Escape from Fort Bravo is a 1953 Westernadventure film that takes place during the Civil War. The film is directed by legendary director John Sturges and stars William Holden, Eleanor Parker and John Forsythe. In this picture, it is the North vs. the South vs Indians with a mild touch of romance thrown in for good measure.
In this Civil War tale, the focus is on four captured confederates led by Captain John Marsh (John Forsythe, Madame X, Kitten with a Whip) who escape Fort Bravo, a union prison camp run by a rough and tough strict Captain Roper (William Holden, Stalag 17). With the aid of Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker, The Big Shot) she helps the four confederates escape by lying about her intentions for appearing at Fort Bravo. Carla claimed that she was there to attend a wedding, but really was not. During the interim, while planning the break-out from the fort, Roper and Eleanor fall for each other, making the escape complicated, but the confederates manage to do so.
Once they have escaped, Captain Roper goes after the four rebels and recaptures them. On their way back to Fort Bravo, they all must contend with the conditions of the desert, and the Mescalero Apaches that are pursuing Union troops and the confederates! The enemies join forces to fight a greater threat in the Apaches!
Escape from Fort Bravo is a decent film, with solid performances by the cast. William Holden and Eleanor Parker have a fair amount of chemistry between them as a would-be couple. John Forsythe, at least to me did not enough screen-time and he had the strongest presence among the cast. The film felt somewhat lethargic for much of the film, a bit slow in the pacing for a Western, but the final act with the climactic battle scene where troops are huddled together in type of ditch with the Apaches firing arrows around them as they prepare for the kill was suspenseful!
Thanks to Warner Archive, Escape from Fort Bravo makes its Blu-Ray debut with a brand new 1080p master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. The only word to describe this presentation is beautiful. The scenery is nothing short of breathtaking courtesy of cinematographer Robert L. Surtees. Landscapes, the desert and other outdoor scenes look exceptionally vivid in high definition. There is a wealth of details throughout the presentation. The colors also are strong, be it the clothing the actors wear or just clear blue skies. Flesh tones appear to be accurate. Film grain is present throughout, with no DNR having been applied.
Warner Archive’s Blu-ray also has excellent audio. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is crisp and clear. Dialogue, background / action noises and Jeff Alexander’s musical scores all sound dynamic with nothing sounding overly aggressive. No hissing, drop-offs or other audio issues were detected. English subtitles are available for this offering.
The lone extra for this release is a trailer.
John Sturges’ Escape from Fort Bravo has finally arrived on Blu-ray much to the delight of fans and collectors. The lack of extras might be the only drawback for those who love supplemental material, but audio and video quality is top-notch and there is no real reason not to pick this one up!
Escape from Fort Bravo
Director- John Sturges
Cast- William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Fortsythe
Country of Origin- US
Distributor –Warner Archive Collection / Warner Brothers
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman