The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Blu-ray)

By David Vaughn • Posted: Oct 12, 2010

Two hard-luck drifters (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) team up with an experienced gold prospector (Walter Huston) and venture into the Mexican wilderness in search of gold. As their pile starts to grow so does their greed and paranoia, especially for Dobbs (Bogart), who thinks everyone's out to steal his stash.

With his breakout performance in The Maltese Falcon, Bogart became one of Hollywood's good guys, which makes his performance here even more impressive. At the time, audiences were shocked and disturbed that Bogart would be cast as the bad guy, but it was Walter Huston's Oscar-winning role as the grizzled prospector that stole the show.

Video Highlights

VC-1/1080p encode on a BD-25 disc
1.37:1 aspect ratio
Sharp as a tack
Extraordinary detailed
Inky blacks

Audio Highlights

DTS-HD MA 1.0 soundtrack
Intelligible dialog
Wonderful Max Steiner score
Front-heavy presentation

Warner consistent quality with its catalog titles is commendable and here's another example of taking a 60+ year old film and making it look brand new.

Bonus Materials

John Huston: The Man, The Movies, The Maverick documentary (SD)
Discovering Treasure: The Story of the Treasure of the Sierra Madre featurette (SD)
Warner Night at the Movies
8 Ball Bunny cartoon (SD)
Radio version of the film
Theatrical trailer

If you're a fan of classic cinema, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre belongs in your collection. It features a timeless story of greed, friendships, and lost fortunes and looks outstanding on Blu-ray. Highly recommended.

Release Date: October 5, 2010
Studio: Warner

Movie: 9/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 7/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Panamax M5400PM power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics

Comments

Submitted by uavtheo on October 12, 2010 - 9:59am.

Dear David,

Thanks for giving us all a broad overview of the movies that are coming out on Blu-ray. I think that the extent of audio and video improvements over DVD are the deciding factor for making an upgrade for those "must have" movies. My question to you is if you have noticed any studios taking better care/paying more attention to their Blu-ray transfers than others. I recall the initial releases of Gladiator and then The Fifth Element getting panned. The outcry led to a new release of each that was better encoded (I think Scott even mentioned in one of his podcasts that the Fifth Element was recalled???). Regardless, you see any studios as being more "home theater friendly" than others?

Thanks,
Theo

Submitted by David Vaughn on October 12, 2010 - 3:39pm.

Theo,

It certainly depends on the studio. Warner has gotten a lot better in its handling of catalog titles, especially classics such as Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and the Bogart films released this month.

Sony seems to be the best overall studio, although I don't review all of its titles. Disney generally does a good job as well, but they've had a couple of stinker releases as well (Gangs of New York), but they are pretty rare. Fox, Universal, Dreamworks, and Paramount are all hit-or-miss, depending on the title.

Upgrading is a decision that's based on the consumer. If I recommend the disc, then I feel it's worth the upgrade over the DVD. Generally speaking the worst looking Blu-ray is still far superior to a DVD, so I try and leave it up to the reader to decide whether they want to double/triple/quadruple dip on a particular title or not...it's their money!

Submitted by gt350 on November 8, 2010 - 10:42pm.

I think the studios' are more careful then they were with the re mastering some farm it out. But if we keep noticing a bad remake thats what helps, don't by crap!