George Sowards

Paramount's DVD is from the UCLA photochemical restoration. It remains the highest quality video release of the film which is long overdue for a new transfer and could vastly improve in a new restoration as Sony proved with their 4K restorations of the Ranown Cycle. The DVD does have extensive well done supplements and is still essential. A French BD was released in late 2024 and an earlier Japanese BD exists but their transfer sources are unknown. Reviews on Amazon France seem to indicate the BD is a poor version of the DVD's HD master source.

MoMA has 35mm restoration but no release yet

Arrow's deluxe presentation is a fantastic package with great supplements, art and printed materials. Sadly the master is a heavily processed Paramount affair. It has seemingly been severely grain managed and the mono audio is horribly thin when it shouldn't be. Stereo and 5.1 options are also given but they seem to be more of home video remixes. They do not have the fidelity issue of the compromised mono but also show marked differences as if they were remixed from stem sources. This seems to have suffered lesser degrees of the problems that plagued The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance's 4K master. This is the best version to date but one wishes Paramount could leave scans alone.