Guns for San Sebastian appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a high-quality presentation.
Sharpness usually looked fine. The occasional wide shot seemed a bit soft, but those instances remained infrequent and minor.
The movie came with no issues related to jagged edges or moiré effects, and I saw no signs of edge haloes. Grain felt natural, and print flaws failed to become a concern.
To match the Mexican setting, the film’s palette went with a fairly arid sandy feel much of the time, though a few brighter hues emerged as well. The Blu-ray reproduced these tones appropriately and made them seem satisfying.
Blacks appeared dark and tight, while shadows seemed smooth and well-rendered. This turned into another solid transfer from Warner Archives.
As for the film’s DTS-HD MA stereo soundtrack, it seemed inconsistent, mainly related to the localization of speech. The soundscape attempted to place dialogue in various spots, but it did so without much accuracy.
This meant that some lines showed up where they needed to land but others manifested from illogical places. This didn’t become a persistent distraction, but it created an occasional nuisance.
At least the mix compensated with appealing stereo spread for the movie’s score. Effects appeared to remain essentially monaural, as I detected only minor signs of panning, localization or movement from those elements.
Audio quality seemed acceptable for its vintage. Speech became the weakest link, mainly due to lackluster looping. The lines always felt intelligible, but they never came across as natural.
Effects were on the thin side but they didn’t appear distorted or problematic. Music remained the strongest aspect of the mix, as the score offered lush tones.
Really, the stereo music became the biggest strength here. That aspect of the track compensated for some localization issues and made this a “B-“ mix.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we get a vintage featurette. In this nine-minute, 54-second piece, we get information about sets/locations as we watch aspects of the shoot. Though not especially informative, the featurette offers a decent behind the scenes view of the production.
While you can certainly find worse Westerns than Guns of San Sebastian, you can also find many superior efforts. This becomes a watchable but somewhat dull experience. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture, erratic audio and minor supplements. Expect a pretty mediocre Western here.