It begins with everyone commenting on director John Sturges and his work, and then move on to the pre-production of the film and some legal problems because of all of the interested parties in wanting to make the film, a remake of Akira KurosawaвЂ™s Seven Samurai. I havenвЂ™t seen either in all honesty but looking at the features it looks like the features were taken from both, but the features presenting film scholar Christopher Frayling found on the 2-disc collectorвЂ™s edition, an audio commentary and featurette, are inexplicably missing.ДЄt any rate, we still get the audio commentary featuring Walter Mirisch, assistant director Robert Relyea, and actors Eli Wallach and James Coburn. ThereвЂ™s been multiple releases of the film on DVD, including a вЂњSpecial EditionвЂќ DVD and a 2-disc вЂњCollectorвЂ™s EditionвЂќ DVD. Special features wise this is a bit of an odd release. I usually prefer the mono tracks yet I didnвЂ™t find the 5.1 track excessive and as a remix it is surprisingly decent, but it may edge out the mono track for me only because itвЂ™s the cleaner of the two.

In the end it will come down the preference. ItвЂ™s louder, surprisingly, but its edgier and has more noticeable noise in the background. It also hasnвЂ™t received an extensive restoration. We thankfully still get the mono track, though again it isnвЂ™t lossless. But the audio has been cleaned up, sounds sharp, and is actually quite pleasing. While the splits are nice thereвЂ™s still an issue in that the gunshots are a bit muffled. BernsteinвЂ™s score fills out the environment perfectly, and during gun battles there are bullets whizzing by and ricocheting around the viewer theyвЂ™re not excessively aggressive but theyвЂ™re noticeable. It doesnвЂ™t go overboard with what itвЂ™s doing, sticking primarily to the front speakers but Elmer BernsteinвЂ™s famous score and some gun battles make use of the surrounds.

I usually hate these remixes but must admit for what it is it isnвЂ™t bad. The Blu-ray presents a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track, which is of course a remix of the filmвЂ™s original mono track, also included here in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. In general the picture looks nice, maybe just a little bit heavier on the digital manipulation than I would have liked. The materials used are in top shape and thereвЂ™s very little damage present. Colours look to be rendered nicely, though, with CalveraвЂ™s red shirt the best example of this. It looks like some scrubbing has gone on but itвЂ™s admittedly not an eye sore despite a few quick shots it doesnвЂ™t have an overly waxy look and some film grain remains (and gets heavy in a few darker sequences.) Halos and ringing can be a bit of a problem as well, very noticeable in some shots with set characters against the blue sky. I was shocked some longer shots could present landscapes with such distinguishable textures and depth yet close-ups came off soft with a lack of details in clothing and faces. What bothered me was overall definition, which can vary drastically throughout. Overall this is probably the best IвЂ™ve seen the film but the Blu-ray presentation is open to improvement. Having not seen the previous DVDs I canвЂ™t say how the new Blu-ray compares but I have the feeling itвЂ™s a modest upgrade. MGM and Fox presents John SturgesвЂ™ popular western The Magnificent Seven in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this dual-layer disc.

Magnificant hd dolby surround 5.1