St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
Drama, Romance, Comedy • 1h 48m
Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, Martin Balsam, Andie MacDowell, Joyce Van Patten, Jenny Wright, Jon Cutler, Blake Clark, Matthew Laurance, Gina Hecht, Anna Maria Horsford, James Carrington, Kaaren Lee, Nora Meerbaum, Don Moss, Whip Hubley, Michele Winding, Jim Turner, Mario Machado, Judy Kain, Seth Jaffe, Jeffrey Lampert, Elizabeth Arlen, Scott Nemes, Bernadette Birkett, Vincent J. Isaac, Dean R. Miller, Cindi Dietrich, David Lain Baker, Daniel Eden, Laurel Page, Thom Bierdz, Jamie Anders, J.T. Solomon, Stephanie Feury, Karen Starr
Best English-friendly & video release
Sony 4K Blu-ray looks like a very nice upgrade and is maybe even more but people are debating the addition of a Kieślowski-like yellow color filter they put over a segment in the film at around 16 minutes, on the other hand, this cap of the Blu-ray looks terrible and clearly not right either, so leaning on Sony having reinstated the filter
Updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
About the film
A group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood.
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Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
France Rimini 4K Blu-ray see caps vs Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton & Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Otakar Vávra
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review
Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD
Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Director: Basil Dearden
Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion
Japan GAGA 4K Blu-ray is worse
Director: Joel Schumacher
Director: Joel Schumacher
US/UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray has both the original Dolby Stereo 2.0 mix in its best quailty and the original Dolby Stereo 4-track discrete stems in 4.0.
Director: Joel Schumacher
Theatrical Dolby Digital 5.1: WB LaserDisc AC3, 1997 WB DVD 5.1
2005 5.1 retransfer: 2005 WB DVD Dolby, DTS. WB Blu-ray TrueHD
4K Blu-ray has Atmos remixes with new effects and changes. The original matrix surround track is somewhat different in its mix than the 5.1 discrete but relatively the same.
Director: Joel Schumacher
Dolby Stereo SR: WB LaserDisc (best audio mix of the film)
Dolby 5.1: WB LaserDisc AC3, WB DVD
2005 5.1 retransfer: WB DVD Dolby and DTS, WB Blu-ray TrueHD
4K Blu-ray has Atmos remixes with new effects and changes. The original matrix surround track is better mixed than the 5.1 discrete with more surround and low end engagement amazingly. It also hides the extensive ADR a bit due to the inherent quality dip comparing matrix to discrete formats.
Director: Joel Schumacher
2019 Shout! Factory Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
BD 1080p Comparison: https://slow.pics/c/6hg4Y5fB (USA-Shout! vs AUS-Imprint vs GER-NamelessMedia vs AUS-Shock)
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: David Lean
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: Satoshi Kon
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: Ben Stiller
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Luc Besson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2007 Sony Blu-ray or LaserDisc AC3? (TBC) https://fanrestore.com/thread-7303.html
The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Director: Frank Capra
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