City Girl (1930)
Drama, Romance • 0m
Director: F. W. Murnau
Cast: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, David Torrence, Edith Yorke, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, Anne Shirley, Tom McGuire, Richard Alexander, Patrick Rooney, Ed Brady, Roscoe Ates, Marjorie Beebe, Eddie Boland, Harry Gripp, Mark Hamilton, Werner Klingler, Charles Lane, Ivan Linow, Arnold Lucy, Helen Lynch, Michael Mark, Jack Pennick, David Rollins, William Sundholm
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
MoC seems to be similar to Carlotta, but Carlotta doesn’t have EN subtitles and really really hard to find
MoC: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews49/city_girl_blu-ray.htm
Carlotta: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews53/f.w._murnau_boxset_blu-ray.htm
Overview
A waitress from Chicago falls in love with a man from rural Minnesota and marries him, with the intent of living a better life - but life on the farm has its own challenges.
Director: John Ford
Sources: ibb.co (opens in a new tab)
Warner Archive Blu-ray is 4K restoration from nitrate projection elements
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
Director: Frank Capra
Director: William Dieterle
Director: David Butler
Video format: Only Unofficial Sources
Sources: archive.org (opens in a new tab)
The DVD isn't an official one, and according to a user review on Amazon:
This DVD comes from Archive.org, where the movie can be viewed for free. The original source, comes from the Fox Movie Channel
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
> Kino Lorber (see slowpics for comparison). No information on Potemkine.
MoC has higher bitrate than Kino Lorber, also the contrast is increased. But there is no noticeable reduction in visible film damage presented between the two offerings.
Director: F. W. Murnau
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
MoC vs Kino Lorber no comparison, Kino Lorber is the same old restoration
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
MoC or Kino Lorber
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
MoC vs Kino Lorber, different tint http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_73/early_murnau_blu-ray.htm
Director: F. W. Murnau
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray, where Kino Lorber is supposedly a new restoration, different tint but darker and less shadow details http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_73/early_murnau_blu-ray.htm
Director: F. W. Murnau
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber and MoC Blu-ray looks essentially the same, with Kino Lorber marginally better https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=263&y=236&d1=11968&d2=9399&s1=118114&s2=90719&l=1&i=7&go=1
Director: F. W. Murnau
Director: F. W. Murnau
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
MoC or US Flicker Alley
Sources: flickeralley.com (opens in a new tab)
- MoC included in boxset
(unsure)
Germany new 2k restoration, no subs
- US Flicker Alley not sure which restoration
Director: Paul Leni
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)
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.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Director: John Frankenheimer
Director: Hal Ashby
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
MoC slightly better than Kino Lorber http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_76/anatahan_blu-ray.htm
Director: Fritz Lang
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC Blu-ray or Kino Lorber Blu-ray
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC 2-disc DVD set > Kino Lorber 1-disc Restored Authorized Edition DVD
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC Blu-ray > Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Eureka MoC Blu-ray, see caps
MoC is sourced from an earlier scan, but still looks more detailed than the later 4K restoration released by Kadokawa in Japan, which has some black crush and DNR. French Capricci disc is sourced from the same scan as MoC but with much worse encoding and wrong levels.
1991 Daiei LaserDisc
Director: James Whale
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Here are some screenshots that include the Cohen Blu-ray and the poor Germany 4K with terrible fake HDR. David’s DV grade is way more subtle and doesn’t blow out the highlights
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray
> MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
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