Garden of Evil (Beyond Home Ent) (1954)

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General		Extras
Category	Western	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1954
Running Time	96:05 (Case: 86)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Henry Hathaway
Studio Distributor	20th CENTURY FOX Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Gary Cooper Susan Hayward Richard Widmark Hugh Marlowe Cameron Mitchell Rita Moreno Víctor Manuel Mendoza
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	Bernard Herrmann

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.93:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.55:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Fiske: "I’ve found that pretty women speak the same language all over the world”
Hooker:”What about the ugly ones?
Fiske: “Never listened”

     Three Americans on their way to the Californian gold rush, ex-sheriff Hooker (Gary Cooper), gambler Fiske (Richard Widmark) and bounty hunter Daly (Cameron Mitchell) are stranded in a coastal Mexican village when their boat’s engine fails. In a cantina they are approached by red headed Leah Fuller ( Susan Hayward) with a proposition: her husband is trapped by an accident in a gold mine in the mountains and she offers them $2,000 a man if they will come with her to rescue him. The catch is that the area is rife with hostile Apaches. They agree and joined by Mexican Vicente (Victor Manuel Mendoza) the five set off into the mountains.

     Each, of course, has their own agenda; a sexy red head and gold is a potent mix, and tensions soon occur. However, they reach the mine and, finding Leah’s husband John (Hugh Marlowe) trapped but still alive, they effect a successful rescue. John has a badly broken leg, but with the Apaches closing in, all six must take their chances on the return journey to the coast. On that trip both the best and the worst side of human nature is displayed and only some will survive.

     The Garden of Evil was an early Fox Cinemascope production, filmed on location in Mexico partly around the Paricutin Volcano, Michoacan, and it looks wonderful. Director Henry Hathaway (The Black Rose (1950), True Grit (1969)) knows a thing or two about action films and he is helped here by an atmospheric score from legendary composer Bernard Herrmann whose credits included Citizen Kane (1941), Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960) for Hitchcock and finally Taxi Driver (1976). Star power is also not lacking with Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark in the cast, all delivering good performances, although perhaps Widmark as the cynical gambler is the most interesting and makes the best of some delicious dialogue.

     Garden of Evil is not an action western. Rather, it is a slow building and tense drama, set in a hostile environment and including hostile Indians, and if on occasion it veers into melodrama this is more than compensated for by the spectacular Mexican locations, the considerable star power of Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark and an atmospheric score by Bernard Herrmann. I enjoyed this one a lot and it is well worth a look.

Video

     Garden of Evil was a Cinemascope production originally presented in an aspect ratio of 2.55:1. The DVD cover does not indicate the DVD aspect ratio but does state that the film is 16x9 enhanced. This disc is definitely not 16x9 enhanced as the film is presented in a 4x3 frame at approximately 1.92:1. Bizarrely, however, it is not cropped but rather the people look stretched when played in 4x3. If you allow (via DVD player settings) this 4x3 frame to fill your 16x9 screen then the picture looks right and is approximately in the right aspect ratio. This is a very strange way to master a DVD.

     This film is now 55 years old but it looks very good indeed. The Technicolor process resulted in colours that had depth and mostly looked natural without being vibrant. However, there was some colour and brightness fluctuation and sharpness was on the soft side. However, blacks were pretty good and shadow detail very good for a film of this age.

     There are a number of small dirt marks, but far less than in some films I have seem of this vintage, and evident grain. There is also some obvious telecine wobble during the opening scenes and credits. However, none of this was distracting.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 192 Kbps. Dialogue is mostly clear and understandable, although occasionally the sound level varied. The sound effects were understandably fairly flat although the score came through nicely. I did not notice any hiss or distortion. There was obviously no surround or subwoofer use.

     The atmospheric orchestral score by Bernard Herrmann is excellent, adding to the moods of the film.

     Lip synchronization was occasionally off, reflecting the location shoot.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Absolutely nothing.

     The Region 1 US release is included in a 3 disc Fox Western Classics together with The Gunfighter (1950) and Rawhide (1951). It is NTSC of course and the ratio is reported to be 2.44:1 although from screen dumps it looks fine and it has extensive extras; an audio commentary by Nick Redman, John Morgan, Steven Smith and William Stromberg, an isolated score track, featurettes including a “Making Of” and one on Henry Hathaway, a restoration comparison, stills gallery, advertising gallery and theatrical trailer.

     The Region 2 UK stand alone release is in the correct ratio, 16x9 enhanced, and with a trailer.

     Region 1 is the winner here.

     Garden of Evil has spectacular Mexican locations, considerable star power in Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark and an atmospheric score by Bernard Herrmann. It is more drama than action Western, but that does not prevent it from being very entertaining indeed.

     It is presented on a DVD with good (although bizarrely mastered) video and audio for its age, but alas none of the extras of the Region 1 US release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall