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The Iron Mask (1929)
The Iron Mask (1929) poster

The Iron Mask (1929)

Adventure, History • 1h 43m

Director: Allan Dwan

Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Belle Bennett, Marguerite De La Motte, Dorothy Revier, Vera Lewis, Rolfe Sedan, William Bakewell, Nigel De Brulier, Lon Poff, Charles Stevens, Henry Otto, Léon Bary, Tiny Sandford, Gino Corrado, Ullrich Haupt

Cohen Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 11 months ago

Video notes:

"a full frame 35 mm fine grain positive was scanned at 4K at an historically appropriate 21 frames per second. Following this, more than 160 hours of digital clean up was completed at 2K"

Overview

King Louis XIII of France is thrilled to have born to him a son - an heir to the throne. But when the queen delivers a twin, Cardinal Richelieu sees the second son as a potential for revolution, and has him sent off to Spain to be raised in secret to ensure a peaceful future for France. Alas, keeping the secret means sending Constance, lover of D'Artagnan, off to a convent. D'Artagnan hears of this and rallies the Musketeers in a bid to rescue her. Unfortunately, Richelieu out-smarts the Musketeers and banishes them forever.

Release details

Length
103 mins
Type
Movie

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Director: Allan Dwan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cohen Blu-ray?

Director: Allan Dwan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber OOP Blu-ray

Director: Allan Dwan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber OOP Blu-ray

Director: Allan Dwan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber OOP Blu-ray

Director: Allan Dwan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Film Preservation Society Blu-ray

More from Cohen

See more →

Director: James Ivory

Best English-Friendly & 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.

Directors: Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton

Best English-Friendly:

MoC or Cohen Blu-ray

Best Video:

MoC/Cohen

Video Notes:

MoC/Cohen > Kino Lorber

Director: Jacques Rivette

Best English-Friendly & 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 English-Friendly & Video:

Cohen Syncopation Blu-ray 1080p extras

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

Director: Dudley Murphy

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cohen Syncopation Blu-ray 1080p extras

Director: Albert Parker

Best English-Friendly & 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 English-Friendly & Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

Video Notes:

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

Director: Federico Fellini

Best English-Friendly & 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 English-Friendly & Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

Director: David Miller

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cohen Blu-ray

More Adventure on Blu-ray

Director: Rose Glass

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

A24 4K Blu-ray

Best Video & Audio:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray 

Video Notes:

Markedly better encoding on Plaion than A24 and without any low-pass filtering

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

2026 Japan Studio Ghibli (remastered) Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Only included as a pack-in with the 4K Blu-ray. Includes English subtitles and a dub, which the 4K Blu-ray does not.

Best Audio:

Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray

UK StudioCanal Blu-ray for the English dub

Audio Notes:

4K Blu-ray includes the original 5.1 mix in its unaltered form, all other releases after the LaserDisc had its dynamic range lowered.

For the English dub, the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the least limited mix.

Additional Info:

US Disney Blu-ray has dubtitles. US GKIDS Blu-ray and Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray releases (both 2013, box set, and RM4K) have proper English subtitle translations.

Director: James Gunn

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

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Commentary is only on Streaming

Director: Gus Van Sant

Best English-Friendly:

US Shout! Factory Blu-ray

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

Best Video & Audio:

French Carlotta Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Shout! Factory and Carlotta use the same scan https://slow.pics/c/Wcn5YFlw, the Carlotta has two extra bonus features

Director: Anthony Mann

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray reissue (4K restoration)

Video Notes:

Massive picture upgrade as the 4K restoration addresses the massive color fringing that has plagued all previous dated masters. Oddly the titles are a different color now.

Additional Info:

4K restoration is a gigantic and essential picture upgrade but only available on the Kino Blu-ray reissue. No UHD has been made or announced by anyone. 

Director: Anthony Mann

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Additional Info:

This is an ancient Universal master of a film in dire need of restoration. This only looks somewhat better than the old Universal DVD upscaled and is clearly the same master. Tons of wear, color fringing and other issues abound. The film is stuck at the theatrical widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 when it was composed for Academy ratio. The proper ratio is only found on the trailer, original VHS master and Region 2 PAL DVD. The Kino BD is their usual barebones affair except for flawed low res trailer files and a basic commentary. The film's 3.0 stereo mix is intact alongside the more limited mono mix thankfully. The BD does edge out over the old Universal DVD but that is merely due to it being the same master resolving better in 1080p. This presentation is sadly poor and the film deserves much better.

Director: Chris Columbus

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray (includes Extended Cut on regular Blu-ray)

Best Audio:

Original theatrical 6.1 mix: 2009 Warner Bros Blu-ray Ultimate Edition (Theatrical Cut only) 

Extended Cut 5.1 mix: Warner Bros Blu-ray

DTS:X remix: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The film is titled Sorcerer's Stone in the US, India, and the Philippines.

Wizard's/Hogwarts Collection has all the bonus features for all the 8 films. 

The lossless version of the original 6.1 mix is only available on the ultimate edition blu-ray not to be confused with the ultimate collectors edition blu-ray.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, work done to un-Nolan the 4K master, the first ever appearance of the 35mm mono track on physical media and a new restoration/remastering of the 70mm 6-track mix.

Video Notes:

(early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed)

Best Audio:

1997 MGM LaserDisc, 1998 MGM DVD

Director: Stanley Kubrick

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

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming on October 20th with FiM encode

Audio Notes:

DTS:X mix most closely approximates original surround mix

Additional Info:

Criterion DVD has additional features not found on the 4K Blu-ray

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1992 MGM VHS

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 11 months ago

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