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Guest Wife (1945)
Guest Wife (1945) poster

Guest Wife (1945)

Comedy, Romance • 1h 30m

Director: Sam Wood

Cast: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, Dick Foran, Charles Dingle, Grant Mitchell, Wilma Francis, Chester Clute, Irving Bacon, Hal K. Dawson, Edward Fielding, Hazel Dohlman

Best English-friendly & video release

Updated 11 months ago


About the film

Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war correspondent. But Chris's wife, Mary, is none to fond of Joe and tired of her husband's idolizing. On the eve of the Price's second-honeymoon trip to New York City, Joe arrives and tells Chris that he needs someone to pose as his wife in order to fool his boss in NYC, who thinks Joe got married to an overseas woman while on an assignment. Chris pushes Mary into posing as Joe's wife. In New York, this leads to many complications and misunderstandings, with Mary finally deciding to teach Chris and Joe a lesson by making them believe she is in love with Joe.

More from Sam Wood

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Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Probably Kino Lorber Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

While no comparison is available, this is indeed a new 4K restoration. However it has its problem like not scanned from best surviving prints due to some issues, or technicolor out of alignment but seems to be still better than older releases

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Sam Wood

Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4k transfer

More from Olive Films

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Director: Alan J. Pakula

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Elaine May

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:

The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.

Audio Notes:

Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.

Director: Frank Borzage

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Amazon US HD Streaming

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

Video Notes:

Amazon US HD Streaming is from the 2018 UCLA restoration. Olive Films Blu-ray is from an older scan and quite rough. caps

Best Audio:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Olive Films Blu-ray is again rough, with distortion, crackle and other issues, but sounds much more natural. With some EQ the restored track can be significantly improved

Director: Jean Renoir

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: William A. Seiter

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Max Ophüls

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

2017 Olive Films Signature Blu-ray

Best Video:

The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

(Jokers 4K Blu-ray has forced France subs)

The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has raised black levels/gamma issue, good when fixed

Best Audio:

1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc

Director: Don Siegel

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

All three are not ideal.

All three are not ideal.

  • Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has frozen grain, sharpening, lots of debris, and handles lesser materials. The supposed non-Superscope version is false advertising. It merely reveals more picture information. 

Best Audio:

1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono

Additional Info:

Criterion LaserDisc has exclusive commentary. Olive Films Signature Blu-ray and BFI Blu-ray each have exclusive extras. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has exclusive commentary.

Director: Michael Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films OOP Blu-ray

Director: André de Toth

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Sources: cinema.ucla.edu (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

New UCLA restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Dave Fleischer

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films  Betty Boop: The Essential Collection: Volume 4 Blu-ray

More Comedy on Blu-ray

Director: Frank Oz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Steve Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Jack Conway

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: George B. Seitz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: Jack Conway

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: William Dieterle

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Alicia MacDonald

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Directors: Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton

Best English-Friendly & Video:

MoC/Cohen Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027

Video Notes:

MoC/Cohen Blu-ray > Kino Lorber

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vanshady

· last reviewed 11 months ago

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