Tonight's Movie: Wings of the Hawk (1953) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

WINGS OF THE HAWK (1953), a Universal Pictures adventure film long unavailable for home viewing, has now been released on Blu-ray and DVD by Kino Lorber.

Even better news: The Blu-ray edition contains both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the film, along with some nice extras. The 3-D version was newly restored by the 3-D Film Archive.

Van Heflin, who also appeared in Universal's TOMAHAWK (1951), stars as "Irish" Gallagher, a mine owner in 1911 Mexico. 

Greedy Col. Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz, father of future Monkee Mickey Dolenz) takes possession of the mine.  Gallagher attempts to find off Ruiz and his soldiers, to no avail, and ultimately must make a run for it.

It's out of the frying pan and into the fire as Gallagher ends up in the midst of insurrectionists battling Ruiz and his men, unexpectedly led by the beautiful Raquel (Julie Adams).  Gallagher saves Raquel's life by digging a bullet out of her shoulder and earns the trust of the revolutionaries.

Gallagher and Raquel have a common adversary, as Col. Ruiz is responsible for killing Raquel's parents -- a situation complicated by the fact that Raquel's sister Elena (Abbe Lane, CHICAGO SYNDICATE) is in love with him.

A series of skirmishes and captures between the military and guerrillas take place, leading to an explosive showdown at the mine.

WINGS OF THE HAWK is a modestly entertaining film; it has appealing lead actors but their characters are underwritten, and the story is fairly bland.  Fans of Universal Westerns and the lead actors will find it worth a look, though it's not as interesting as the typical Western from that studio.

The unusual premise, with Adams' character leading men into battle, adds a little something different, but as much as I adore Julie Adams, it's a bit hard to believe her in this role, and her portrayal of what one might expect to be a fiery character is...quiet.  To an extent this might read as confidence or bravery, but in the end the character is simply too pallid.

Heflin may not have conventional matinee idol looks, but it's near impossible for him to be boring on screen, which helps, though it would have been nice to know more about his character.  He only has so much to work with from the script, written by James E. Moser from a story by Gerald Drayson Adams.

Lane adds interest with a flashier, more animated character, but her screen time is fairly limited.

WINGS OF THE HAWK was directed by Budd Boetticher and filmed by Clifford Stine.  This 81-minute film was shot in low-budget Simi Valley locations including Corriganville.

The supporting cast includes Rodolfo Acosta, Antonio Moreno, Noah Beery Jr., and Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez.

I reviewed the 2-D Blu-ray version, which is grainier and less impressive than the typical Kino Lorber Blu-ray, but I suspect this might be as good as the print gets. I look forward to viewing the 3-D print at some point in the future, which comes from a new 2K master.

The disc features two commentary tracks, a full-length commentary by the always excellent Jeremy Arnold, and a 20-minute track by 3-D expert Mike Ballew.  Arnold knew the director, and although the movie was only so-so, I'm sure I'll be learning some interesting information when I listen to it later in the week.

The disc also contains the trailer and both 3-D and 2-D versions of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon HYPNOTIC HICK (1953).

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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