You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
Comedy • 1h 16m
Directors: Edward F. Cline & George Marshall
Cast: W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Constance Moore, John Arledge, James Bush, Thurston Hall, Mary Forbes, Edward Brophy, Arthur Hohl, Princess Baba, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Blacaman, Ernie Adams, Dorothy Arnold, Irving Bacon, Lulu Mae Bohrman, Ralph Brooks, Eddy Chandler, Dora Clement, Jack Rube Clifford, Richard Clucas, Charles Coleman, Evelyn Del Rio, Drew Demorest, Dick Dickinson, Jan Duggan, Eddie Dunn, Billy Engle, Jack Gardner, Grace Goodall, Jennifer Gray, Bobby Hale, Ted Hardy, Sam Harris, Leyland Hodgson, Otto Hoffman, Lloyd Ingraham, Frank Jenks, Si Jenks, Tiny Jones, Jack Kenney, Joe King, Ivan Lebedeff, Ethelreda Leopold, Jimmie Lucas, Kathryn Marlowe, Eric Mayne, Frank Melton, Harold Miller, Edmund Mortimer, James C. Morton, Ray Moyer, Byron Munson, Charles Murphy, Frank O'Connor, George Offerman, Jr., David Oliver, George Ovey, Lee Phelps, June Preston, Ralph Sanford, Harry Stafford, Grady Sutton, Ferris Taylor, Don Terry, Walter Tetley, Edward Thomas, Lelah Tyler, Minerva Urecal, Dale Van Sickel, Russell Wade, Beryl Wallace, Delmar Watson, Florence Wix, Bill Wolfe, Edward Woolf, Bill Worth, Arthur Yeoman, Duke York, Ruth Cherrington, Hazel Dohlman
Compare the discs
About the film
Fields plays "Larsen E. Whipsnade", the owner of a shady carnival that is constantly on the run from the law. Whipsnade is struggling to keep a step ahead of foreclosure, and clearly not paying his performers, including Bergen and McCarthy, who try to coax money out of him, or in McCarthy's case, steal some outright.
Directors: Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline
MoC or Kino Lorber Buster Keaton: The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 boxset Blu-ray
No comparison available
Directors: Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton
MoC or Kino Lorber Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 Blu-ray boxset
(a newer restoration by Lobster Films compared to the older 1920-1923 boxset)
No comparison between MoC and Kino Lorber available
MoC boxset has more extras and commentary tracks, while also providing a 184-page book, a substantially better extras package compared to Kino Lorber
Director: Edward F. Cline
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Anthony Mann
Kino Lorber Blu-ray reissue (4K restoration)
Massive picture upgrade as the 4K restoration addresses the massive color fringing that has plagued all previous dated masters. Oddly the titles are a different color now.
4K restoration is a gigantic and essential picture upgrade but only available on the Kino Blu-ray reissue. No UHD has been made or announced by anyone.
Director: Anthony Mann
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 Lorber Blu-ray 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 Blu-ray 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: James Neilson
The Universal HD master is appalling. This is a large format early Technirama film that has been hit with a massive amount of DNR resulting in a smeary appearance throughout with little detail. On one hand it is still a better scan than the old DVD with better color and element issues addressed. On the other it is barely above the DVD upscaled in other moments. The mono audio has been horribly processed to sound thin, canned and lacking in overall fidelity. The DVD clearly uses the same source element for picture and sound and here the sound is left alone. It sounds miles better. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is technically the best US release but this master has been released in Europe where it likely has better encoding. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray adds a basic commentary. This film needs a proper transfer and audio presentation desperately. The HD master is so lackluster that the DVD despite its age is arguably preferable in visuals and certainly far superior in audio.
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
2010 US Kino Lorber or 2012 UK Artificial Eye
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray has the best encoding out of all the older discs.
Kino Lorber and Artificial Eye Blu-ray use the same master, between the two the PQ on Kino's release is slightly better, but the difference is negligible. However, Artificial Eye also includes the 2.0 stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 mix, while Kino only includes 5.1 mix.
The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.
Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration
Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:
With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.
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: Buster Keaton
Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027
Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?) > Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films
Director: Tony Gilroy
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Director: George Stevens
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has unusually strong encode but only a minimal upgrade over the excellent Eureka Blu-ray
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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