Films
/
PlayTime (1967)
PlayTime (1967) poster

PlayTime (1967)

Comedy • 1h 48m

Director: Jacques Tati

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

UHD Blu-ray

Best English-friendly release · updated 1 month ago

UHD tiers

Solid
Criterion

Overview

Clumsy Monsieur Hulot finds himself perplexed by the intimidating complexity of a gadget-filled Paris. He attempts to meet with a business contact but soon becomes lost. His roundabout journey parallels that of an American tourist, and as they weave through the inventive urban environment, they intermittently meet, developing an interest in one another. They eventually get together at a chaotic restaurant, along with several other quirky characters.

Release details

Best Audio Release
Additional Info

The UHD is slightly cropped in.

TSPDT
2026: #45
2025: #42
2024: #40
2023: #39
2022: #39
Criterion Forum
Review

Picture: 9, Audio: 7, Extras: 9

Length
108 mins
Type
Movie

Part of Is this Perfect?

See more →

Director: Jean Vigo

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray with much better encoding than the Gaumont Blu-ray with the same 4K restoration see caps

Criterion Blu-ray uses an older restoration

Director: Robert Bresson

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Artificial Eye Blu-ray

Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton & Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer

UHD Blu-ray

Director: Otakar Vávra

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review

Best Audio:

Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD

Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.

Director: Basil Dearden

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)

Director: Robert Rossen

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Anthony Mann

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Charles Crichton

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Director: Basil Dearden

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray. Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion

Director: Jacques Becker

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Featured in Sight and Sound’s Greatest Films

See more →

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray or US Disney Blu-ray

Best Video:

2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/6JWnlfit

Best Audio:

All sources are within margin of error. Comparisons: Japanese, English
Alternate Streamline English dub is available only on 1994 Fox LD.

Additional Info:

US GKIDS Blu-ray has more bonuses than the US Disney Blu-ray

Director: Carol Reed

Solid
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Best Audio:

StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source

Additional Info:

StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray

Director: John Carpenter

Solid
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Universal 4K Blu-ray. Maybe Turbine Blu-ray instead for better audio?

Best Audio:

Director: Martin Scorsese

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Best Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Ridley Scott

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Theatrical Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray 

2003 Directors Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray 

Best Video:

Theatrical Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray 

2003 Directors Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray  (additional scenes appear to be upscaled)

Best Audio:

Original Theatrical 70mm 6-Track Stereo: Fox 4K Blu-ray (DTS-HD MA 4.1)

Original Theatrical 35mm Matrixed Dolby Stereo: 1999 DVD? (2.0 mix on the UHD is a downmix)

2003 Directors Cut: Fox 4K Blu-ray, Fox Blu-ray (DTS-HD MA 5.1)

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Solid
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray

Director: Dario Argento

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

US Synapse 4K Blu-ray or UK Shameless 4K Blu-ray (some may prefer Synapse's grading, while some prefer Shameless's grading)

Best Video:

US Synapse 4K Blu-ray or UK Shameless 4K Blu-ray (some may prefer Synapse's grading, while some prefer Shameless's grading)

Best Audio:

4.0 track on the Synapse 4K Blu-ray

Director: Billy Wilder

Solid
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray or Blu-ray

Best Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice

Best Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.

Additional Info:

The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.

Director: David Lynch

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and doesn’t have the low-pass filter the Criterion 4K Blu-ray has.

Best Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD

Additional Info:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL

Director: Martin Scorsese

Excellent
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K announced for 2026

Best Video:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.

The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review

Best Audio:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

More from Jacques Tati

See more →

Director: Jacques Tati

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Jacques Tati

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Jacques Tati

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI > Criterion/StudioCanal. New restoration unreleased.

Director: Jacques Tati

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion for 1949 and 1964, BFI for 1964 English Variant and 1994/5

Best Video:

Jour Germany fete (1949) - Criterion only, HD Jour Germany fete (1964) - Criterion only, HDThe Village Fair (1964, English variant) - BFI only, HDJour Germany fete (1994/5) - Criterion SD, BFI HD

Directors: Jacques Tati & Sophie Tatischeff

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Jacques Tati Boxset Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Jacques Tati Boxset Blu-ray

Director: Jacques Tati

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Jacques Tati Boxset Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Jacques Tati Boxset Blu-ray

Director: Jacques Tati

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion/StudioCanal Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion/StudioCanal > BFI. New restoration unreleased.

Best Audio:

Old R2 DVD 1.0

Edit History

3 edits

Researched and maintained by

vanshadycbcAdamA

· last reviewed 1 month ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.