Biography from TMDB
Leading role · Director: William Wyler
The 4K Blu-ray 5.0 is the original mix, but more muffled than LaserDisc and even the previous Blu-ray's gentle remix. The Atmos mix is revisionist.
The 50th Anniversary box set has some exclusive extras.
1991 LaserDisc is Dolby Stereo matrix encoded from the original six track master and this was later upgraded to a 5.1 Dolby Digital version prepared for the first DVD. The 5.1 version may have had some slight tweaking in the process. This was reused for the DVD CE boxset and then the 5.1 on Blu-ray seems like a slight upgrade of the DVD track. (The first pressing from the UCE boxset had audio defects rampant on the Blu-ray. These were corrected for standalone pressings.) All 5.1s sound roughly the same as the LaserDisc 2.0 in terms of the mix, but the LaserDisc PCM mastering seems like the only one that is direct without any major processing.
Leading role · Director: Richard Fleischer
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Leading role · Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Leading role · Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Supporting role · Director: William Wyler
Kino Lorber Blu-ray/Final Cut Blu-ray
The Kino BD has additional extras but the Laserdisc still has exclusive extras and commentary not included on the Kino release. AVOID the MGM Blu-ray for the stretched aspect ratio error that was only finally corrected for the Kino Lorber reissue after much fan outcry.
Supporting role · Director: John Carpenter
Shout! Factory Blu-ray has slightly less rolloff of the higher frequencies
Supporting role · Director: James Cameron
Resen 2020 Spain Blu-ray, old WEB-DL (pre 2023/2024 transfer), HDTV rip, or 35mm scan
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Resen 2020 Spain Blu-ray, old WEB-DL (pre 2023/2024 transfer), HDTV rip, or 35mm scan better than 4K Blu-ray with terrible "AI" upscale: screenshots
Supporting role · Director: George Stevens
Small role · Director: Richard Lester
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal's 4K release is similar in encode quality, but has significant glitches in multiple frames. See comparisons 9-16 here: https://slow.pics/c/YkSVb3Ey
The pitch of the StudioCanal 4K's English audio is too high
Criterion has more extras than StudioCanal.
Small role · Director: George P. Cosmatos
Disney 4K Blu-ray for the 4K Theatrical Cut or 2002 Vista Series DVD for the Director's Cut
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Theatrical Cut: Disney 4K Blu-ray caps
Director's Cut: 2002 Vista Series DVD, alleycat's DC restoration better
Alleycat's DC restoration better
Closest to original: 1994 Hollywood Pictures LaserDisc
Other LDs are probably the same
Blu-rays only have 5.1 upmixes but probably fine
Small role · Director: Michael Bay
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(A 4K version was possibly restored in 2025)
Alleycat's extended restoration better
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