Polly Burson

The Universal HD master is appalling. This is a large format early Technirama film that has been hit with a massive amount of DNR resulting in a smeary appearance throughout with little detail. On one hand it is still a better scan than the old DVD with better color and element issues addressed. On the other it is barely above the DVD upscaled in other moments. The mono audio has been horribly processed to sound thin, canned and lacking in overall fidelity. The DVD clearly uses the same source element for picture and sound and here the sound is left alone. It sounds miles better. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is technically the best US release but this master has been released in Europe where it likely has better encoding. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray adds a basic commentary. This film needs a proper transfer and audio presentation desperately. The HD master is so lackluster that the DVD despite its age is arguably preferable in visuals and certainly far superior in audio.

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.

DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix

Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray

• See what smilebox looks like for its smilebox trailer

• See Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader's review especially why a smilebox version is preferred, for example how a letterboxd version is actually distorted

• Even if you do not prefer the smilebox version, the letterboxd version is still present on disc 1