Midway 11/09/21

Walter Mirisch’s slam-bang, eardrum-pounding Sensurround stock footage orgy for the Centennial Year gathers an impressive lineup of big stars to celebrate the U.S. Navy’s biggest aircraft carrier battle: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune. Director Jack Smight manages the talky, exposition-laden account of a sprawling, complicated battle rather well, at least in terms of clarity. What is unwatchable pan-scanned on TV isn’t half bad for fans of big-scale war movies. PI gives us an approximation of Sensurround (I think), and also John Ford’s short subject The Battle of Midway from 1942. On Region B Blu-ray from Powerhouse Indicator.
11/09/21