Wuthering Heights (1939)
Drama, Romance • 1h 44m
Director: William Wyler
Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Hugh Williams, Leo G. Carroll, Miles Mander, Cecil Kellaway, Cecil Humphreys, Sarita Wooton, Rex Downing, Douglas Scott, Frank Benson, Romaine Callender, Richard Clucas, Vernon Downing, Alice Ehlers, Harold Entwistle, Peter Gowland, Helena Grant, Sam Harris, Susanne Leach, Tommy Martin, Edmund Mortimer, Schuyler Standish, William Stelling, Diane Williams, Eric Wilton, Philip Winter
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About the film
The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley, resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Catherine. After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the moors and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff they're happy -- until Cathy meets Edgar Linton, the son of a wealthy neighbor.
- Featured Lists
- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2007
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
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
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
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.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
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
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: William Wyler
Italy Plaion 4K Blu-ray > Paramount 4K Blu-ray (marginally)
Director: William Wyler
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is a brand new 4K restoration from William Wyler’s personal 35mm print
Director: William Wyler
The 4K Blu-ray 5.0 is the original mix, but more muffled than LaserDisc and even the previous Blu-ray's gentle remix. The Atmos mix is revisionist.
The 50th Anniversary box set has some exclusive extras.
1991 LaserDisc is Dolby Stereo matrix encoded from the original six track master and this was later upgraded to a 5.1 Dolby Digital version prepared for the first DVD. The 5.1 version may have had some slight tweaking in the process. This was reused for the DVD CE boxset and then the 5.1 on Blu-ray seems like a slight upgrade of the DVD track. (The first pressing from the UCE boxset had audio defects rampant on the Blu-ray. These were corrected for standalone pressings.) All 5.1s sound roughly the same as the LaserDisc 2.0 in terms of the mix, but the LaserDisc PCM mastering seems like the only one that is direct without any major processing.
Director: William Wyler
Kino Lorber Blu-ray/Final Cut Blu-ray
The Kino BD has additional extras but the Laserdisc still has exclusive extras and commentary not included on the Kino release. AVOID the MGM Blu-ray for the stretched aspect ratio error that was only finally corrected for the Kino Lorber reissue after much fan outcry.
Director: William Wyler
Also available in Kino Lorber The Cold Blue Blu-ray as HD extras, or available on streaming
Director: William Wyler
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
BFI Blu-ray encoding is better than Kino Lorber Blu-ray see caps
Director: William Wyler
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
More Drama on Blu-ray
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: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Compton Bennett
4K restoration from original technicolor negatives
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
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