The Fisher King (1991)
Comedy, Drama • 2h 18m
Director: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Jeter, William Jay Marshall, Chris Howell, Adam Bryant, Paul Lombardi, David Hyde Pierce, Ted Ross, Lara Harris, Warren Olney, Frazer Smith, Kathy Najimy, Harry Shearer, Melinda Culea, James Remini, Mark Bowden, John Ottavino, Brian Michaels, Jayce Bartok, Dan Futterman, Bradley Gregg, William Preston, Al Fann, Stephen Bridgewater, John Heffernan, Richard LaGravenese, Anita Dangler, Mark Bringelson, Johnny Paganelli, Diane Robin, Benjamin Redman, Lisa Blades, Christian Clemenson, Carlos Carrasco, Joe Jamrog, John de Lancie, Lou Hancock, Caroline Cromelin, Kathleen Bridget Kelly, Pat Fraley, Mel Bourne, Kristen Connors, Jack Mulcahy, Tom Waits, Craig 'Radio Man' Castaldo
UHD tiers
About the film
Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion and Arrow have exclusive extras
Director: Terry Gilliam
Director's Cut: Criterion 4K Blu-ray
US Theatrical Cut: Universal Blu-Ray
Love Conquers All Cut: Criterion Blu-Ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow UK or Criterion US 4K Blu-ray (preference)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow UK & Criterion US 4K Blu-ray have different gradings (preference, Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by Fidelity in Motion)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed. The compression is better, but some of the grain is lost. Difference is pronounced in screen caps, but not likely to be noticed during playback, without a reference to compare it to. Comparisons
All discs use the same source transfer. It's not of the highest quality, and it includes some slight distortion, looping, clicks, pops, and hum. Criterion cleaned it up for their release, but unfortunately also lost a lot of fidelity in the process.
MGM NTSC DVD doesn't seem to have some of the more prominent distortion and has slightly different EQ but is otherwise the same.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Janus and thus Criterion likely to release 4K Blu-ray in 2027
Director: Hal Ashby
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
See caps https://slow.pics/c/lVdZaG0W
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal's 4K release is similar in encode quality, but has significant glitches in multiple frames. See comparisons 9-16 here: https://slow.pics/c/YkSVb3Ey
The pitch of the StudioCanal 4K's English audio is too high
Criterion has more extras than StudioCanal.
Director: Jacques Tati
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: William Dieterle
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
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Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.