STUDIO: Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: September 9, 2008
STARRING: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, Andy Devine, Carolyn Jones, Carroll Baker, George Peppard, Mickey Shaughnessy, Thelma Ritter, Brigid Bazlen, Eli Wallach, Agnes Moorehead, Karl Malden, Walter Brennan, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, Russ Tamblyn, Henry Morgan, David Brian, and Spencer Tracy
WRITTEN BY: James R. Webb
DIRECTED BY: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, & George Marshall
FEATURES: Commentary by Filmmaker David Strohmaier, Director of Cinerama, Inc. John Sittig, Film Historian Rudy Behlmer, Music Historian Jon Burlingame and Stuntman Loren James
Cinerama Adventure: Comprehensive Documentary About the Revolutionary Movie Exhibition Process
Theatrical Trailer
Special SmileBox Process Transfer Replicating the Cinerama Wraparound Theatrical Experience

How the West Was Won was one of the biggest event pictures of its time. Look at that cast again. There's nothing comparable to it in today's market. It was filled with actors who were recognizable by one name - Wayne, Fonda, Stewart, Peck, Widmark, Reynolds, Tracy - and it was shown in the amazing new "Cinerama", which is kind of an ancestor to Imax that has never really been recreated on the home market...until now. The second disc of the Blu-Ray version of How the West Was Won includes a special process transfer that replicates the Cinerama wraparound theatrical experience. It's not a traditional anamorphic widescreen picture. It's something old and new at the same time and it's gorgeous. It takes a lot to impress a jaded DVD critic like this one, but I had only read about Cinerama and never thought I'd be able to really see it in action. Color me impressed. You'll need to have a big TV to really get the impact of it, but everyone should see it at least once. It's a mind-bender.

What's Cinerama? It was a technique that used a 3-strip screen instead of the standard seamless screen. What that meant is that three projectors would run simultaneously to form one gigantic picture. The screens on the side are curved creating an immersing and enormous experience that was treated like a theatrical event with people getting dressed up formally and programs being handed out. You think Iron Man was an event? Imagine it with three times the picture, twenty times the cast, and fifty times the majestic presentation. How the West Was Won was an EVENT. The 1962 epic film is a classic, winning three Oscars when it was released and being included in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1997.

Which brings us to the Blu-Ray release from Warner Brothers. It's remarkable that a technology that wowed audiences almost fifty years ago couldn't be brought back to them until the technology of the late '00s. A classic movie adventure has been breathtakingly restored and completely reborn in two stunning new versions that were never before possible. The first disc is a widescreen transfer that has been tailored to home screens and the second features the aforementioned SmileBox transfer that recreates the majesty and the scope of Cinerama. Both versions feature a stunning TrueHD Dolby audio track. The film itself? It's held up surprisingly well. The movie follows four generations of a family through the 1800s. Three of the five segments in the nearly three-hour film were directed by Henry Hathaway with the other two being helmed by George Marshall and the greatest Western director of all time, John Ford.

How the West Was Won was a spectacle in 1962 and Warner Brothers has restored it into one again in 2008. Not only is the Cinerama transfer a must see for anyone who considers themselves a movie historian, but the majesty of the film has never really been seen on the home market before now. Even the packaging for How the West Was Won is a beauty with the standard edition coming in a huge box and the Blu-Ray coming in a nice solid case with a detailed book about the making of the film that includes poster art and photos from the epic movie. How the West Was Won is a must-have on Blu-Ray for all Western fans and aficionados of classic cinema of any genre.