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The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)
The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) poster

The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)

Comedy, Romance • 1h 28m

Director: Alexander Hall

R1 Sony DVD

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago

Video notes:

(Icons of Screwball Comedy Vol 2)

Overview

A best-selling author of women's issues and a medical academic find it is to their mutual advantage to falsely claim that they are married.

Release details

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Length
88 mins
Type
Movie

Featured in Screwball Comedies

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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: Jack Conway

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

HBO Max HD Streaming

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive Blu-ray in Oct

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:

> 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 Alexander Hall

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Director: Alexander Hall

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Directors: George Somnes & Alexander Hall

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Alexander Hall

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray, 2k transfer

Director: Alexander Hall

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

More from Sony

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Director: Luc Besson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

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

Audio Notes:

The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.

Additional Info:

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: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode

Best Audio:

1994 LaserDisc (marginally)

Director: Frank Capra

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Frank Capra Boxset Blu-ray

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Best English-Friendly:

Taiwan Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta Blu-ray, HD transfer, also available in a set

Best Audio:

2006 Japan Kinokuniya DVD

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray or Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode)

Video Notes:

Sony 4K Blu-ray and France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode) are similar

Director: Michael Arias

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

GKIDS 4K Blu-ray is a sharpened upscale. Caps

Best Audio:

GKIDS 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has a true lossless English dub and correct volume levels for the Japanese audio

Additional Info:

GKIDS has correct English subtitles that change a few lines from the director-approved dubtitles, to match with the Japanese dialogue better while still remaining true to director Michael Arias' intent. The corrected GKIDS subtitles are director-approved.

Director: David Fincher

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

4K Blu-ray has exclusive “unrated” audio with a small change to one line under the request of David Fincher (removed the poor dub over of frickin’ in the line “Screw it, let’s gut the f**kin’ nerd.”).

Director: Martin Scorsese

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

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

Video Notes:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Michael Apted

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Starz is Streaming in HD with OAR

Or Sony Special Edition DVD

Director: David Greene

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Blu-ray

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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