Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
Rocco e i suoi fratelli
Drama, Romance • 3h
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Alessandra Panaro, Spiros Focás, Claudia Cardinale, Max Cartier, Corrado Pani, Rocco Vidolazzi, Claudia Mori, Adriana Asti, Enzo Fiermonte, Nino Castelnuovo, Rosario Borelli, Renato Terra, Roger Hanin, Paolo Stoppa, Suzy Delair, Jerome Adjer, Orlando Baralla, Luigi Basagaluppi, Sauveur Chioca, Bruno Fortilli, Biagio Gambini, Becker Masoero, Rocco Mazzola, Felice Musazzi, Eduardo Passarelli, Emilio Rinaldi, Gino Seretti
Best English-friendly, video & audio release · updated 2 months ago
BFI 4K Blu-ray is significantly better than older Blu-ray however the HDR grade is questionable as it introduces black crushes, see nic's review and caps
For Blu-rays, Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray > MoC Blu-ray see caps
All disc sourced from the 4K restoration use the same solid audio track. Older DVD releases are from a higher generation source with less detail and more hiss.
UHD tiers
Overview
When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.
Director: Luchino Visconti
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Blu-ray doesn’t have good encoding, but according to BR, the English Cult Films Blu-ray is worse, and the original master just isn’t that good
Director: Luchino Visconti
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion, 4k transfer
Director: Luchino Visconti
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion resto bad? but no other BDs
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Video format: 4K Streaming
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Film Masters youtube (raw scan)
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
BFI Blu-ray renders grain structure better than Severin 4K Blu-ray’s disappointing encode, although Severin does feature an HDR grading with Dolby Vision. Furthermore, Severin’s soundtrack is worse due to the noise reduction applied.
Severin 4K Blu-ray has very good extras that are more relevant to the film
Director: Jan Švankmajer
Directors: Cecil M. Hepworth & Percy Stow
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Director: John Cassavetes
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Gus Van Sant
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory and Carlotta use the same scan https://slow.pics/c/Wcn5YFlw, the Carlotta has two extra bonus features
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Olive Blu-ray
Barebones Olive BD of a Paramount HD master. Visually it's solid overall with some moments of great clarity, primarily in the big outdoor and aviation sequences. Otherwise it shows its age.
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Shout Factory Blu-ray
Shout's BD has both cuts of the film in addition to the 3.0 stereo and 2.0 mono mixes making it the first time the full theatrical cut is available with the 3.0 mix. The new commentary is good. The 3.0 stereo sounds wonderful and the mono sounds solid.
That's where the positives end. This is the same terrible Universal DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc with a terrible encode making both versions share the disc separately taking up more space. This master was already poor for DVD and is nearly unwatchable here on the Shout disc. It looks virtually identical to the upscaled DVD most of the time with only a bit less noise due to it being 1080p. This is one of the most appalling cases of "DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc" you can possibly find. Absolutely shameful video presentation. This should have never been released this way. Sadly it's still ever so slightly better than the DVD and the only way you get the proper theatrical cut with lossless 3.0 stereo. This is still the best source we have for the film.
Director: Anthony Mann
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
This is an ancient Universal master of a film in dire need of restoration. This only looks somewhat better than the old Universal DVD upscaled and is clearly the same master. Tons of wear, color fringing and other issues abound. The film is stuck at the theatrical widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 when it was composed for Academy ratio. The proper ratio is only found on the trailer, original VHS master and Region 2 PAL DVD. The Kino BD is their usual barebones affair except for flawed low res trailer files and a basic commentary. The film's 3.0 stereo mix is intact alongside the more limited mono mix thankfully. The BD does edge out over the old Universal DVD but that is merely due to it being the same master resolving better in 1080p. This presentation is sadly poor and the film deserves much better.
Director: Alan Clarke
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The 88 Films 4K Blu-ray is disappointing. Indicator Blu-ray > 88 Films Blu-ray. From nicolas:
Fine master, solid HDR but very poorly encoded with strong blocking artifacts in normal areas and clipped highlights that bring Criterion’s Walkabout to mind. Their Blu-ray is slightly better overall but then again still not as good as FiM’s encode for Indicator.
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Eureka UK are considering doing a 4K and actively exploring the possibility: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24363810&postcount=264
Wonderful underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion, but NexSpec encode has clipped highlights with the occasional blockiness. The Criterion Blu-Ray, sourced from their 4K remaster, ironically makes for a more consistent and overall pleasing experience.
Director: Luis Buñuel
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
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