High Road To China [Blu-ray]

HIGH ROAD TO CHINA [1983 / 2013] [Blu-ray] Take The High Road To Adventure! Escapist Fun and Excitement! A Ripping Yarn!‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ is a 1983 adventure-romance film, set in the 1920s, starring Tom Selleck as a hard-drinking biplane pilot hired by society heiress Eve 'Evie' Tozer [Bess Armstrong] to find her missing father. The film is set just after the First World War has finished. Eve 'Evie' Tozer is a young spoiled socialist. Patrick O' Malley [Tom Selleck] is a ragged and struggling aviator. From the moment they meet they hate each other, but he is commissioned to aid her in finding her father who has disappeared in Far East Asia.They must find her father within twelve days otherwise; her whole family fortune goes to her father’s business partner, a murderous man who will stop at nothing to prevent them. Their pursuit of the missing father crosses six countries and two continents, encountering barbaric tribal warfare, peasant revolts and narrow escapes from death at every turn. It truly is an adventure you will never forget. Scored by John Barry (James Bond Franchise) and ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ was one of the highest grossing theatrical releases of 1983.FILM FACT: Awards and Nominations: 1984 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films: Nominated: Best Fantasy Film. Nominated: Best Actress for Bess Armstrong.Cast: Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, Jack Weston, Wilford Brimley, Robert Morley, Brian Blessed, Cassandra Gava, Michael Sheard, Lynda La Plante, Timothy Carlton, Shayur Mehta, Terry Richards, Jeremy Child, Peter Llewellyn Williams, Dino Shafeek, Robert Lee, Peggy Sirr, Anthony Chinn, Chua Kahjoo, Ric Young, Simon Prebble, Daniel Clucas, John Higginson, Timothy Bateson, Wolf Kahler, Marc Boyle, Zdenka Hersak, Domagoj Vukusic, Sime Jagarinac, Hai Ching Lim, Kim Rook Teoh and Rick Lester (uncredited)Director: Brian G. HuttonProducers: Andre Morgan, Daniel Grodnik, Fred Weintraub, Frederick Muller and Raymond ChowScreenplay: Jonathan Hales (screenplay) (uncredited), S. Lee Pogostin (screenplay), Sandra Weintraub (screenplay) and Jon Cleary (novel)Composer: John BarryCinematography: Ronnie Taylor (Director of Photography) and Peter Allwork, B.S.C. (Director of Photography of Ariel Sequences)Image Resolution: 1080p [Technicolor]Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1Audio: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo AudioSubtitles: EnglishRunning Time: 105 minutesRegion: Region B/2Number of discs: 1Studio: MediumRare Entertainment / Fortune StarAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ [1983] is a great little adventure-movie starring Tom Selleck as Patrick O’Malley and Bess Armstrong as Eve 'Evie' Tozer and starts off in Constantinople, Turkey, in 1920. The rich society-lady Eve 'Evie' Tozer is living a carefree life until she’s approached by the company solicitor who needs to know her father’s whereabouts. Her father has been missing for a couple of years and is about to be declared legally dead by his business-partner Bentik and he is played hilariously by Robert Morley.The business-partner Bentik will take over the company as sole owner, thus leaving Eve 'Evie' Tozer without means to support her excessive lifestyle. Her father, played by Wilford Brimley is a very successful industrialist, entrepreneur and inventor and was last seen in Afghanistan. Eve 'Evie' Tozer decides to go and find him, but of course, because s Eve 'Evie' Tozer does not want to lose the fortune, has only 12 days to do it, and needs some urgent transportation fast. This is where Patrick O' Malley [Tom Selleck] comes in, who is an ace World War One pilot, but also a drunkard and a womanizer. When we first meet Patrick O' Malley, he is dead-drunk and getting his lights punched out by the husband of one of the women he has been hitting on.The next morning as Patrick O' Malley is sleeping it off, Eve 'Evie' Tozer impatiently waits for him to wake up, and so she can hire him and his two biplanes, Dorothy and Lillian, which they are allegedly named after the Gish-sisters apparently. , Eve 'Evie' Tozer comes off as a spoiled brat at the start of the film, but money isn’t the only reason she wants to find her father, who she has not seen him in years, so naturally she misses him too!Patrick O' Malley does not want to take the job and certainly not with Eve 'Evie' Tozer coming along for the ride, but the right amount of money finally makes him change his mind and Eve 'Evie' Tozer tells him that she’s going to fly the second plane, Patrick O' Malley scoffs at her and not believing it, dares her to fly the plane, and in a very hilarious and very funny scene she shows him that she is indeed an accomplished pilot. They soon take off towards their chosen destination, her in one plane and Patrick O' Malley and his mechanic Struts [Jack Weston] in the other.After a couple more stops in Nepal and India, they finally learn that Bradley Tozer, Eve 'Evie' Tozer’s dad, is supposed to be in China, hence the title of the movie. All through this we’ve been going back and forth between them and London, where Bentik has been plotting their deaths the whole time. This ends in a totally spectacular dogfight between Patrick O' Malley and the man sent to kill them. There are some beautiful aerial shots in ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA,’ not just in this scene, but throughout the entire action packed film. And remember boys and girls, this was in times before the conception CGI was ever thought of, so those are real planes and real stunts!Blu-ray Image Quality – MediumRare presents us with a 1080p image presentation and a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This is a vast improvement over the previous inferior DVD release. When the film starts we get a very muddy quality of the image, which is done on purpose and the function of the credit sequence, which of course is to give the impression of the period of the film that is set in the 1920s which was produced by the optical superimposition that inevitably slightly degrades the image quality. As time goes by the image quality presentation changes significantly after we view Brian G. Hutton's director’s credit. After that the image becomes noticeably much cleaner, but overall it never at any point displays the level of detail and with the close-ups, medium or long shots, the Blu-ray image quality stays basically the same throughout the film. So overall it was quite a pleasant experience and I suspect that there was only really one master negative the companies could get their hands on and this is the best we will ever get to view. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.Blu-ray Audio Quality – MediumRare presents us with the film's original soundtrack that is in 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio, and I felt it was pretty average audio fidelity, with excellent reproduction of dialogue and sufficient dynamic range to bring out John Barry's beautiful and brilliant film composed music score with this Academy Award composer. The aerial dogfight sequence shows off the work of the sound editors, even if all the sound stays with the front speakers that really show off the aerial dogfight sequence to great effect. So despite only hearing the one soundtrack, I found it slightly lacking in any kind depth for a stereo soundtrack for a modern film.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:Theatrical Trailer [1983] ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ [1983] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:59] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film, and it a really good presentation, and the image even shows superior contrast compared to the same footage in the film.Finally, ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ [1983] is certainly very similar in style to other high action films released in that period, and it is a very entertaining action adventure film with a great deal of humour. ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ is a lot of old-fashioned fun and sort of revived Tom Selleck’s acting career. But it has the same Saturday-matinee spirit, with director Brian G. Hutton nicely mixing a lot of action with a storyline taken sort of from a book by Jon Cleary, that never seems as absurd as it is, allowing the 105 minutes to move by very quickly. Tom Selleck is perfect as a grizzled, boozing biplane pilot whom 1920s flapper Bess Armstrong is forced to hire to help her find her father. Tom Selleck and Bess Armstrong make a very agreeable couple, even though their bantering, slowly developing romance is deliberately predictable throughout the film. So all in all ‘HIGH ROAD TO CHINA’ is totally light-hearted, fun, clever and highly watchable romantic adventure film that has its dramatic moments but never takes itself too seriously. Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film AficionadoLe Cinema ParadisoUnited Kingdom

