been amused at the John Ford and Sergio Leone nature of some of the shots; it's very clever and funny.
Off topic but I was on a roll!
This film is released on DVD/Blu-Ray. I've seen it at Wal-mart for $12.99. So I included it in my collection. Not a great movie, but it is Duke, so I now have it. I didn't have to buy the box set.
CheersHondo
Thanks for sharing Hondo,
I've ordered The Big Trail also, had to pay through the nose as Walmart doesn't ship internationally. One of the downsides of being on the other side of the pond!
Hondo is the release I'm really looking forward to.
Dooley
That's very true!
Where abouts did you get the information on rio grande as I've just been on the olive website and cannot find any mention of it!
High noon is on there though?
Dooley
It's a typo -- they've now released a corrected release. Here's the corrected language:
• THE MAKING OF RIO GRANDE (1993 – 23 MINUTES) - NARRATED BY LEONARD MALTIN
Includes Interviews with MICHAEL WAYNE | BEN JOHNSON | HARRY CAREY JR.
Thanks for the update Paula. That makes much more sense.
Hopefully it'll be a good transfer.
dooley
Really? IS this a typo or from the actual press release?
Agreed! Does seem mighty strange. However, glad to see these classics being released on Blu Ray, as long as they do a decent job on the re-mastering.
I've had a chance to sit down and look at the 10-disc John Wayne Collection from Fox.
The good news is that The Barbarian and the Geisha looks lovely and to my surprise has the original 4-track audio soundtrack. The extras are as follows: original theatrical trailer, 4 Fox Movietone newsreels and a photo gallery.
Duke fans who have the other 9 titles should stay away of course. It's best to buy the combo pack (Blu-ray/DVD) from Walmart.
Another useful update.
Does anyone know if Walmart do international shipping as it sounds like a Blu Ray purchase?
Regards,
Dooley
Nope, Legend of the Lost has no forced subtitles like the French release of Circus World.
It should be noted that the subtitles for Circus World aren't hard-encoded directly onto the print itself. By re-ripping the BD they can be removed, but this is something most people won't do of course. I removed them and then re-encoded the film using the x264 encoder.
Call me crazy but I really don't want to see subtitles if I don't want to.
Totally, totally agree with you on the subtitles front. I've ripped a few Blu Rays before for exactly that reason!
I'm working my way through my older DVDs and ripping them onto an external drive so I can put them in the loft to create some space so I hear where your coming from.
