Amazon.com video review:
The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the
panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost
as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's
triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations
and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments
directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George
Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited
sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most
ambitious ever made by the venerable MGM studio. Its stellar cast
reads like a virtual who's who of Hollywood's biggest stars. Debbie
Reynolds plays a sturdy survivor of many pioneering dangers, and the
eventual widow of a gambler (Gregory Peck), who is later reunited with
her nephew (George Peppard), a Civil War veteran and cavalryman who
heads for San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is being
built. Many more characters and stories are woven throughout this epic
film, which is dramatically uneven but totally engrossing with its
stunning vistas and countless outdoor locations in Illinois, Kentucky,
South Dakota, Monument Valley in Arizona, California, Colorado, and
elsewhere. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com video review:
The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the
panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost
as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's
triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations
and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments
directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George
Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited
sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most
ambitious ever made by the venerable MGM studio. Its stellar cast
reads like a virtual who's who of Hollywood's biggest stars. Debbie
Reynolds plays a sturdy survivor of many pioneering dangers, and the
eventual widow of a gambler (Gregory Peck), who is later reunited with
her nephew (George Peppard), a Civil War veteran and cavalryman who
heads for San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is being
built. Many more characters and stories are woven throughout this epic
film, which is dramatically uneven but totally engrossing with its
stunning vistas and countless outdoor locations in Illinois, Kentucky,
South Dakota, Monument Valley in Arizona, California, Colorado, and
elsewhere. The DVD presents the film in its Cinerama aspect ratio
of 2.65:1 and also includes a "making of" documentary and the original
theatrical trailer. --Jeff Shannon
