Union Pacific (1939)
Drama, Western • 2h 15m
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy, Robert Barrat, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Ridges, Henry Kolker, Francis McDonald, Willard Robertson, Evelyn Keyes, Richard Lane, William Haade, Regis Toomey, J.M. Kerrigan, Fuzzy Knight, Harry Woods, Lon Chaney Jr., Joseph Crehan, Julia Faye, Sheila Darcy, Ernie Adams, Stanley Andrews, Richard Alexander, George Anderson, Sam Ash, Earl Askam, Harry A. Bailey, May Beatty, Don Beddoe, Genevieve Bell, Monte Blue, Ward Bond, Dick Botiller, Ed Brady, Tom Burke, George Burton, A.S. Byron, E.H. Calvert, Steve Carruthers, Nora Cecil, Wheaton Chambers, Lane Chandler, Jack Chapin, Sonny Chorre, Davison Clark, Jack Rube Clifford, David Clyde, Iron Eyes Cody, Allen Connor, Hal Craig, Sidney D'Albrook, Max Davidson, Alfonso De Cruz, Victor De Linsky, Richard Denning, Mike Driscoll, Tex Driscoll, Peter Du Rey, Jimmie Dundee, Paul Everton, Jim Farley, Martin Faust, Maude Fealy, John Fee, Eddie Fetherston, James Flavin, Byron Foulger, J. C. Fowler, George B. French, Will Geer, Kenneth Gibson, Joe Gilbert, William Gillis, Wesley Giraud, Gus Glassmire, Dick Gordon, Douglas Gordon, Wylie Grant, George Guhl, Chuck Hamilton, Pat Hartigan, Beth Hartman, Edward Hearn, Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian, Russell Hicks, Leon Holmes, Robert Homans, Mitchell Ingraham, T.C. Jack, Selmer Jackson, Si Jenks, Noble Johnson, Jack W. Johnston, Edward Keane, Jane Keckley, Jim Kelso, Jack Kennedy, Bob Kortman, Frank Lackteen, Ethan Laidlaw, Florence Lake, Bobby LaSalle, Alexander Leftwich, Edward LeSaint, Elmo Lincoln, Walter Long, Viola Louie, Evelyn Luckey, Hugh MacDonald, Wilbur Mack, Mary MacLaren, George Magrill, Tom Mahoney, Mala, John Marston, Ida May, Charles McAvoy, Sam McDaniel, Charles McMurphy, James McNamara, John Merton, Ray Miller, Frank Mills, Pat Moriarity, Adrian Morris, Horace Murphy, Jack Murphy, Louis Natheaux, Nestor Paiva, Emory Parnell, Doreen Pastor, William Pawley, Edward Peil Sr., Jack Pennick, Albert Petit, James Pierce, Russ Powell, John Power, Hal Price, Frances Rather, George Regas, John J. Richardson, Cyril Ring, Margaret Roach, Buddy Roosevelt, Dick Rush, Joe Sawyer, Francis Sayles, Syd Saylor, Ed Schaefer, Ynez Seabury, Frank Shannon, Michael Slade, Lew Short, James P. Spencer, Edwin Stanley, Robert R. Stephenson, Bert Stevens, Charles Stevens, Mark Strong, John M. Sullivan, Albert Taylor, Nick Thompson, Chief Thundercloud, David Thursby, Archie Twitchell, Tony Urchel, Guy Usher, Morgan Wallace, Calla Waltz, Ruth Warren, Stanhope Wheatcroft, Blackie Whiteford, Greg Whitespear, William Worthington, Frank Yaconelli, Duke York
Best English-friendly & video release
Germany Plaion Media Blu-ray is marginally better than Kino Lorber which suffers a little dark crush: https://slow.pics/c/BME05Jlw
Updated 1 year ago
About the film
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
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Director: Jerry Schatzberg
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)
Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)
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.
UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos
BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)
As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.
BD: Hearts of Darkness
BD: Special Features
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray
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.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
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.
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
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
For Blu-ray Criterion Demy Set > StudioCanal
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Gaumont Blu-ray but no English subtitles: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Deux-sous-de-violettes-Blu-ray/288976/
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Caps for France vs Germany vs UK vs Turkish release https://slow.pics/c/jYBS2CWE not sure what the correct grading is but Germany release looks too dark
Director: Carol Reed
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Director: Martin Scorsese
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook
Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding
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: Cecil B. DeMille
Kino Lorber Blu-ray with Photoplay 4K restoration
Kino Lorber Blu-ray with Carl Davis score
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley Blu-ray (encoded by FiM) has much better encoding than Lobster Films Blu-ray, see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Universal Blu-ray better, MoC over-sharpened https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=19993011&postcount=53
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Director: Alexandre Aja
Director: David Lynch
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December
Subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
DE Koch Media is presented in the correct 25fps and is likely better compressed than UK Dogwoof (29 vs 14 Mbps), but it doesn’t have English subtitles.
US Drafthouse is in 24fps for Region A compatibility, and is encoded at around 30 Mbps.
(Although bitrate does not solely determine the quality of the encode, the difference is large enough here and there are no publicly available caps.)
No info on the JP VAP Blu-ray.
DE Koch Media and US Drafthouse feature a lossless 5.1 track. Dogwoof offers only AC-3.
Director: Ivan Reitman
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Plaion German 4K Blu-ray > US Kino Lorber see comparison and caps
Kino Lorber has an exceedingly poor encode, only slightly improved by the DV layer.
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Universal US Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Plaion DE 4K Blu-ray
Universal's BD uses the same transfer as the old LaserDisc and sounds a bit better than Plaion's, which has worse dynamics.
Plaion's Atmos remix is tastefully done and preserves the original mix's characteristics, the 5.1 track on Kino's release is overly aggressive and unbalanced.
Director: William Wyler
Italy Plaion 4K Blu-ray > Paramount 4K Blu-ray (marginally)
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