not a bad film, but seen better

Great film loved the vintage planes in it.

Il will not waste time on very technical aspects. I had this movie (1983) on a French VHS which is now dead. So I really enjoyed it (PAL DVD, 2), even without French subtitle. Pictures, on a brand large New TV HD : pleasant landscapes, fines faces : all right, nothing disagreeable. Good scenario, with humour, action, pleasant characters, very sensitive jeu (acting) of Bess Armstrong, a lovely little thing...so lovely and in so dangerous situations ... courageous and so and so ... with this Big Man of Tom Selleck who don't care enough (!)...from Afghanistan to Nepal and China ...with wars ... and even not an incredible happy end !A MOVIE, an excellent and pleasant one, to be seen, and can be seen again (and again), with real pleasure. Enjoy it ! NB : TIME ; not 90 minutes , but 105 or 106 minutes (credit titles included) : a good thing, and, apparently, the original version (cf. old French VHS : on the box : 106'). I also got an Italian version (cop. 2008, Monaco International) : Italian title, giving 2 options : English or Italian, but always without Italian subtitle nor English one.And now, Blu-ray version : 16/9 : full screen, 107 mn. An this time, with (option) English subtitle, a commodity. The Best Available Option to date (February 2015).

By the same director as the superb "Where Eagles Dare", this exciting tale is finally available on Blu-ray. Although in the Indiana Jones mould, it has its own distinct identity, with a laconic hero, plucky heroine, dastardly villains and some memorable supporting characters, all very capably brought to life by the likeable cast. As far as the action goes, there are plenty of thrills and spills, with the extensive flying sequences enacted using real aeroplanes - and being all the more credible as a result. The ever-reliable John Barry provides a suitably stirring score.Highly recommended for adventure fans of all ages.

Although I have to agree with predecessing commentators, concerning the quality of film-sharpness and certain extra-deviant background noises on this dvd-soundtrack version; as a aficionado of original filmmusiccompositions - especially of the genius masters like JOHN BARRY who created the music for this adventure movie - I can only but wholeheartedly recommend this film.As previously mentioned the original productionhouse for this film went belly-up, which complicates the recovering of all the rights and products to produce momentarily a 100% full-digital DVD-version (or BLU-RAY for that fact).Nevertheless, for the fans who love the wide open skies and panoramic views accompanied by the majestical and luscious music of John Barry, this is a film-to-have; in wich you can clearly hear the basics for soundtracks like "OUT OF AFRICA" and "DANCES WITH WOLVES" (not to mention the 007-films).John Barry, who celebrates this year his 76th birthday, is a very deserved multi-awarded oscarwinner (five times) for over ninety filmmusic soundtracks; which puts him in my book on the same extraterrestrial pedestal as ENNIO MORRICONE, GEORGE DELERUE and a very few others; each with their own specific sound which made films all the more worthwile and progressive, proving each time that each movie needs a distinctive original musical soundtrack.

This is a very amusing story in the roaring twenties era and is packed with action and laughs all the way through. The aircraft scenes are very well done and add extra punch to the story-line. Well worth watching.

Very hard to find on DVD. An excellent movie with great aerial scenes of the bi-planes

que demander de plus à ce film, son romantisme, ses acteurs merveilleux, ses decors, si en plus on aime les avions, tout est parfait !

I finally tracked down the DVD of this movie years ago, but now that I’ve replaced all my DVD players with blu-ray machines, the European format of the DVD would no longer work. I was very happy to find on Amazon, but somewhat concerned with reviews that said it was grainy. I didn’t find it grainy at all, and was very satisfied with the picture quality. I’ve attached a few pics taken with my phone while I was watching. A 1983 classic, and a “must” to own!

Synchronisation leider nur in Englisch das macht aber den Film so wertvoll

Molto soddisfatto,puntuale la consegna