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Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
Wild Boys of the Road (1933) poster

Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

Drama • 1h 8m

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-friendly & video release

HD Streaming

Updated 11 months ago


About the film

At the height of the Great Depression, Tommy's mother has been out of work for months when Eddie's father loses his job. Eager not to burden their parents, the two high school sophomores decide to hop the freight trains and look for work.

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Featured in National Film Registry

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Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Director: George B. Seitz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: Elaine May

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:

The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.

Audio Notes:

Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.

Director: Sidney Lumet

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber US / Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K  / Capelight 4K

1.66:1: Criterion 4K

Video Notes:

1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K  / Capelight 4K

1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered

Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice

Audio Notes:

Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

MoC OOP Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1

Director: Stanley Kubrick

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

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.

Audio Notes:

DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix

Additional Info:

Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Plaion Germany Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

4K Blu-ray said to be coming from Criterion, per Bill Hunt

Video Notes:

Includes Director's Cut and Roadshow Version

Same master as old WB Blu-ray but better encoding

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.

Best Audio:

1984 MGM Hi-Fi VHS

More from William A. Wellman

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Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray suffers from the Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps

Best Audio:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray from blah-ray:

Audio Notes:

Both the Plaion and Arrow audio tracks sound like they received little/any high- or low- frequency attenuation, but the audio on the new Kino Lorber restoration is much more detailed. It's likely that it was transferred from different (superior) analogue elements. It sounds excellent.

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber OOP Blu-ray 2K restoration 

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly:

US Ignite Films Blu-ray

Best Video:

US Ignite Films Blu-ray 2K scan

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Film Masters Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Film Masters Blu-ray not a good encoding, but at least it's from a 4K scan of Original Camera Negative see caps

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2018 Kino Lorber Remastered Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

New 2k scan with very different color http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews55/nothing_sacred_blu-ray.htm  but overall much better compared to the older Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Additional Info:

MoMA has just scanned from the original separations, and it's the only version of this classic with accurate Technicolor. This new restoration is now streaming on Criterion Channel

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Barbara Stanwyck Collection Blu-ray

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: William A. Wellman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

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Directors: Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Apple TV+ Streaming

Video Notes:

GKIDS Blu-ray is only 1080p

Audio Notes:

GKIDS Blu-ray only has 5.1 audio. Original theatrical Dolby Atmos mix only on Apple TV+

Director: Sian Heder

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Has full and forced English subtitles

See caps comparing Italy vs US release

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos

Audio Notes:

(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)

Director: John Ford

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Apple TV HD Streaming

Director: Lucrecia Martel

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Apple TV 4K Streaming

Director: Mariano Llinás

Best English-Friendly:

Germany Absolut Medien OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:
Video Notes:

Alternatively, HD Streaming on Apple TV or Amazon from Grasshopper

Director: Sacha Jenkins

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best English-Friendly:

Apple TV 4K Streaming

Best Video:

Apple TV 4K Streaming with Dolby Vision

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Streaming with Dolby Atmos

Director: Fei Mu

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI DVD or Apple TV HD Streaming

Sources: tiff.net (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI DVD or Apple TV HD Streaming no comparison available 

Additional Info:

New 4K restoration is going to world premiere on TIFF

Director: J.J. Abrams

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray

3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming

Director: Thom Andersen

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Apple TV HD Streaming

Director: Clarence Brown

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Apple TV HD Streaming

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 11 months ago

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