Creighton Hale

40 films on Best Blurays5 in 4K26 in HD

Creighton Hale (24 May 1888 — 9 August 1965) was an Irish-American theatre, film, and television actor whose career extended more than a half-century, from the early 1900s to the end of the 1950s. Born Patrick Fitzgerald in County Cork, Ireland, he was educated in Dublin and London, and later attended Ardingly College in Sussex. He immigrated to America in his early twenties, traveling with a troupe of actors. While starring in Charles Frohman's Broadway production of Indian Summer, Hale was spotted by a representative of the Pathe Film Company. He eventually became known professionally as Creighton Hale, although the derivation of those names remains unknown. His first movie was The Exploits of Elaine in 1914. He starred in hit films such as Way Down East, Orphans of the Storm, and The Cat and the Canary. When talkies came about, his career declined. He made several appearances in Hal Roach's Our Gang series (School's Out, Big Ears, Free Wheeling), and also played unbilled bits in major talking films such as Larceny, Inc., The Maltese Falcon, and Casablanca. He died in the Los Angeles County city of South Pasadena and was buried at Duncans Mills Cemetery in Northern California.

Biography from Wikipedia via TMDB

By format

List

5 in 4K

UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming

The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Leading role · Director: Paul Leni

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical/Original A negative: MoC Blu-ray

European C/D negative but better picture quality: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

From DVDBeaver: The MoC Blu-ray is scanned from the American A negative, as opposed to the European C or D negatives used by Photoplay and others (Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray), so it is identical with the film US audiences saw in 1927

See caps for comparison

In addition, the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has sepia tinting throughout while the MoC Blu-ray has yellow for normal scenes, blue for night scenes, and some even green tintings.

3.5

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Small role · Director: John Huston

4K · Solid

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2023 WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

HBO MAX WEB-DL/2000 R1 MGM DVD

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Small role · Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Solid

Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray or Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice

Best Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono

Audio Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.

Additional Info:

The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.

4.4