Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
Music, Family, Comedy • 1h 52m
Overview
A small-town shoemaker with a knack for spinning yarns, Hans encounters happiness and heartbreak on his road to becoming a full-fledged writer.
Director: Charles Vidor
Director: Charles Vidor
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, a new transfer from the optical soundtrack negative.
the older Blu-ray is included in the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Charles Vidor
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, a new transfer from the optical soundtrack negative.
the older Blu-ray is included in the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Charles Vidor
Director: Charles Vidor
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Warner Bros 2011 Blu-ray
The older track sounds significantly more natural. The WAC BD uses a new mastering which sounds much worse. A lot of the dialogue sounds off, sort of echoey, garbled or even artifacted. Its overzealous click removal also erased some sounds. Its only positive is a new EQ that brings out the bass more making some of the score more effective.
It seems that the new mastering likely uses AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering, resulting in extended peaks despite losing real high end detail (most pronounced on sample 3).
Samples (WAC is mislabeled as UHD)
Commentary is mono on the Blu-rays and panned stereo on NTSC DVD (different channels for each speaker).
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Warner Bros 2011 Blu-ray
The older track sounds significantly more natural. The WAC BD uses a new mastering which sounds much worse. A lot of the dialogue sounds off, sort of echoey, garbled or even artifacted. Its overzealous click removal also erased some sounds. Its only positive is a new EQ that brings out the bass more making some of the score more effective.
It seems that the new mastering likely uses AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering, resulting in extended peaks despite losing real high end detail (most pronounced on sample 3).
Samples (WAC is mislabeled as UHD)
Commentary is mono on the Blu-rays and panned stereo on NTSC DVD (different channels for each speaker).
Director: George Pal
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
Director: George Pal
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray from 12K scan
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
For the most part, the mono track available on the BD and UHD is fine, but there's an 8 minutes long segment which sounds terrible with artificially expanded frequency range causing very audible artifacting. The 5.1 remix doesn't have that issue. Sample
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray from 12K scan
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
For the most part, the mono track available on the BD and UHD is fine, but there's an 8 minutes long segment which sounds terrible with artificially expanded frequency range causing very audible artifacting. The 5.1 remix doesn't have that issue. Sample
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: Terence Young
Director: Terence Young
Director: David Lean
iTunes Streaming
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray coming October 6
iTunes Streaming
Director: David Lean
iTunes Streaming
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray coming October 6
iTunes Streaming
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Director: John Ford
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
Director: John Ford
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
Director: Edgar Selwyn
Director: Edgar Selwyn
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
More Music on Blu-ray
Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set: 2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set: 2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Director: Martin Scorsese
MVD 4K Blu-ray see caps but it has the encoding error with the dropped frames
Director: Martin Scorsese
MVD 4K Blu-ray see caps but it has the encoding error with the dropped frames
Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang
Currently streaming on Netflix
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Currently streaming on Netflix
Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang
Currently streaming on Netflix
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Currently streaming on Netflix
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Norman Taurog
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
Director: Norman Taurog
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration
Director: Bert Stern
Director: Bert Stern
Director: Antoine Fuqua
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding) - caps
Director: Antoine Fuqua
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding) - caps
Director: Rob Reiner
Director: Rob Reiner
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