William Wyler

20 films on Best Blurays3 in 4K16 in HD1 in SD

William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born film director, producer, and screenwriter. Notable works include Ben-Hur (1959), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Mrs. Miniver (1942), all which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture. He earned his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness. Film historian Ian Freer calls Wyler a "bona fide perfectionist," whose penchant for retakes and an attempt to hone every last nuance "became the stuff of legend." His ability to direct a string of classic literary adaptations into huge box office and critical successes made him one of Hollywood's most bankable moviemakers during the 1930s and 1940s.

Biography from TMDB

By format

List

3 in 4K

UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming

Roman Holiday (1953)

4K · Superior Imports

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Plaion 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Italy Plaion 4K Blu-ray > Paramount 4K Blu-ray (marginally)

4.2

Ben-Hur (1959)

4K · Excellent

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

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.

Additional Info:

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.

4.1