Napoleon (1927)
Napoléon
Drama, History, War • 3h 55m
Overview
A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.
Director: Abel Gance
Cast: Albert Dieudonné, Nicolas Roudenko, Edmond van Daële, Alexandre Koubitzky, Antonin Artaud, Abel Gance, Gina Manès, Nicolas Koline, Annabella, Marguerite Gance, Yvette Dieudonné, Eugénie Buffet, Maurice Schutz, Philippe Hériat, Acho Chakatouny, Louis Sance, Suzanne Bianchetti, Georges Cahuzac, Max Maxudian, Harry Krimer, Francine Mussey, Robert Vidalin, Henri Baudin, Daniel Buiret, Adrien Caillard, Roger Blum, Pierre Batcheff, Alex Bernard, Carrie Carvalho, Sylvio Cavicchia, Léon Courtois, Damia, Pierre de Canolle, Gilbert Dacheux, Pierre Danis, W. Percy Day, Boris de Fast, Guy Favières, Serge Freddy-Karl, Jean Gaudrey, Simone Genevois, Georges Hénin, Jean Henry, Henry Krauss, Georges Lampin, Alexandre Mathillon, Genica Missirio, Jeanne Pen, Roblin, Jack Rye, Andrée Standart, Suzy Vernon, Petit Vidal, Louis Vonelly, Jean d'Yd, René Jeanne, Philippe Rolla, François Viguier, Grégoire Metchnikoff, Pierrette Lugand, Roger Chantal, Jean Rauzena, Henri Beaulieu, Daniel Mendaille, Paul Amiot, Georgette Sorelle, Mony Thomassin, Lise Carvalho, Florence Talma, Noëlle Mattô, Henry Bonvallet, Raphaël Lievin, Conrad Veidt, Camille Beuve, Olaf Fjord
Artificial Eye UK Blu-ray? Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.
Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
Artificial Eye UK Blu-ray? Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.
Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
2020 Criterion
2020 Criterion > StudioCanal > 2009 Criterion
2007 StudioCanal DVD
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
2020 Criterion
2020 Criterion > StudioCanal > 2009 Criterion
2007 StudioCanal DVD
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion 4K Blu-ray/2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray (preference)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray
Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion 4K Blu-ray/2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray (preference)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray
Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, 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
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, 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
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: 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: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI BDs 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 BD is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made BDs of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber BD!!! 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 BD remains one of the worst BDs of all time for this reason.
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI BDs 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 BD is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made BDs of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber BD!!! 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 BD remains one of the worst BDs of all time for this reason.
251 min cut (Extended): Fox Blu-ray. Eagle Pictures has forced Italian subs in some parts
Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray, caps
The 4K includes both theatrical and extended cuts. It's overall a solid upgrade over previous discs, but some will strongly dislike the color grading.
There are some issues with encoding and grain management.
Nic's review:
Some definitely messed with it as there’s grain management going on that resulted in magnetic, squishy grain movement. Both cuts (4K discs) are affected and it doesn’t look like an encoding issue to me as the bitrates don’t drop down to single digits á la Paramount or StudioCanal. During opticals, the lowest I’ve noted on the Extended 4K was around 30 MB/s vs. ~5 MB/s more for the theatrical cut.
Darker scenes are mostly (but not always) better but when it gets brighter, particularly in exteriors or scenes like the Jennifer Connelly dance scene at minute 38, I can’t unsee the digital tinkering as it does some damage texturally.
I compared it with the Eagle Pictures and Warner Bros Fox Blu-ray of the extended cut and they all look fine without grain management like that. Eagle Pictures’s Blu-ray is an older one if anyone’s curious and credited to another authoring house than 64Biz, which did the 4K.
Other than that, except for some encoding-related chroma noise that peeks through in the DV layer, Eagle Pictures did everything right. They corrected the framing to 1.85, kept the original English titles, the English restoration note, subtitles, HDR/DV is gentle and respectful of the source black levels are better than on the Warner Bros/Fox Blu-ray. Without that grain management, this would’ve been the all-timer release we all longed for.
251 min cut: Fox Blu-ray (24-bit, Eagle Pictures is 16-bit, not audible)
229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc (missing 2 minutes, but original mono mix was never released on DVD/Blu-ray)
Extended edition adds scenes cut from the theatrical, but from a much lower quality source. It's intended to approximate the original cut, but to what extent that is true is debatable.
US theatrical cut is infamously bad, was panned at release and never re-released on home video.
251 min cut (Extended): Fox Blu-ray. Eagle Pictures has forced Italian subs in some parts
Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray, caps
The 4K includes both theatrical and extended cuts. It's overall a solid upgrade over previous discs, but some will strongly dislike the color grading.
There are some issues with encoding and grain management.
Nic's review:
Some definitely messed with it as there’s grain management going on that resulted in magnetic, squishy grain movement. Both cuts (4K discs) are affected and it doesn’t look like an encoding issue to me as the bitrates don’t drop down to single digits á la Paramount or StudioCanal. During opticals, the lowest I’ve noted on the Extended 4K was around 30 MB/s vs. ~5 MB/s more for the theatrical cut.
