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Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall

16 films on Best Blurays4 in 4K12 in HD

Lauren Bacall photo

Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks. She began her career as a model. She first appeared as a leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have and Have Not (1944) and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in Bogart movies The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948), as well as comedic roles in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Designing Woman (1957) with Gregory Peck. Bacall worked on Broadway in musicals, earning Tony Awards for Applause in 1970 and Woman of the Year in 1981. Her performance in the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination. In 1999, Bacall was ranked 20th out of the 25 actresses on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list by the American Film Institute. In 2009, she was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Academy Honorary Award "in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures." Bacall died on August 12, 2014, at the age of 89. According to her grandson Jamie Bogart, the actress died after suffering from a stroke.

Biography from Wikipedia via TMDB

4 in 4K

UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming

Leading role · Director: Sidney Lumet

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Original aspect ratio and much better encoding; caps

Audio Notes:

Both UHDs only have 5.1 and a downmix. Paramount US Blu-ray sounds okay, close to the LaserDisc.

Supporting role · Director: Rob Reiner

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · instagram.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray > US Kino Lorber/Germany Capelight - caps and audio comparison on this page. Discussion is still ongoing about the 2.0 but as none of the three 4Ks seem to have the true original mix, I think it's fair to leave them all in the blue tier for now and only note that Kino Lorber has the worst PQ.

Best Audio:

Nelson Entertainment USA LaserDisc

Additional Info:

The initial release of the Capelight 4K mediabook had some playback issues with Dolby Vision on Panasonic devices due to an encoding error, the HDR10 apparently works fine, see Capelight’s official response here. 

The 4K master has a shot at the very end of the movie (on James Caan's face) that looks incredibly soft and not good at all. This was visible on the DCP as well so it might just be a source issue rather than being the fault of Kino, Capelight or Arrow.

Supporting role · Director: Jonathan Glazer

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Small role · Director: Lars von Trier

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray or France Potemkine Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

(needs gamma correction)

The movie was shot in HD and  France Potemkine Blu-ray (needs gamma correction) has slightly stronger encoding than Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray. Curzon Blu-ray is the worst of all three (not by much) see caps.

12 in HD

Blu-ray or HD streaming

Leading role · Director: Jean Negulesco

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Fox Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Michael Curtiz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Douglas Sirk

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion is new 2K restoration, but wrong aspect ratio (1.85:1 instead of AR 2.00:1)

Leading role · Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Delmer Daves

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Jack Smight

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Leading role · Director: Michael Curtiz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

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