The Green Mile (1999)

Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Frank Darabont, Stephen King
Starring: Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter

Paul Edgecomb is the head of the block guards during the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility. Through his many years of watching men live and die Paul's faith and sanity has deteriorated. He is assigned to watch over John Coffey, a giant man convicted of murdering two little girls. But John acts more like a child than a cold-hearted murderer. Edgecomb and other guards find themselves in a moral dilemma when they witness John accomplish healing miracles.

Much like The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile's memory play aesthetic lends itself to a color palette soaked in nostalgic honey brown tones, a warm and slightly stylized appearance bolstered by a solid, but not quite perfect 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer. This is certainly the best the film has ever looked on home video, and I personally wouldn't hesitate to upgrade from the DVD, but there are a few slight issues that keep The Green Mile from being thoroughly impressive. Though the film has always had a strong sense of saturation and contrast, here primary colors can seem too strong at times—like old Mr. Edgecomb's red rain slicker or the yellow cast in young Paul's house—and black levels have a tendency to crush detail during some of the dimmer indoor scenes. Dark hair sometimes becomes a mass of solid black, sides of faces are lost to chiaroscuro shadows, and the lapels and pockets of the prison guards' deep navy uniforms are frequently indiscernible. How much of this is intentional is hard to say, but in all other ways, this is a winning transfer. Aside from a few soft shots, clarity is exceptional, with every pore, crease, and bead of sweat visible on Tom Hanks' face. I noticed some light edge enhancement during a few scenes, but you'd have to go out of your way to look for it. Film lovers will also be glad to hear that The Green Mile retains all of its natural and pleasing grain structure, which is thin enough most of the time that even the most virulent grain haters won't mind. And as the film fits nicely onto a 50-GB platter, you won't find any compression-related problems like banding or blocking. If it weren't for the occasionally too strong black levels I would probably be singing this transfer's praises, but even with the crush, I found the film's picture quality to be warm, sharp and inviting.

CHOOSE A LIST OF YOUR INTEREST:

• Top 100 Movies of All Time
• Documentaries
• Films with Sex & Nudity (450+ titles)
• Detective/Mystery Movies

NOTE: If your favourite media player (VLC) fails to play this video, you can install PotPlayer and run the video with it. If PotPlayer also fails to play it, please send me a private message.

Mac users may get help from the Internet. As I don't have a Mac device, I couldn't test this video on this platform.