Sign Of The Pagan [DVD]

Nothing to dislike. It arrived on 12-23. Sound & picture quality are very good. Most critics panned this movie when it was released, and probably would today. It it still one of my favorite films.

This is not a review of the product. It is a warning to potential buyers.The description lists this French Blu-Ray import as an A/B/C All region disk. There is a DVD version included, which is exclusively PAL. That much I understood, but when I tried to play the A/B/C Blu-Ray disk, the Universal logo appeared. So far, so good. It was then followed by an announcement in French about the film (“The Sign Of The Pagan”). Then the screen went BLACK, and the counter stopped. (No Menu appeared.) I got the same result on two other Blu-Ray players (of recent vintage). Upon examining the back of the box, there was no written mention about A/B/C All Region at all, as I have come to expect from Australian and Spanish All Region Blu-Ray releases. It instead reads PAL. Period. I then Googled the product’s complete Cover image and it corresponds to the box I was holding in front of me, and to ALL product illustrations on every website offering it for sale.Question: Does anyone have a different experience with this particular product? Does it play on any Region One player? Or did I simply get a defective disk? Or is this French Import really A/B/C? It definitely is PAL, but that’s not how they are advertising it. And none of the sellers are showing the back of the box where the Logo for A/B/C should be. Needless to say I returned the product and got a refund.The One-Star is not awarded as criticism of the film or the DVD. It is simply that there is no other choice (like No Stars), and I couldn't give 3 or 5 Stars to something I did not get to see.

Jack Palance makes a great Attila the Hun and Jeff Chandler is always a good leading man. Better than average quality for this type of film, kind of pre-peplum. Directed by Douglas Sirk

Great old Douglas Sirk film and Jack Palance steals the show as Attila the Hun.

When ordering this movie, make sure you convert you DVD Player to Region 1 or 0, it's very simple, depending on what type you have, just get the code

Great quality picture and audio and excellent movie

Might not be historicly correct but I still enjoyed it

Sign of the Pagan is not quite the embarrassment you might expect when you combine Douglas Sirk (who wanted to film Tamurlain the Great instead), Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance in one of the few films set in the Eastern Roman Empire. This time it's not Chandler but Palance who blacks up as Attila the Hun, and surprisingly good he is too, making the most of the sometimes surprisingly literate dialog in one of his more controlled performances. History barely gets a look in - you can take it as read that there was an Atilla the Hun and a divided Roman Empire and ignore absolutely everything else, including the final battle that never happened - and the Universal backlot gets more use than does the film much good (Rome is represented by Falworth Castle - as in The Back Shield of - while anyone who's ever taken the Universal Studios tour will recognise the Mexican village standing in for a Roman settlement), but somehow the film remains resolutely watchable amid all the hokum. Strange to note of a Sirk film, but here it's the women in the cast who come off worst, although only Palance really shines among the C-listers with an intriguing portrait of Attila as much a liberator as a conqueror, at once riven by superstition but defying his destiny as he cannily reinterprets omens of doom as signs of impending victory to rally his men on his path to destruction.The Spanish DVD is only a fullframe version, but it's worth seeking out the German release from Koch Media, which offers both the CinemaScope version and the simultaneously filmed 'flat' fullframe version with English or German soundtrack options. Rather than a panned and scanned version, the flat version was shot in fullframe at the same time for cinemas that had yet to convert to CinemaScope and is made up of different takes that are sometimes edited quite differently to the widescreen version, making for an interesting comparison. While the `flat' version has much better picture quality, the performances are generally fresher and better in the Scope version, making it the stronger of the two. There's been some criticism of the non-anamorphic transfer of the widescreen version, but since Universal could no longer find a widescreen copy in their archive and Koch had to source it from a print, it's probably as good as we're likely to get at the moment, especially since Universal had no interest in releasing this themselves. The original theatrical trailer is also included (taken from the fullframe version of the film but promoting the CinemaScope version) as well as the German trailer and a stills and poster gallery.

The DVD from SIMPLY MEDIA...where to start, and how to say it...The cover says in small print - Under Licence from Universal - so you have the right to think it will be pristine. So why does the film come up in 4.3 ratio with a Scope picture inside the 4.3 making it too small to watch. I had to use my aspect button on the remote and Zoom 1 to get a reasonable widescreen picture with bars top and bottom. but why wasn't it like this in the first place? The picture quality is fine, but you do lose just a bit of sharpness when you zoom and the sound is sibilant in places. No extras. So 3 stars for the DVD and frustration with Simply Media. The film? Well it's a sword and sandal with perhaps a bit too much dialogue and a recurring religious motif that I felt was not handled well. But why do I like this film? It's pretty obvious...Jack Palance, in maybe the role he was born to play? All teeth, swagger and muscle, with a wonderful wig that reminded me a bit of his perf in "Arrowhead". Poor Jeff comes off a poor second, and only Rita Gam and Alison Hayes shine in the distaff roles. (Was Alison's part left in tatters on the cutting room floor? There is action and romance as they say, and Jack's gang consist of, among others too bearded to recognise, Leo Gordon, Michael Ansara and Pat Hogan. Coming in at 80 minutes there is much to enjoy. and not much time to be bored. 4 stars for the film and 3 for the DVD. I hope this helps if you are in doubt about buying.

I am totally disappointed with this Amazon choice DVD. As a Blue Ray I expected the uncut version of the film. Ludmilla Tcherina was a beautiful Russian dancer. During the feast for the Huns things were not going to the Emperors plans. To appease the irate Huns the Emperor ordered the princess to dance which she did thrilling the Huns. However this entire scene has been cut from the film. I have seen increasingly dvd distributors selling films where scenes have been cut or edited but no mention in the advertising that this has been done. When are we going to get our monies worth from these sellers.

How great to finally have a good CinemaScope transfer of this film. The Spanish and British DVDs are the full frame version (it was filmed both ways) and the German widescreen DVD is a non-anamorphic transfer from an inferior source. This French Blu-ray looks beautiful. The movie itself is exciting and very elaborate for a Universal-International production at the time. Jeff Chandler is good but Jack Palance steals the show.

Finally a both Cinemascope and Standard copy of Sign Of The Pagan,each were filmed separately because Universal was unsure that Cinemascope would be a hit with Movie Theaters.Needless to say Cinemascope became the standard. Both versions are in fine shape,just too bad the Cinemascope version does not come with the 4 track Stereophonic soundtrack.I know it had a Stereophonic soundtrack because I saw it in 1954 in Cinemascope and Stereophonic Sound.

Good old film worth a watch.