Arrowsmith – Blu-ray

Ford’s early sound prestige picture for Samuel Goldwyn gets a really nice upgrade from Warner archive thanks to a recent restoration. The previous dvd was passable, but this Blu-ray is outstanding, you can really appreciate all the innovative sound design in the rainy sequences which all had to be done live on the stage (like Radio!) and the occasional superb German expressionism flourishes are a nice touch. It’s a bit of an outlier from Ford’s staples, but this was the period of his career when he was freelancing while Fox was being restructured after the ouster of William Fox, and it’s interesting to see him stretch out of his comfort zone—and it resulted in the first time one of his pictures got a Best Picture nomination.