{"id":8223,"date":"2014-03-26T13:38:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T17:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8223"},"modified":"2014-03-26T13:38:12","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T17:38:12","slug":"the-sights-sounds-of-the-blue-max-on-blu-cd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8223","title":{"rendered":"The Sights &#038; Sounds of The Blue Max on Blu + CD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BlueMax.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-8225\" alt=\"BlueMax\" src=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BlueMax-300x142.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"142\" \/><\/a>In an example of perfect timing, the film and music of <strong>The Blue Max<\/strong> are available on <a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8200\">Blu-ray<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8226\">CD<\/a>, respectively, showcasing the artistry of this mini-epic which has aged surprisingly well since its release in 1966.<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly the big draw is the aerial footage \u2013 <strong>Blue Max<\/strong> features some of the best WWI dogfights ever put on film \u2013 as there\u2019s no true romance or likeable central character in this cold film, but that\u2019s part of its allure. The cynicism, emotional reserve, and hyper-focus on one man\u2019s arrogant quest to become Germany\u2019s greatest fighter pilot are very atypical for what should\u2019ve been a film where good triumphs over evil.<\/p>\n<p>Bruno Stachel isn\u2019t a foul man; he\u2019s an opportunist who enjoys taking prizes away from rivals, and shoving failure in their faces. George Peppard is very well suited for the role of Stachel, as is James Mason as the manipulative General who uses the young pilot in a staged propaganda campaign. Ursula Andress is ravishing in extravagant costumes, and director John Guillermin (<strong>The Towering Inferno<\/strong>, <strong>King Kong<\/strong>) filmed some of the weirdest love scenes with unsubtle partial nudity for the European version used in Fox\u2019 2003 DVD and Twilight Time\u2019s new Blu-ray edition. (TT also released Guillermin\u2019s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4156\">Rapture <\/a><\/strong>in 2012.)<\/p>\n<p>Given most fans grew up watching <strong>The Blue Max <\/strong>on TV via grainy TV prints, the widescreen DVD was a welcome reward for all those bad panned &amp; scanned mono prints, but TT\u2019s BR is a revelation for the colours, the detail, and the rich sound that flatters Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s epic score.<\/p>\n<p>La-La Land Records have been mining the composer\u2019s work for the past few years \u2013 <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7186\">The Challenge<\/a><\/strong> (1982), <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6736\">Bandolero!<\/a><\/strong> (1968), and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6240\">Rio Lobo<\/a><\/strong> (1970) being some recent efforts \u2013 and their <strong>Blue Max<\/strong>\u00a02-disc set features both a new remastering of the score in its most complete form + alternate cues.<\/p>\n<p><em>Coming right up<\/em>: a review of <strong>Pura vida \u2013 The Ridge<\/strong> (2012), which recently screened at the Bloor Hot Docs cinema.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\n<p>Cheers,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor<br \/>\n<strong>KQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Guillermin&#8217;s awesome WWI flying drama The Blue Max makes it to Blu-ray via Twilight Time, sporting new commentary and music tracks + Jerry Goldsmith&#8217;s score is released by La-La Land Records in a 2-CD set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[2623,2571,2562,2563,545,1031],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BlueMax.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-28D","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8223"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8241,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8223\/revisions\/8241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}