Darker scenes are mostly (but not always) better but when it gets brighter, particularly in exteriors or scenes like the Jennifer Connelly dance scene at minute 38, I can’t unsee the digital tinkering as it does some damage texturally.
I compared it with the Eagle Pictures and Warner Bros Fox Blu-ray of the extended cut and they all look fine without grain management like that. Eagle Pictures’s Blu-ray is an older one if anyone’s curious and credited to another authoring house than 64Biz, which did the 4K.
Other than that, except for some encoding-related chroma noise that peeks through in the DV layer, Eagle Pictures did everything right. They corrected the framing to 1.85, kept the original English titles, the English restoration note, subtitles, HDR/DV is gentle and respectful of the source black levels are better than on the Warner Bros/Fox Blu-ray. Without that grain management, this would’ve been the all-timer release we all longed for.
251 min cut: Fox Blu-ray (24-bit, Eagle Pictures is 16-bit, not audible)
229 min cut: Warner Bros LaserDisc (missing 2 minutes, but original mono mix was never released on DVD/Blu-ray)
Extended edition adds scenes cut from the theatrical, but from a much lower quality source. It's intended to approximate the original cut, but to what extent that is true is debatable.
US theatrical cut is infamously bad, was panned at release and never re-released on home video.
Director: Billy Wilder
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 is different version of the BD 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: Billy Wilder
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 is different version of the BD 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: Billy Wilder
Director: Billy Wilder
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Director: Éric Rohmer
Director: Éric Rohmer
Director: Jacques Rivette
Director: Jacques Rivette
MoC > 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.
MoC > 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: Leos Carax
Shout! Factory BD (caveat: burned-in English subtitles)
The Indomina release (and possibly some other releases) censor a scene of full frontal nudity via optical blurring, the Shout release is uncensored.
Director: Leos Carax
Shout! Factory BD (caveat: burned-in English subtitles)
The Indomina release (and possibly some other releases) censor a scene of full frontal nudity via optical blurring, the Shout release is uncensored.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > France Potemkine 4K Blu-ray > Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray see caps. Criterion has the best encode.
While the framing of Criterion is different, they are actually both faithful to the original theatrical versions see post1 and post2 by b0b.
1993 New Line LaserDisc
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > France Potemkine 4K Blu-ray > Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray see caps. Criterion has the best encode.
While the framing of Criterion is different, they are actually both faithful to the original theatrical versions see post1 and post2 by b0b.
1993 New Line LaserDisc
Director: Lars von Trier
Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray or France Potemkine Blu-ray (needs gamma correction)
The movie was shot in HD and France Potemkine Blu-ray (needs gamma correction) has slightly stronger encoding than Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray. Curzon Blu-ray is the worst of all three (not by much) see caps.
Director: Lars von Trier
Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray or France Potemkine Blu-ray (needs gamma correction)
The movie was shot in HD and France Potemkine Blu-ray (needs gamma correction) has slightly stronger encoding than Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray. Curzon Blu-ray is the worst of all three (not by much) see caps.
More Drama on Blu-ray
Directors: Thomas Bentley & Niall McCloskey & Sam Halleron & Rachel Traynor & Mike Deedigan
Directors: Thomas Bentley & Niall McCloskey & Sam Halleron & Rachel Traynor & Mike Deedigan
Director: Rob Reiner
US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook Edition 4K Blu-ray > Sony 2019 Standard Edition 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray added Dolby Vision and more extras
Original Mono mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray Sony Blu-ray
The DVD has an isolated score track
In addition to the new Atmos track, both 4K Blu-ray releases have ported over the previous lossless 5.1 remix from the older 1080p Blu-ray in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and also include the original theatrical mono mix in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Only the US Steelbook has Dolby Vision
Director: Rob Reiner
US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook Edition 4K Blu-ray > Sony 2019 Standard Edition 4K Blu-ray
US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray added Dolby Vision and more extras
Original Mono mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray Sony Blu-ray
The DVD has an isolated score track
In addition to the new Atmos track, both 4K Blu-ray releases have ported over the previous lossless 5.1 remix from the older 1080p Blu-ray in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and also include the original theatrical mono mix in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Only the US Steelbook has Dolby Vision
Director: Robert De Niro
Director: Robert De Niro
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: William A. Wellman
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: William A. Wellman
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
Director: Michael Curtiz
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Michael Curtiz
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Frank Urson
Lobster Films DVD > Flicker Alley Blu-ray (Flicker Alley Blu-ray/DVD has every 25th PAL frame deleted)
2026 4K restoration at proper speed is available to watch on YouTube for free
Director: Frank Urson
Lobster Films DVD > Flicker Alley Blu-ray (Flicker Alley Blu-ray/DVD has every 25th PAL frame deleted)
2026 4K restoration at proper speed is available to watch on YouTube for free
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