Into the Blu

The Sand Pebbles

Posted on 31. May, 2008 by Bill Geiger in 1080p, 2.35:1, DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 1.0 (French), Dolby Digital 1.0 (Spanish), Dolby Digital 2.0 (English), Drama, Fox, MPEG-2, Reviews, War

For anyone who has read my reviews know, I am not a big fan of the classics.

It is just the way I am. But when I received The Sand Pebbles to watch and review, my interest was definitely peaked given what I had heard about the film. This was my first opportunity to watch a film with famed actor Steve McQueen, as well as world renowned actor and narrator, Richard Attenborough. I was very excited to see what all the talk was about.

Steve McQueen stars as Holman, a veteran of the US Navy. He is assigned to the gun boat San Pablo, nicknamed The Sand Pebbles, to be the chief engineer of the boat. Holman is the kind of man who keeps to himself and does what he does best, and that is care for engines. He has such a passion for engines.

Upon arriving onboard, he is faced with the realization that the Navy he joined years ago is no longer the same Navy. His engine room is actually run by Chinese coolies while his shipmates don?t do much of anything. Not willing to surrender to the ?rice-bowl? way of doing things on board, he takes control of his engine room, leaving the previous engineer as more of a watcher. When an accident occurs where the Chinese engineer gets killed, Holman is ordered to train a replacement. That replacement is Po-Han (Mako). At first not a fan of the Chinese, given his demeanor towards them and his slang words for them, he does take a liking to Po-Han and his opinion of the Chinese people does change for the better.

One of his shipmates he takes a liking to is Frenchy (Richard Attenborough.) One evening at the local bar, Frenchy takes an immediate liking to Maily (Emmanuelle Arsan) who is a ?hostess? at the bar but is being sought after by the other shipmates for a good time. Seeing as she is being taken advantage of, with the assistance of Holman, Frenchy gets to spend a few minutes with her and eventually promises to rescue her from that place.

Love is not only in the air for Frenchy, but Holman as well. On his travels to China, he came in contact with Shirley (Candice Bergen), a teacher, with whom he developed an attraction to. While on a rescue mission, he ends up running into her and she tries to get him to leave the Navy and come stay with her where they can live in peace.

The drama builds as Frenchy is forced to kidnap Maily to keep her safe from harm and Holman needs to decide if his life is to be with Shirley or stay in the Navy.

The cast of The Sand Pebbles was well put together and for not having experienced McQueen before, I must say I found him quite enjoyable. His mannerisms and the ability to work his character so well were nice to experience. It was a true pleasure watching Richard Attenborough work. While watching his scenes with Maily, you could see in his face the passion he had for her. You could easily put yourself in his place.

A young Candice Bergen, at the age of 19, although not a large part of the film, gives a nice performance for one of her first acting roles. Richard Crenna was more of the focus in the second half of the film as the strain of being the captain of The San Pablo began to take an effect on him.

Although not given a large part, the late Mako makes the most of his time on camera and really does a fabulous job. He worked very well with Steve McQueen and as the director of the filmed mentioned McQueen had his hands full in keeping up with Mako and his talent.

Video

The true star of the film was the transfer. Shot entirely in Hong Kong and Taiwan, director Robert Wise was able to shoot some of the most beautiful scenes I have seen in almost any movie I have watched.

Fox did about as good of a job as can be expected given the films age. For the most part, the transfer is very good with limited grain during the daytime scenes. You?ll mostly notice it in the skies. In some of the darker scenes, especially towards the end of the film, the quality changes from scene to scene. At one moment, it will be crystal clear and the next, there is very heavy grain. Of course, I only noticed this as I crept towards my television set. Sitting in my normal position, about 6-8 feet back, the grain could barely be noticed. That being said, the overall quality of the film is well above average.

I didn?t notice any softness to the film and colors were very enjoyable. The whites of the Navy uniforms were bold and never to the point of blooming. The transfer is near top notch quality for its age.

Audio

The MPEG2 @ 20mbps English 5.1 DTS Master Lossless Audio is quite good consider the other option of 4.0 Dolby Digital. The score of the film is very nice and works very nicely with the surrounds. Spanish and French Mono are also available.

The dialogue is 100% center channel and is very clear and easy to hear. Many times throughout the film, the movies score would be playing along with the dialogue.

Special Features

Fox has given The Sand Pebbles an ample amount of extras.

• Commentary by Director Robert Wise and actors Candice Bergen, Richard Crenna and Mako.

• Isolated score track with commentary by Music Producer Nick Redman, Film Music Historian Jon Burlingame and Film Historian/Screenwriter Lem Dobbs.

• Trivia Track

• Road Show Version Scenes
  • This is a series of 13 deleted scenes, some ranging from just a few seconds to about 3 minutes long. The video quality is definitely not up to the standards of the film itself.

• The Making of The Sand Pebbles Documentary
  • This is actually a very interesting making of. It is discussed by Robert Wise, among others, about how the movie came about and what it took to get the movie made properly. This included rewrites and removal of the original writer of the screenplay. Not to mention the problems they encountered in the shooting of the film. Also, they single out the main characters of the film and how they ended up getting their roles. Just a really excellent documentary. It runs just over one hour. If you only watch one of the extras, this is should be the one.

• Steve McQueen Remembered Featurette
  • This is a look back at the life of Steve McQueen through the eyes of those who knew him best.

• A Ship Called Sand Pebbles Featurette
  • Richard Attenborough narrates about the building of the Sand Pebbles boat as well as all that it was used for.

• The Secret of San Pablo Featurette
  • Richard Crenna narrates about the making of the film, the boat and its engine as well as the surrounding areas where the movie was filmed.

• China 1926
  • A look at how they were able to set the tone and replicate how it was back in China during 1926.

• Bob Wise in Command
  • The focus of director Bob Wise and the challenges he faced while film The Sand Pebbles.

• Radio Documentaries narrated by Richard Attenborough

• Radio Spots

• Original Theatrical Trailer

Final Thoughts

The Sand Pebbles is a solid film with some flaws. For one, it does drag on for a long three hours. It really isn’t the masterpeac e I was made to believe it was. However, the good outweighed the bad for me and the more I think about the movie, the more I find to like about it. It usually takes me a little while to give a firm decision on the movie and although it does run very long, I have to recommend The Sand Pebbles. Just don?t expect the time to just fly by.