Customer Reviews

The Quiet Man (Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(254)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

*****5 stars for the film

Haunted by an incident that happened in the ring, American boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns to his Irish birthplace, seeking only his roots and a quiet, peaceful life.

He soon falls in love with the beautiful, tempestuous Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara). She is equally taken with him, but won't marry without the consent of her stubborn, blustering brother, Will (Victor McLaglen), who disapproves the match.

With the help of a well-intentioned scheme arranged by their friends, Mary Kate gets her brother's permission and Sean and she wed. Relationships spoil soon after, however, when Will refuses to pay the rightful dowry. Sean doesn't care, but Mary Kate is outraged and wants Sean to have it out with Will.

Time and again Sean backs down - determined not to use his fists - his inner tension building the whole while. But eventually he will have to decide between losing his wife's love and respect and facing his greatest fear.

This was an important and personal project for John Ford (whose real name was Sean O'Feeney). That his heart and those of his cast members were in what they were doing shows through. The fact that much of the film was shot on location in Ireland (on location shoots were somewhat unusual at the time) also adds an authentic flavor.

Barry Fitzgerald was at his comedic best here, and Ward Bond's performance as a priest has several simply unforgettable moments.

The Quiet Man is a charming classic and among Ford's best (in fact, it won him an Oscar for Best Director). It's funny, romantic, and always entertaining. It also features an exuberant score (courtesy of Victor Young) and one of the longest and most memorable knock-down, drag-out fights ever committed to film.

-DVD-

Two different editions of this DVD have been released with almost
identical packaging. Be careful which one you buy! (I wish I'd known this).

"John Wayne Collection" edition (*1 star)

This is the one I bought (ISBN 0-7820-1057-1, ASIN: B00000I1KV). It has "John Wayne Collection" printed on a green band at the top. Its special features include "The Making of the Quiet Man" documentary & the theatrical trailer. DON'T BUY THIS VERSION, PLEASE. The sound is decent, but the picture is absolutely terrible: blurry and full of splotches, almost unwatchable.

"Collector's Edition"

Apparently, the sound and picture quality are okay on the "Collector's Edition" DVD (ASIN: B00006JMRD), whose special features include Commentary by Maureen O'Hara, the theatrical trailer, "The Joy of Ireland" documentary with Maureen O'Hara, "Remembering The Quiet Man" Montage, and "The Making of The Quiet Man."

I will not, as some feel necessary, go over the story/characters/performances of this film. Suffice to say, this is one the most enjoyable films ever made, blarney or not.

Rather, what I would like to briefly comment on is the utterly pathetic transfer of this classic film to DVD. It states quite clearly on the back of the cover that this film has been digitally remastered. I took that to mean both video and audio. WRONG. The picture quality of this DVD is shocking, one of the worst I have ever seen. Believe me when I say this -- the VHS version I purchased in 1991 has a better video clarity than this. At times it's actually difficult to make out the actors features. The company behind this, ARTISAN I believe they are called, should be ashamed. I have a copy of the recently released and remastered CASABLANCA DVD. That film was made in 1942, yet it looks as if it was just made, such is the sharpness of the video. The Quiet Man deserved the same treatment, but didn't get it. Shame on ARTISAN.

i hate giving a classic a 1 star rating. the movie is nothing less than 5. but the dvd transfer is pathetic. i've seen better 2nd generation VHS to DVD transfers than this. what was the distributor thinking when they allowed this to be distributed to the public?? did they even bother to review the final product before its release? there's no excuse for this with todays movie restoration technology. hopefully we will see this movie re-released by a company who cares about art.

I also remember seeing this movie as a kid. Actually, it was featured in my high school English class for something or other. As I recall it, this was a must see film for everyone I knew.

I am now spoiled. I use a high-definition projector and a 10 foot screen. Most recent, and some old DVD's look wonderful on it. For the most part, the experience is like going to a movie theater, no lines, great sharpness. Even old black and whites look wonderful on this system.

I obtained the first transfer by Artisan and was shocked by the grotesque and constantly changing colors, and also the gross color fringing. Most dark areas had a strong purple hew to them. Color intensity was gross, greens bloomed out of the picture. Sharpness was very poor.

The added featurettes were little better. My over all impression was that this was some sort of amateur video company run by incompetants with anciend junk equipment. However, it appears that Artisan actually has money enough to get the rights to a great deal of John Wayne material.

I then obtained the "Collector's Edition." Some contributers have claimed it was much better than the first release. It is identical! This is the worst transfer of a Technicolor movie that I have ever seen. Also, the newly made featurettes are horrible looking. STAY AWAY FROM THIS MESS!

A true masterpiece, this movie captures the heart and soul of Ireland. That said, not only the Irish will love it. It tells the story of an American, coming home to his mother's beloved Irland. There he meets and falls in love with a beautiful colleen, only to find that her brother is against the affair and basically, out to get him. Shot on location in Ireland, the view is gorgeous, and the plot has everything from exciting fights to tender love scenes. ( My favourite scene is their famous first kiss, when he kisses her in the storm and then she slaps him. Btw, Maureen O'Hara fractured her wrist doing that!)

"The Quiet Man" was John Ford's favourite film, and also his most personal one. He cast his favourite actors in it, and it shows. John wayne is just great -whoever thinks he only played himself in every role should see his performance here. For his love interest we have Ford's kind of a woman, the breathtakingly beautiful Maureen O'Hara.She gives a magnificent performance as Mary Kate, and in my opinion should have won the Oscar for it. (She Wasn't even nominated!) Sparks flew when this couple met on screen, and the result is out there for you to witness.

Don't wait till the next St. Patrick's Day -see this film now. I promise you won't regret it.

