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The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) poster

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

Comedy, Romance • 1h 32m

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-friendly & video release

Updated 1 year ago


About the film

The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy outside the store despite not knowing what he looks like. Merrick, not happy at what he sees going on, decides to mete out the rabble-rousers. So he goes undercover as a sales clerk in the shoe department.

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Director: Jack Conway

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: Garson Kanin

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Video:

Only Streaming has 1080p

Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Arrow Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion Blu-ray, not sure about France Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

(Arrow Blu-ray better than Criterion)

Director: W.S. Van Dyke

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray, 4k scan

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray > Kino Lorber see DVDBeaver 

Indicator is using a different restoration from earlier Kino Lorber Blu-ray and it has much better contrast and slightly better grain resolution

Director: George Cukor

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion 4k transfer

Best Audio:

1986 MGM LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

1987 VHS probably even better

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion 4k transfer

Best Audio:

Universal DVD

Director: Gregory La Cava

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Although there's a bit of aggressive grain management see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=15853770&postcount=43 

More from Sam Wood

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Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Probably Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

While no comparison is available, this is indeed a new 4K restoration. However it has its problem like not scanned from best surviving prints due to some issues, or technicolor out of alignment but seems to be still better than older releases

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4k transfer

More from Olive Films

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Director: Alan J. Pakula

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Elaine May

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:

The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.

Audio Notes:

Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.

Director: Frank Borzage

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon US HD Streaming

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Amazon US HD Streaming is from the 2018 UCLA restoration. Olive Films Blu-ray is from an older scan and quite rough. caps

Best Audio:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Olive Films Blu-ray is again rough, with distortion, crackle and other issues, but sounds much more natural. With some EQ the restored track can be significantly improved

Director: Jean Renoir

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: William A. Seiter

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Max Ophüls

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

2017 Olive Films Signature Blu-ray

Best Video:

The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

(Jokers 4K Blu-ray has forced France subs)

The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has raised black levels/gamma issue, good when fixed

Best Audio:

1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc

Director: Don Siegel

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

All three are not ideal.

All three are not ideal.

  • Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has frozen grain, sharpening, lots of debris, and handles lesser materials. The supposed non-Superscope version is false advertising. It merely reveals more picture information. 

Best Audio:

1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono

Additional Info:

Criterion LaserDisc has exclusive commentary. Olive Films Signature Blu-ray and BFI Blu-ray each have exclusive extras. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has exclusive commentary.

Director: Michael Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films OOP Blu-ray

Director: André de Toth

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Sources: cinema.ucla.edu (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

New UCLA restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Dave Fleischer

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films  Betty Boop: The Essential Collection: Volume 4 Blu-ray

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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