Jubal
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Synopsis
A trio of exceptional performances by Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, and Rod Steiger form the center of Jubal, an overlooked Hollywood treasure from genre master Delmer Daves. In this Shakespearean tale of jealousy and betrayal, Ford is an honorable itinerant cattleman, befriended and hired by Borgnine’s bighearted ranch owner despite his unwillingness to talk about his past. When he becomes the object of the attentions of the owner’s bored wife (Valerie French) and is entrusted with a foreman’s responsibilities, his presence starts to rankle a shifty fellow cowhand, played by Steiger. The resulting emotional showdown imparts unparalleled psychological intensity to this vivid western melodrama, featuring expressive location photography in Technicolor and CinemaScope.
Picture 8/10
Delmer Daves’ Jubal receives a Criterion Blu-ray edition that presents the film in its original aspect ratio of about 2.55:1 on a single-layer disc. The new high-definition transfer, taken from a 4K scan of the original 35mm negative, is presented in 1080p/24hz.
The release as a whole feels like an unfortunate afterthought, as if Sony or Criterion were just trying to get the film out on Blu-ray as quickly as possible, which is a shame since the film does deserve more attention. But the presentation thankfully doesn’t reflect that attitude. Restored and mastered by Grover Crisp for Sony, the film, in all of its Technicolor/CinemaScope glory, looks wonderful on the high-def format. Some sequences can look a little hot and blown out a bit but in general the colours look to be accurately rendered, retaining the film’s Technicolor look. Blacks are fairly deep but some details are lost in the shadows and crushing is apparent.
The image is crisp with clean edges, though the finer details in the image never really pop while long shots and transitions can look a bit fuzzy all around. The film’s grain structure remains and is fairly clean in its rendering except in some darker scenes where it looks somewhat pixilated and noisy. Past this there are no other artifacts that were apparent
The restoration is also very impressive as I don’t recall many blemishes other than a spec of debris in a few places and some noticeable damage in some of the transitions between scenes. In all, despite the barebones, almost bargain-bin nature of the whole release, the video presentation is stellar.
Audio 7/10
The film’s audio is delivered on a lossless linear PCM 2.0 stereo track. The audio is clean, free of distortion, and fills out the sound field nicely, specifically in its delivery of music. Dialogue is clear and the music has some fabulous range and depth despite its age. Impressive overall.
Extras 1/10
This area is where the release is most shocking. Since this is licenced from a major studio (Sony Pictures) you’d almost think Criterion would throw on at least a couple of supplements. Alas there are no disc supplements at all, with Criterion’s companion release, 3:10 to Yuma, containing supplements that mention Jubal. All this title gets is an 18-page booklet featuring a decent essay by Kent Jones on Daves’ career and the film. A big, surprising letdown.
Closing
It’s unfortunate Criterion didn’t see it as worthwhile to throw any supplements onto the package, delivering a barebones release for a film (and director) that deserves more attention. Thankfully the title is at Criterion’s lower price point and packs a great audio/visual presentation, making the release worthwhile for admirers and fans to pick up.
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