Trading Places (1983)
Comedy • 1h 56m
Director: John Landis
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Kristin Holby, Paul Gleason, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alfred Drake, Bo Diddley, Frank Oz, Jim Belushi, Al Franken, Maurice Woods, Richard D. Fisher, Jr., Anthony DiSabatino, Bonnie Behrend, Sunnie Merrill, James Newell, Mary St. John, Bonnie Tremena, David Schwartz, Tom Degidon, William Magerman, Alan Dellay, Florence Anglin, Ray D'Amore, Bobra Suiter, Herb Peterson, Sue Dugan, Walt Gorney, B. Constance Barry, P. Jay Sidney, Avon Long, Tom Mardirosian, Charles Brown, Robert Curtis Brown, Nicholas Guest, John Bedford Lloyd, Tony Sherer, Robert Earl Jones, Robert E. Lee, Peter Hock, Clint Smith, James D. Turner, Giancarlo Esposito, Steve Hofvendahl, James Eckhouse, Gwyllum Evans, Eddie Jones, John McCurry, Michelle Mais, Barra Khan, Bill Cobbs, Joshua Daniel, Jacques Sandulescu, W.B. Brydon, Margaret H. Flynn, Kelly Curtis, Tracey K. Shaffer, Susan Fallender, Lucianne Buchanan, Paul Garcia, Jed Gillin, Jimmy Raitt, Kate Taylor, Philip Bosco, Bill Boggs, Deborah Reagan, Don McLeod, Stephen Stucker, Richard Hunt, Paul Austin, John Randolph Jones, Jack Davidson, Bernie McInerney, Maurice Copeland, Ralph Clanton, Bryan Clark, Gary Klar, Afemo Omilami, Shelly Chee Chee Hall, Donna Palmer, Barry Dennen, Murray Bandel, Benjean, John Black, John Landis, Shirley Levine, Charles Pendelton, Yvonna Russell, Jan Saint, Arleen Sorkin, Ronald Sylvers, Marlene Willoughby, Jim Gallagher
Best video format
UHD tiers
Overview
A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
Director: Peter Faiman
Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD
International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray
Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
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
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
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.
Director: Richard Linklater
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray
IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Directors: Arturo Perez Jr. & Samantha Jayne
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · mega.nz (opens in a new tab)
Popeye was mixed for a failed Vistasonic system with 4 discrete tracks (L/C/R/S). That mix has never been released on home video in its original form.
The older 5.1 track appearing on older DVD/BD releases sounds excellent. It appears to be a slight upmix of the original mix, only splitting the surrounds and adding LFE. It sounds close to the old analog LaserDisc, which is likely the original mix in a matrixed form.
The 5.1 included on the UHD is a new remix which significantly differs from previous tracks. There are new foley effects all over the place. Music is jarringly spliced in from different sources. Unlike the old 5.1 which had clearly discrete surrounds, the channels surrounds overlap somewhat with the fronts here.
Details on the new mix from Paramount's former head of restoration: https://youtu.be/P-AmjqViJyE?t=788
The 2.0 tracks on all DVDs/BDs are just downmixes of their respective 5.1 mixes.
Samples
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Jamie Babbit
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray is a disaster. The compression on the base layer is horrid, and the oversized 18 Mbps FEL barely helps.
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray includes original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix, albeit lossy, and a 5.1 surround upmix. The stereo track on previous BD and DVD releases is also lossy and sounds about the same.
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Gaumont Blu-ray but no English subtitles: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Deux-sous-de-violettes-Blu-ray/288976/
Director: René Clair
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Charlie Chaplin
1928 version: Image Entertainment DVD
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
1969 version: Criterion Blu-ray > UK Artificial Eye Blu-ray, see DVDBeaver caps.
Japan Kadokawa Blu-ray is the same as AE BD and inferior to Criterion too
Director: Frank Oz
Theatrical Cut: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
Director's Cut: Warner Bros Blu-ray
The 4K Blu-ray has both a poor Dolby Atmos remix and the original theatrical Dolby Stereo mix in its best fidelity but only for the Theatrical Cut.
The Blu-ray has a 5.1 remix for the Director's Cut that, while inferior to the original theatrical Dolby Stereo mix, is still far superior to the Dolby Atmos remix on the 4K Blu-ray, and is the best option for the Director's Cut.
Only the DVD has the isolated score.
Director: Rob Reiner
Arrow 4K Blu-ray releasing December 14 2026
Director: Chris Columbus
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Disney 4K Blu-ray has encoding issues with bitrates dipping into 40mbps, and Kaleidescape has better encoding than Disney see caps
Old Fox Blu-ray master is stretched and sharpened
Director: Jūzō Itami
Director: Tsui Hark
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
There is a newer 4K restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata, which should be of better scan quality. The 4K restoration used on all current 4K disc releases stems from a low-quality Cintel scanner. The newer restoration has yet to be released on home video.
Edit history
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.