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The Damned (1947)
The Damned (1947) poster

The Damned (1947)

Les Maudits

Drama, War, Thriller • 1h 45m

Director: René Clément

Cast: Henri Vidal, Florence Marly, Fosco Giachetti, Paul Bernard, Jo Dest, Michel Auclair, Anne Campion, Jean Didier, Lucien Hector, Andreas Von Halberstadt, Marcel Dalio, Jean Lozach, Georges Niemann, Karl Münch, Max Hermann, Claude Vernier, Pierre Fuchs, Carrère, Jeanne Herviale, Kurt Kronefeld, Thierry Michel, Paul Sabas

Best video release

Video notes:

No comparisons but Cohen is the only Blu-ray that's English-friendly

Updated 1 year ago


About the film

A group of Nazis and sympathizers board a submarine bound for South America in the hopes of finding shelter.

Featured in Cannes Palme d’Or Winners

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Director: Quentin Tarantino

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray > US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (Taiwan 4K Blu-ray is not low passed as the US 4K Blu-ray and has better grain and fine detail retention)

Best Audio:

Matrixed Dolby Stereo: 1995 Miramax LaserDisc 2.0

Original 5.1 Discrete Mix: 2012 Japan Warner Bros Blu-ray, 1996 Criterion LaserDisc, 2002 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD

5.1 DTS Mix: 1997 Miramax LaserDisc, 2002 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD

Director: Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina

Best Video:

Criterion Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 5 Blu-ray

Director: Jerry Schatzberg

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

Theatrical Cut: Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray
Redux Cut: Lionsgate vs Eagle Pictures?
Final Cut: Lionsgate or Eagle Pictures, both are not great (visible chroma noise)

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

Best Audio:

Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)

Additional Info:

In the Lionsgate US/UK 6-disc set, there are 4 discs of the main feature. For whatever reason, the 4K discs lack the *original track. The Germany 4K Blu-ray release is different on this matter.

  1. UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0

  2. UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos

  3. BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0

  4. BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)

    1. As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.

  5. BD: Hearts of Darkness

  6. BD: Special Features

Director: Bong Joon Ho

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

UK Artificial Eye 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027

Best Video:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)

Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

4K · Excellent

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

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > 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: Luis Buñuel

4K · Solid
Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Radiance Blu-ray / Criterion DVD

Additional Info:

Radiance's audio is ported from the Criterion DVD, see Blah-ray

Director: Jacques Demy

4K · Excellent
Best Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

For Blu-ray Criterion Demy Set > StudioCanal

Director: Renato Castellani

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Best English-Friendly:

UK New Wave Blu-ray

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

Best Video:
Video Notes:
Best Audio:

Germany Universum Blu-ray or France Memento Blu-ray seems to be better than UK New Wave Blu-ray? https://slow.pics/c/LD1gLnYF

US Blu-ray only has 2.0 and no DTS-HD MA 5.1

Additional Info:

UK New Wave Blu-ray, compared to the US Adopt Blu-ray, has the making of documentary and no burned in subtitles

More from René Clément

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Director: René Clément

Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal Blu-ray

Sources: metrograph.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

StudioCanal UK/France

Video Notes:

StudioCanal UK/France has Blu-ray, kinda old transfer

Additional Info:

There is a 4K DCP but no home release yet

Director: René Clément

4K · Excellent

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

Video Notes:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray see caps From nicolas:

Kino has terrible encode with strong blocking in highlights & darker areas and a red push in the master. Plaion (via LSP) is much better encoding-wise and they seemingly adjusted the grade when they did their HDR pass. It’s a fantastic disc.

Director: René Clément

Best Video:

Criterion Jacques Tati Boxset Blu-ray

More from Cohen

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Directors: Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton

Best Video:

MoC/Cohen Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027

Video Notes:

MoC/Cohen Blu-ray > Kino Lorber

Director: Allan Dwan

Best Video:

Cohen Blu-ray?

Director: James Ivory

Best Video:

Cohen 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Cohen 4K Blu-ray caps. Same 4K master that Cohen released on BD but grain resolves much better and the gamma levels are now correctly set.

Director: Jacques Rivette

Best Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4k resto, good bitrate but teal, no info on Potemkine France

Best Audio:

2004 New Yorker DVD

Director: Dudley Murphy

Best Video:

Cohen Syncopation Blu-ray 1080p extras

Sources: loc.gov (opens in a new tab)

Director: Dudley Murphy

Best Video:

Cohen Syncopation Blu-ray 1080p extras

Director: Albert Parker

Best Video:

Cohen Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Cohen Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature Blu-ray is slightly better than 2010 Kino Lorber Blu-ray and potentially a different transfer, see comparison caps

Director: Joan Micklin Silver

Best Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Cohen Blu-ray is a newer 4K restoration than earlier Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Federico Fellini

Best Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Cohen Blu-ray is the best with the least amount of DNR or sharpening among Germany StudioCanal, UK MoC and France Gaumont. Even though Cohen doesn't have the best encoding, it's definitely the most superior release. See caps-a-holics caps

Director: Cyril Gardner

Best Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

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vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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