John Wayne - An Innocent Man (Digitally remastered in colour) [DVD] [1933]

An Innocent Man is the colorized version of Sagebrush Trail.

An Innocent Man is one of the infamous Lone Star B-Western films that typified the early stages of John Wayne's career. Featuring no budget, sometimes off-kilter sound and the occasional gaffe, the B-Western "genre" is intimately familiar to even the youngest of audiences, thanks to generations of successful copying by and integration into mainstream pop-culture and cinema. What I'm sure many of you might find surprising is that these limitations often bring out the best of Hollywood--location shots are the norm instead of bland studios or abundant CGI, and stuntmen (or actors performing their own stunts ala Wayne) are actually employed to the fullest extent of their ability in order to create drama and visual excitement. Maybe I'm just jaded by the dross that is "modern filmmaking," but the fact that the B-movies of yesterday outshine their modern rivals says something. The classics are far from dead.

Obviously the highlight of this particular title (other than a name change that more directly conveys the conventional plot) is Legend Films' added color. Although the film's appearance obviously isn't up to today's standards (it is nearly eighty years old), the color is as good if not better than first generation full-color films, and manages to look completely natural despite its decades-later addition. Even by this standard, the added color dramatically changes the way that you view the film, making An Innocent Man a unique experience for even the most seasoned Wayne fan.

Another great feature of this re-mastered film is all the bonus material that they include. Special features certainly weren't the norm in the `30s, and they certainly weren't for earlier VHS iterations of Sagebrush Trail. This disc includes vintage Wayne commercials and trailers and several short features about Wayne, his movies and the Western genre itself. Also worthy of a mention is a trivia game that would test the mental mettle of even the most seasoned Wayne fan.