Films
/
The Mischief Makers (1957)
The Mischief Makers (1957) poster

The Mischief Makers (1957)

Les Mistons

Comedy • 18m

Director: François Truffaut

Cast: Gérard Blain, Bernadette Lafont, Michel François, Alain Baldy, Robert Bulle, Henri Demaegdt, Dimitri Moretti, Daniel Ricaulx, Jean-Claude Brialy

Best English-friendly & video release

Video notes:

Criterion Blu-ray (in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel boxdset) has major gamma issues. See caps

Updated 10 months ago


About the film

A group of young boys develops a crush on a girl, leading to jealousy toward her boyfriend. They scheme to disrupt their relationship, and when the boyfriend catches one of them spying, he punishes him harshly. In retaliation, the boys attempt to make the girl doubt her boyfriend's love.

Alternative Titles
The Kids

More from François Truffaut

See more →

Director: François Truffaut

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2001 MK2 DVD

Director: François Truffaut

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray 2K transfer

Best Audio:

WB DVD

Director: François Truffaut

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · i.ibb.co (opens in a new tab) · +1 more

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > 2021 Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray. Carlotta has bad compression and elevated gamma levels, while Criterion shows more shadow details. See caps1 and caps2

Criterion actually handed the flawed MK2 master over to Prasad Corporation for "additional restoration" instead of working on it in-house.

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is another SDR grade inside an HDR container, with average brightness on HDR BL of 83 nits and 100-nit static DV. See fkid post

Best Audio:

2001 MK2 DVD

Director: François Truffaut

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 4K set

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray has corrected gamma levels compared to Carlotta. See nicolas review

Director: François Truffaut

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 4K Blu-ray set

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Carlotta, with debatable color gradings from master.

See nicolas review https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=842821#p842821 
"Carlotta’s encodes were terrible with heavy blocking in the highlights and pervasive chroma noise. Criterion / NexSpec did much better and only occasionally struggles with skies. Grain is finely detailed and it doesn’t look filtered. Grading is debatable and particularly whether all three subsequent films (shot years apart by two cinematographers, one of them being the legendary Néstor Almendros) have roughly the same visual identity. Still, colors are adequately balanced with variations in the (yellowish) hues, there are no tints, black levels and shadow detail is excellent."

Director: François Truffaut

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 4K Blu-ray set

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Carlotta, with debatable color gradings from master (yellow hues).

See nicolas review https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=842821#p842821

"Carlotta’s encodes were terrible with heavy blocking in the highlights and pervasive chroma noise. Criterion / NexSpec did much better and only occasionally struggles with skies. Grain is finely detailed and it doesn’t look filtered. Grading is debatable and particularly whether all three subsequent films (shot years apart by two cinematographers, one of them being the legendary Néstor Almendros) have roughly the same visual identity. Still, colors are adequately balanced with variations in the (yellowish) hues, there are no tints, black levels and shadow detail is excellent."

Director: François Truffaut

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 4K Blu-ray set

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Carlotta, with debatable color gradings from master.

See nicolas review https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=842821#p842821

"Carlotta’s encodes were terrible with heavy blocking in the highlights and pervasive chroma noise. Criterion / NexSpec did much better and only occasionally struggles with skies. Grain is finely detailed and it doesn’t look filtered. Grading is debatable and particularly whether all three subsequent films (shot years apart by two cinematographers, one of them being the legendary Néstor Almendros) have roughly the same visual identity. Still, colors are adequately balanced with variations in the (yellowish) hues, there are no tints, black levels and shadow detail is excellent."

Director: François Truffaut

Best English-Friendly:

UK Artificial Eye Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK Artificial Eye vs France Carlotta no comparison

Director: François Truffaut

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Artificial Eye Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta 4K Blu-ray

Director: François Truffaut

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber Francois Truffaut set

Video Notes:

France is same transfer 1080i no EN subs

More from BFI

See more →

Director: Jacques Tati

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion for 1949 and 1964, BFI for 1964 English Variant and 1994/5

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Best Video:

Jour Germany fete (1949) - Criterion only, HD Jour Germany fete (1964) - Criterion only, HDThe Village Fair (1964, English variant) - BFI only, HDJour Germany fete (1994/5) - Criterion SD, BFI HD

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray > Criterion/StudioCanal. New restoration unreleased.

Director: Claire Denis

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

2027 Criterion Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode; BFI shows noticeable macroblocking

Best Audio:

MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

No dip around 10 kHz, wider dynamic range, more natural EQ; BFI & Carlotta BDs are identically worse; HMAX Streaming is similar to the BDs but has worse dynamics

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2015 Star Media Blu-ray/2019 BFI Player WEB-DL

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2022 BFI Boxset Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Tartan DVD, Criterion DVD

Director: Martin Rosen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2002 R2 WB DVD

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray/BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion and BFI very similar

Best Audio:

Fox Lorber DVD

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score

Additional Info:

Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays 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 Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! 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 Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2006 Criterion DVD

Director: Edward D. Wood Jr.

Video format: 4K Streaming

More Comedy on Blu-ray

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Frank Oz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Steve Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Jack Conway

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: George B. Seitz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: Jack Conway

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: William Dieterle

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Alicia MacDonald

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Edit history

3 edits

Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 10 months ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.