High Plains Drifter (1973)
Western, Drama, Mystery • 1h 45m
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Ging, Stefan Gierasch, Ted Hartley, Billy Curtis, Geoffrey Lewis, Scott Walker, Walter Barnes, Paul Brinegar, Richard Bull, Robert Donner, John Hillerman, Anthony James, William O'Connell, John Quade, Jane Aull, Dan Vadis, Reid Cruickshanks, Jim Gosa, Jack Kosslyn, Russ McCubbin, Belle Mitchell, John Mitchum, Carl Pitti, Chuck Waters, Buddy Van Horn
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
Overview
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
US Paramount/International Warner Bros Blu-ray
US Paramount > International Warner Bros Blu-ray
International Warner Bros Blu-ray
International Warner Bros Blu-ray has a lossless PCM 5.1 track
Warner Bros Blu-ray with TrueHD audio
Director: Clint Eastwood
Dolby Stereo mix
According to one source: "Best audio is the original dolby stereo that is included on the UHD Blu-ray. It sounds miles better than anything released on DVD, Blu-ray (they sound much more muffled), and when compared to the atmos...However, it's not without its faults, as WB had to spoil and boost it causing clipping, still it's the best audio available for the time being."
Director: Clint Eastwood
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode
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: Lewis Teague
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing
R1 DVD
R1 DVD sounds best and has the original mono and a Dolby Stereo remix
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.
Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available
Germany Blu-ray doesn’t have good encoding, with visible blocking and banding etc.
Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP
Kino Lorber Blu-ray retains both the French and German dialogue in their native languages.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Box Set
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray worse than Blu-ray with poor encoding (review)
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
More Western on Blu-ray
Undercrank Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents Blu-ray
Director: George Pal
Sources: mega.nz (opens in a new tab)
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
TV series
Original TV Version: Japan LaserDisc, US OOP Bandai DVD for English dub
"Remix" Remaster: Italy Dynit Blu-ray, US Funimation/Crunchyroll Blu-ray for English dub
The "Remix" remaster has slightly different cuts for some episodes, and completely redone audio mixes. The original TV version of the English dub also has an entirely different audio mix from either the Japanese mix or the "Remix" remaster.
Director: John Ford
Sources: bsky.app (opens in a new tab)
Crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
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