The Tin Star appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. A VistaVision production, the image largely excelled.
Sharpness worked well. A few establishing shots came across as slightly soft, but the vast majority of the film boasted strong delineation and accuracy.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to become an issue.
Blacks appeared deep and taut, while low-light shots boasted appealing clarity and smoothness, albeit with some of the inevitably murky day-for-night shots. This turned into a top-notch presentation.
Taken from a monaural source, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 remix didn’t expand matters to a major degree. The movie’s score became the primary beneficiary of this expansion, as the music spread moderately to the side and rear channels.
Effects occasionally boasted movement in the various channels, such as when a pigeon flew from front to back. However, much of the mix remained essentially monaural.
Audio held up fine over the last 67 years, with speech that came across as natural and concise. Music lacked great range, but the score brought generally positive dimensionality.
Effects fell into the same boat, as those elements showed adequate reproduction but they lacked much impact. This turned into a more than adequate mix, even though the 5.1 reworking felt fairly pointless.
The Blu-ray also included both LPCM stereo and LPCM monaural tracks. The stereo mix felt fairly similar in scope to the 5.1 version, albeit without the use of the back channels, of course.
This allowed the stereo version to come across as a bit more natural than the 5.1 edition, as the latter’s expansion to the rear speakers could seem a little awkward. The stereo track continued to show a general lack of much ambition.
In the end, I preferred the mono mix simply because the stereo and 5.1 soundfields just didn’t add anything in particular to the package. They could come across as somewhat artificial at times, so the mono edition seemed more coherent.
In terms of quality, all three tracks felt pretty similar. As such, although I thought the mono made the most sense, viewers who prefer stereo or 5.1 will find audio that fared about the same way.
When we shift to extras, we open with an audio commentary from film historian Toby Roan. He delivers a running, screen-specific look at cast and crew, production notes and his thoughts about the film.
Roan gives us a fairly stiff commentary, as his chat often feels like an annotated Wikipedia entry. While we learn some basics, this doesn’t become an especially deep or insightful discussion.
Two featurettes follow, and Apprenticing A Master goes for 27 minutes, 34 seconds. It offers an “appreciation” from author/critic Neil Sinyard.
“Master” examines cast and crew as well as production elements and his take on the movie. Given its status as an “appreciation”, Sinyard leans toward positive thoughts, but he backs up these opinions with substance so this turns into a fairly informative chat.
Beyond the Score runs 31 minutes, 37 seconds. Here we get notes from Peter Bernstein, son of Star composer Elmer Bernstein.
The younger Bernstein covers life with a famous father as well as aspects of Elmer’s work. We get a unique perspective and Peter provides an engaging view of his dad.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we find three Image Galleries. These cover “Promotional” (58 screens), “Stills” (51) and “French Photocomic” (192).
All three offer useful shots. The “Photocomic” – which incorporates movie stills into comic book panels with lettered dialogue – becomes the most fun addition.
A fairly average Western, Tin Star comes with a good cast and some intriguing elements. Unfortunately, it lacks a concise narrative and fails to focus on specific characters as well as it should. The Blu-ray boasts excellent picture along with appropriate audio and a mix of bonus materials. Star deserves a look for genre fans but it fails to rise above the pack.