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The Artist (2011)
The Artist (2011) poster

The Artist (2011)

Drama, Comedy, Romance • 1h 40m

Director: Michel Hazanavicius

Sony Blu-ray

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

Overview

Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Release details

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Length
100 mins
Type
Movie

Featured in Oscar Best Pictures

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Director: Sian Heder

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Has full and forced English subtitles

See caps comparing Italy vs US release

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos

Audio Notes:

(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)

Director: Miloš Forman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally

Audio Notes:

Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.

Director: John Schlesinger

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

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

Additional Info:

Included Imprint Blu-Ray also has markedly better image compression than the Criterion Blu-Ray, though do note the Imprint has some adjusted color grading within roughly the first five minutes of the film

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16775595&postcount=450

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24237074&postcount=73

Director: Anthony Minghella

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Lionsgate Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release

Video Notes:

US Lionsgate Blu-ray looks very different from either Italy Eagle Pictures or Germany Kinowelt Blu-ray: https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=502 but other than color grading looks better

Director: George Roy Hill

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1998 R1 Universal DVD

Director: Robert Wise

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

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

Audio Notes:

Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.

All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.

Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Video Notes:

> Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Directors: Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · in70mm.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Comparison, caps

Audio Notes:

Capelight's 5.1 is sourced from the original 6-track. The fidelity is comparable to the 4.0 from the 4-track available on previous BDs.
An alternate 5.1 mix was created for the 1999 MGM DVD / LaserDisc, It boasts better high end detail throughout, but the trade off is reduced bass.

See additional info for more detail.

Additional Info:

West Side Story was produced as a 70mm Todd-AO presentation, with an accompanying 6-track audio mix in the following channel configuration: see diagram. 35mm presentations used a 4-track or a mono mixdown instead.

The original 6-track elements were thought to have been lost until they were recovered and restored in 2010. In 1981, for the film's 20th anniversary, a new 6-track mix was created by upmixing the available 4-track elements.

Capelight's release is sourced from original 6-track elements uncovered in 2010, but unfortunately it's not as detailed as it should be, owing to unnecessary noise reduction. It's by no means bad, but it could be better. As the Lc/Rc channels are mixed into into L/C/R, it's also essentially no different to a 4-track fold-down. This isn't exactly an issue as left/right center channels mix down to L/C/R very well, but a better way of handling this would be to use Atmos objects to position those channels where they should be, as Disney did on The Sound of Music.

The 4-track mix was included in a discrete form on MGM's previous BD, it trades blows with Capelight's 6-track-derived 5.1.

Interestingly, the 1999 MGM LaserDisc/DVD release includes a different 5.1 mix, which sounds a bit more detailed than the two other tracks. It's sound signature is on the brighter side, with a slight emphasis on the treble instead of bass like other releases. Although that accounts for some of the perceived detail, even after matching EQ there are spots where Capelight loses out. It's a slight upmix, with split surrounds and LFE. Whether it was derived from 4-track or 6-track elements is not clear, though it matters little, as the end result would have been very similar in either case. There are no booklet notes stating the source used, but it sounds very similar to the matrixed 1992 LD, which was attributed to the 6-track. Still, given that the original elements were thought to have been lost, I would assume that this refers to the 1981 mix.

Previous LaserDisc releases are similar to the discrete 1999 track. All LD releases are missing the intermission music and a brief whistling sequence.

The 7.1 upmix on MGM's Blu-ray offers little of value.

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc

Audio Notes:

> Knockout collection original.

The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a fold-down of the 5.1, the replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error. 

Additional Info:

The Steelbook and UK standard edition is the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.

Director: Norman Jewison

4K · Excellent

More from Sony

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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

Director: Richard Linklater

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray uses the same transfer as Sony but the encoding is slightly worse than Sony and barely noticeable see caps 

Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray in viewing looks very similar to both the Criterion and Sony caps, but no side by side comparison available

Additional Info:

Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray is part of a 3-film box set like the Criterion 

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: John Milius

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Shout! Factory or Germany/UK Capelight 4K Blu-ray?

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: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI has boosted contrast and crushed blacks

Best Audio:

Tartan 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: Nicolas Roeg

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray poor compression, otherwise Second Sight has best Blu-ray

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

> BFI 4K Blu-ray. caps Criterion presents the master as originally graded in SDR whereas FiM added HDR / Dolby Vision for the BFI.

Best Audio:

1991 Criterion LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray's audio mix has more detail than BFI’s and same applies to the subtitles, covering both English and France spoken word

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: M. Night Shyamalan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

BD LPCM 5.1

Audio Notes:

The DTS-HD on the UHD has been dynamically compressed, has had its center channel boosted, and surrounds lowered (typical modern nearfield mix for soundbars).  Very different from the BD and DVD tracks.  The BD LPCM is basically just a lossless version of the DTS and AC3 from the original DVD (the AC3 actually being the superior mix on that particular release).

Directors: Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · filmalert101.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

FiM encode and none of the low-pass filtering present on the Criterion 4K, resulting in more detail and better handling of highlights on Imprint
Review, comparisons

Best Audio:

ITV UK Blu-ray or Indigo DE Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

All HD and 4K sources use the same 2009 restoration. Criterion's master (also used by Imprint) is a bit more rolled off, though the difference is minor.

Director: Tony Scott

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

70mm 6-track mix in 5.1: Paramount THX LaserDisc

Dolby Stereo mix in 2.0: Paramount THX LaserDisc

Additional Info:

The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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