Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Drama, Romance • 2h
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley, Rip Torn, Mildred Dunnock, Madeleine Sherwood, Philip Abbott, Corey Allen, Roy Glenn, Bess Flowers, Barry Cahill, Dub Taylor, Barry Atwater, Charles Arnt, Dorothy Konrad, James Chandler, Mike Steen, Kelly Thordsen, Cosmo Sardo, Jeffrey Sayre, Bert Stevens, Rudy Germane, Herschel Graham
Compare the discs
About the film
Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.
- Alternative Titles
- Sweet Bird of Youth
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Compton Bennett
4K restoration from original technicolor negatives
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
More Drama on Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray vs Criterion
Three masterings of the original Dolby Stereo SR mix exist: the original Orion video releases, the Criterion (which is from their LD) and the Arrow. All three are excellent with slight mastering differences between them. The original Orion still is probably the one with the most fidelity, the Criterion is the cleanest with a kind of warm feel to it and the Arrow has a bit of both aspects. The Arrow mastering has a tiny almost imperceptible bit of audio bleeding into the surround that isn't on the Criterion. Each has their own pluses and minuses but you can't go wrong with any of them. Whatever you do though: DO NOT WATCH WITH THE 5.1 REMIX. It is another MGM botch job that fundamentally alters the impact of many scenes. It is vastly inferior to the original mix in every way.
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
Director: Roman Polanski
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379
Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)
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: Sidney Lumet
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed, Imprint minimally less so. Unfortunately, unlike with The Killing, Kino does not hold up at all, the grain is much rougher and the compression visibly struggles making for a much less pleasant watch, even if select stills look better.
All discs use the same source transfer. Criterion cleaned up some hums and hiss, but lost a little bit of high-end detail. Unlike The Killing, the difference's relatively mino.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematographe is an FiM encode
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