The Great Race (1965)
Comedy, Adventure, Action • 2h 40m
Director: Blake Edwards
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, Arthur O'Connell, Vivian Vance, Dorothy Provine, Larry Storch, Ross Martin, George Macready, Marvin Kaplan, Hal Smith, Denver Pyle, William Bryant, Ken Wales, Hal Needham, Raoul Retzer, Leslie Sketchley, Kenner G. Kemp, Bert Stevens, Arthur Tovey, Chuck Hayward, George Boyce, Jerry Schumacher, Charles Fredericks, Max Wagner, Paul Bryar, Jack Gordon, Sol Gorss, Harry Harvey, Bob Herron, Chuck Hicks, Christopher Riordan, Charles Seel, Paul Smith, Tom Steele, Dale Van Sickel, Sam Harris, Richard Alexander, Leon Alton, Walter Bacon, Paul Baxley, Bill Catching, Joseph Crehan, George Ford, Mike Lally, Carl M. Leviness, Philo McCullough, Francis McDonald, King Mojave, Harvey Parry, Gil Perkins, Jack Perkins, Fred Rapport, Robert Robinson, Clark Ross, Sarah Selby, Alex Sharp, Johnny Silver, Carl Sklover, Tom Smith, Charles Sullivan, Lars Hensen
About the film
Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.
- Alternative Titles
- The Great Race
Director: Blake Edwards
Mono: Kino Lorber US Blu-ray
Mono: Kino Lorber US Blu-ray possibly?
Director: Blake Edwards
88 Films 4K Blu-ray scheduled for August 24, 2026 release
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray fixes stretched ratio problem
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray fixes ratio issue due to new scan but has no original audio, only remixes. The MGM and Shout! Factory Blu-ray use the same HD master with stretched image and horrible muffled processed to death mono. The PCM mono on the MGM letterbox LaserDisc reissue is the only untouched original mix audio and sounds incredible.
Shout! Factory uses MGM's HD master and mono mix which sounds similar to their 2004 DVD mono. They sound nearly identical aside from volume differences-except that the sound effects seem a bit flattened again on the DVD and this Blu-ray mono mastering seems to be EQ'd a bit differently.
The original mono mix has bad pitch and sound quality issues on the Shout! Factory Blu-ray and is terrible sounding. The LaserDisc PCM mono is very good but sounds a tad muffled in comparison to the MGM 2004 DVD mono at first listen. Yet the DVD mono has the volume of the entire track normalized so that effects and music remain at consistent levels which they don't in the LaserDisc mono-meaning that the jokes and gags hit harder in the LaserDisc mono because the mix varies as it was intended. It may be that the same source was used and then EQ'd and processed for the DVD boxset as all the mono mixes were messed around with. For example, when the hunchback disguise goes off with the explosions, the DVD mono has everything at a mostly consistent level. On the LaserDisc the effects build and fall off in loudness so the intensity is entirely different because they were mixed that way for comedic effect. Another is the piano smashing-on the DVD mono it's at the same level as the rest of the scene. On the LaserDisc it's loud and aggressively so which again makes the gag hit so much harder.
Again, the remixes are existing MGM ones and not good. The 5.1 remix on the Shout! Factory Blu-ray does not have pitch issues but the stereo remix does.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray is from a new 4K master with some transfer issues, notably in the title sequence. The mono mix had errors and slight deletions introduced in the 2004 DVD remaster which were corrected on a 2006 DVD repressing. The Shout! Factory Blu-ray uses the 2006 corrected mono but those sections sound added in and in lower quality. The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray reverts to the defective 2004 mono. All the DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray mono mixes sound poor when compared to the untouched uncut MGM LaserDisc mono PCM mix which is a direct perfect transfer and sounds excellent.
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Live Home Video 1996 remastered letterbox LaserDisc
The remastered LaserDisc PCM mono sounds the most untouched and natural of any version. In 2006, Universal made a new HD master used on all subsequent DVD and Blu-ray releases. The Universal 2.0 mono mix may be a new transfer, different source or remix made from stems as the music and effects are at different levels throughout the track when compared to older copies featuring the mono mix. Additionally there is extreme noise reduction with dialogue sounding too clean and hiss being almost gone. Comparing with the 1996 LaserDisc mono clearly shows in all of these moments that the original mono was mixed differently and to serve the jokes.
Director: Blake Edwards
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray with audio issues
MGM Letterbox LaserDisc, 2004 DVD mono, or Shout! Factory Blu-ray mono
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray introduces pitch issues on the mono mix. LaserDisc mono is from worn element but sounds mostly natural with possibly some attempts at noise reduction. MGM 2004 DVD mono transfer is higher quality without the wear but may have some processing applied. Shout! Factory Blu-ray is the same MGM mono now in lossless but seems to be EQ'd a bit differently. LaserDisc, DVD or Blu-ray is a toss up but those are your three options. The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray is useless due to the pitch issues. The remixes are very poor.
Director: David Lean
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Nov 24th
TV series
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative for all episodes
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Rob Reiner
Arrow 4K Blu-ray releasing December 14 2026
Like many of Capelight's other releases, the 4K Blu-ray is low-passed but still looks good.
30th Anniversary Shout! Factory BD has the original stereo mix
Director: Jacques Tati
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
Director: Jacques Tati
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
Director: Jacques Tati
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
> BFI. New restoration unreleased.
Old R2 DVD 1.0
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
Director: Jacques Tati
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
2014 StudioCanal Blu-ray
The UHD is slightly cropped in.
Director: Ben Stiller
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.
Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang
"Sing-Along Edition" not included on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray, only available on Netflix Streaming
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