When one thinks of John Wayne they usually imagine Calvary, Indians and the Old West. But John, on occasion, did venture into other areas. In this instance, Ireland, and produced one of his most beloved films. It teams him with long time friends, Maureen O'Hara, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Arthur Shields and Barry Fitzgerald (Shields & Fitzgerald were real life brothers), in a project that was near and dear to John Ford. If you think the old town patriarch resembles Ford, it's with reason - it was his father. Stocked with wonderful Irish character actors like David Farrar and Sean McClory, the ever delightful Jack MacGowan, Ken Curtis (Festus of TV's Gunsmoke as Dermot Fahy uncredited and singing! Former Sons of the Pioneers!!), Mildred Natwick as the Widow Tillane, along with Wayne's kids at the horse race scene.

Wayne is Sean Thornton, a quite peace loving man come home to Ireland. There is much speculation about the Yanks and why he has returned to the wee humble Irish village where his family was from. He was a fighter in the States named Trooper Thornton, but accidentally killed a man in the ring. Haunted by this he wants to go 'home' to his mother's Ireland and find peace. But his factious neighbours do not understand his reluctance to take on the town Bully Red Will Danaher in order to win the love of his wife O'Hara.

Often this movie is criticised as being the "Brigadoon" of Ireland, and that is so, but it's the Ireland of our hearts and imagination and obvious of Ford's heart and imagination. The dialogue is Witty, full of Irish quirkiness. Beautiful location work and the dynamite teaming of O'Hara and Wayne. With marvelous songs like Turalye Anne, Galway Bay, Isle of Innisfree and The Humour is On Me Now and more ( There is a soundtrack available on CD this movie as well).

For many years the version on VHS was a pale washed out copy, but this version gives you the 40 shades of green of Eire and the brilliant red hair of O'Hara, they way it should be. The DVD is so sharp, it's truly like seeing it for the first time.
At this steal of a price, every DVD should have a copy.

'Tis Grand, Aye, Grand indeed!

What a travesty of a DVD transfer!?!?

Here I am expecting to watch a lush restoration of one of the great films from one of the greatest American Filmmakers (had I read the reviews I would have thought twice of buying it for sure!) and I get a shoddy transfer probably done straight from video. These imbeciles at Artisan oughtta be fired, tarred and feathered!

Collector's edition my eye! "Pappy" & "Duke" must be doin' backflips in their graves! Even with this major imperfection, it is still a great story and a pleasure to see a great filmmaker at the height of his powers. Still I hope one day that someone gives us a DVD worth the material.

Damn shame.

This is a great film. That said, the DVD's so far have left a lot to be desired in quality of picture. The first DVD was a mess: poor quality picture and the sound was awful. In one scene the words did not match what Barry Fitzgerald was saying. This Collector's Edition DVD is a little better, but not by much. The sound is improved which is a blessing, but the picture quality still needs work. The VHS edition which used a restored negative is a beautiful copy. Why wasn't this used for the DVD????? On the plus side: Maureen O'Hara's comments are interesting and some are even enlightening, and the additional features are fun to watch. But let's face it: what really counts is the quality of the picture itself, and this is a letdown. Better than the first, as I've said, but certainly still in need of improvement. This film won the Oscar for color cinematography! I know it can look better than it does on this DVD! By the by, one customer wanted to know why this movie wasn't letterboxed/widescreened. It doesn't need to be: it is NOT a widescreen movie. What it needs is a better color transfer to DVD. Let's hope somebody wises up and puts out another DVD with a really good quality of picture quality on it. Great movies deserve great DVD's. As it used to be said when computers were new: garbage in/garbage out. The people who make the DVD copies should remember that. This is too good a film to waste on a poor quality disk.

if you buy a dvd of any film, before you do , check out rotten tomatoes to find the transfer quality.A dvd is no better than a vhs tape if the transfer quality is poor.This one is ,you got it, dreadful.Sure, the quiet man is a great old comedy classic;but this dvd is dull, runny, out of hue colors,contrasty and just a plain disgrace to a great old film. Maybe criterion will get ahold of it,and do it justice.Old ford would not be pleased, i`m sure.

In what was easily John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara's single best performances, the spellbinding story set in the midst of Ireland's breath-taking rural culture is a perpetual favorite film for me. Hardly a year goes by that I don't pull it down from the shelf to enjoy on a stormy day such as this to marvel over Miss O'Hara's astonishing beauty and the endless charm of the characters woven so memorably by Director John Ford. What is most surprising is Ford's sensitive and knowing handling of the cross-cultural misunderstandings that provide the grist of the comedy of well-intentioned errors that propel the star-crossed lovers throughout the breadth of the movie.

We viewers are quickly caught up in all this sentimental nonsense as well, and seem content to wallow in the obvious silliness and contrived situations these misunderstanding throws into in the characters' way. Yet, for all the stereotypical and all-too romanticized treatments of both bucolic ignorance, on the one hand, and world-weary sophistication, on the other, one finally surrenders to a work of art unfolding on the celluloid screen, however unlikely or improbable. Like Ford's westerns, the characters on the screen represent cultural icons, and often act like such. Yet here we see much more openness, tenderness, and honest human emotion than in any of Ford/Wayne's other joint projects.

As it is, when I remember the Duke, it is in the character in this movie that I think of him as having his finest and truest cinematic moments, acting like a twentieth century man forced by personality and circumstances into facing both his inner demons and his hopes for the future as captured in a dazzling and daunting redhead (O'Hara), a cinematic presence who was every inch his match. Nowhere else, not even in "Stagecoach" or "True Grit", is Wayne quite so good or quite so believable. Add this to some unforgettable characterization and the breath-taking beauty of a long-ago Irish landscape, and you have a classic film! As such, this is movie magic that I heartily recommend. Enjoy!