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What a Widow! (1930)
What a Widow! (1930) poster
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What a Widow! (1930)

Comedy, Romance • 1h 28m

Director: Allan Dwan

Cast: Gloria Swanson, Owen Moore, Lew Cody, Margaret Livingston, William Holden, Herbert Braggiotti, Gregory Gaye, Adrienne D'Ambricourt, Nella Walker, Daphne Pollard, Reginald Sharland

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Not available on home video

No Home Media

This film has never had an official home-video release in any territory. Repertory screenings and archive prints are currently the only way to see it.

Overview

A young woman's elderly husband dies and leaves her $5 million. She travels to Paris and becomes part of the "Continental" set and is pursued by a rich playboy and a lawyer who works for her.

Release details

Best Video Release

From Wikipedia:

Two 35mm negatives of the film are housed at the George Eastman Museum.[3] The soundtrack is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the trailer is preserved at the Library of Congress.

Featured Lists
Length
88 mins
Type
Movie

Featured in Pre-Code Films

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Director: Marion Gering

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Director: Leo McCarey

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal DVD

Upcoming Release:

Universal Blu-ray Nov 10th

Directors: Irving Pichel & Ernest B. Schoedsack

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK MoC Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

MoC Blu-ray offers both restored and an unrestored tracks

Director: Edgar Selwyn

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration

Director: John Ford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Sources: ibb.co (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Warner Archive Blu-ray is 4K restoration from nitrate projection elements

Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ

Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Frank Capra

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Frank Capra Boxset Blu-ray

Director: William Dieterle

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 4 DVD

Director: Lloyd Bacon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive DVD

Director: George W. Hill

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive DVD

More from Allan Dwan

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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:

Cohen Blu-ray

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"

Director: Allan Dwan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Film Preservation Society Blu-ray

More Comedy on Blu-ray

Director: Paul King

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

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray minimal picture upgrade (2K upscale)

Audio Notes:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray has good new Atmos mix

Director: H. C. Potter

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Director: David Butler

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

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

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray 

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

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Sony release without the filtering; Comparison between Sony and Criterion.

Best Audio:

Mono: 1994 LaserDisc (marginally, unfiltered) or Criterion 4K Blu-ray (filtered)
5.1 Remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Fred Dekker

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

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> US Kino Lorber

Director: Steve De Jarnatt

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027

Best Audio:

Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.

Director: Bruce Robinson

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray has stronger encode than Criterion

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Olivier Assayas

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow UK Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Encoding is clunky on both Arrow and Criterion BDs but Arrow at least included the original stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 remix, while Criterion only included the 5.1 remix.

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vanshady

· last reviewed 11 months ago

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