When it came to mastering The Big Country for Bluray, MGM technicians were both the bad guys and the good guys. They incorrectly mastered the 1958 William Wyler film eight years ago so that their 2011 Bluray appeared to have the mumps, but they also fixed the problem when Kino Lorber bought the video rights last year.

KL told MGM they would pay to fix the mumps problem, but MGM did it on their own dime, I’m told, while at the same time removing dirt, enhancing the color, deepening the black levels, etc. So the just-released KL Bluray looks a lot better.

Plus the extras are either new or new-to-Bluray (audio commentary by Sir Christopher Frayling, “Directed by William Wyler”, a 60-minute documentary; Wyler doc outtakes with Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston and Billy Wilder; interviews with Catherine Wyler, Cecilia Peck, Carey Peck, Tony Peck and Fraser Heston; “Fun in the Country” featurette; and Larry Cohen on Chuck Connors.