Best English-friendly & video release · updated 9 months ago
Overview
Toni Le Brun, a beautiful Viennese singer, becomes the ward of the wardrobe mistress of a Monte Carlo nightclub. Her benefactor, however, is actually a baroness incognito. Toni falls in love with the handsome Richard, but as they prepare to marry, she comes to believe he is only after the wealth accompanying her new noble status. But truth, like true love, will not be kept secret long.
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm Fine Grain. Even with its unfortunate and noticeable print damage, tears, and other issues, still easily beats any prior disc release, though the Imprint BD (same master as Kino, but inferior encode) included in their Essential Film Noir Collection Vol. 3 set does include more extras. https://youtu.be/-Wrsn6-XJCo
Director: Lewis Milestone
2K scan of a surviving 35mm safety fine grain provided by the Academy Film Archive
Director: Lewis Milestone
Kit Parker Films Blu-ray
4K master from UCLA Film & Television Archive's 35mm photochemical restoration
Director: Lewis Milestone
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is much better than the extra in Criterion His Girl Friday Blu-ray. Even though Kino Lorber is the international cut and only restored in HD, and Criterion is the US theatrical cut, and restored in 4K, the Criterion picture quality is atrocious http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_68/the_front_page_blu-ray.htm
Director: Lewis Milestone
Director: Marcel L'Herbier
Same 4K restoration but no comparison available
Director: Frank Urson
Older Restoration: Flicker Alley Blu-ray
2026 Restoration: YouTube 4K Streaming
Older Restoration: Lobster Films DVD
2026 Restoration: YouTube 4K Streaming
Older Restoration: Lobster Films DVD > Flicker Alley Blu-ray (Flicker Alley Blu-ray/DVD has every 25th PAL frame deleted)
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Flicker Alley Blu-ray new 4K restoration
Director: Harry O. Hoyt
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Upcoming Flicker Alley Blu-ray Focus on Clara Bow according to their calendar
Director: Herbert Brenon
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Upcoming Flicker Alley Blu-ray Focus on Clara Bow according to their calendar
Director: James P. Hogan
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Flicker Alley Blu-ray Focus on Clara Bow according to their calendar
Kino Lorber Edison: The Invention of the Movies DVD or Flicker Alley Landmarks of Early Film DVD
Directors: Lois Weber & Phillips Smalley
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
No comparison available, three options:
Kino Lorber Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers Blu-ray
Flicker Alley Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology Blu-ray
Flicker Alley or BFI Chaplin at Keystone DVD
Sources: silentera.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley or BFI Chaplin at Keystone DVD restoration conflation of two 35mm nitrate prints held by the BFI, see silentera
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Joel Coen
Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)
Director: Liliana Cavani
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Iain Softley
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn included an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH
Shout! Factory has the exclusive The Beauty of the Baud and the You Can't Stop Us All featurettes.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Bruce Robinson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray has stronger encode than Criterion
Director: Olivier Assayas
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
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.
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
review: Disk Kino
Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow
Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.
Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
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