Without Reservations (1946)
Comedy, Romance • 1h 47m
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Claudette Colbert, John Wayne, Don DeFore, Anne Triola, Thurston Hall, Frank Puglia, Dona Drake, Fernando Alvarado, Charles Arnt, Louella Parsons, Lela Bliss, Harry Hayden, Charles Evans, Raymond Burr, Sam McDaniel, Frank Wilcox, Erskine Sanford, Marvin Miller, William Benedict, Esther Howard, Ian Wolfe, Cy Kendall, Joel Fluellen, Cary Grant, Dolores Moran, Jack Benny, Eric Alden, Fred Aldrich, Ernest Anderson, Robert Anderson, Lois Austin, Griff Barnett, Lee Bennett, John Bleifer, Marilyn Buferd, William Challee, Tom Chatterton, Fred Coby, James Conaty, John Crawford, Roger Creed, Frank Dae, Sid Davis, Dick Dickerson, Dudley Dickerson, Tay Dunn, Harry Evans, Jon Gilbreath, June Glory, Lisa Golm, Jesse Graves, Paul Gustine, Thelma Gyrath, Charlie Hall, Grayce Hampton, Henry Hastings, Joe Haworth, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, Harry Holman, Ralph Hubbard, Tom Hubbard, J. Louis Johnson, Toshikazu Kase, John Kellogg, Kenner G. Kemp, Colin Kenny, Jeanne Koehler, Bruce Lester, Rose Mary Lopez, George Magrill, Leona Maricle, Junius Matthews, Peter Michael, Chef Milani, Art Miles, Henry Mirelez, Charles R. Moore, Barry Norton, William O'Leary, Oscar O'Shea, Jack Parker, Bob Pepper, Lorin Raker, Verne Richards, Ruth Roman, Al Rosen, Jeffrey Sayre, Wallace Scott, Bill Shannon, Mamoru Shigemitsu, Robin Short, Warren Smith, Bert Stevens, Houseley Stevenson, Harry Strang, Bill Udell, Minerva Urecal, Nanette Vallon, Blanca Vischer, Henry Vroom, Lee 'Lasses' White, Russ Whiteman, Charles Williams, Jean Wong, Will Wright, Jane Wiley
Compare the discs
About the film
Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Sources: mega.nz (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 2011 Blu-ray
The older track sounds significantly more natural. The WAC BD uses a new mastering which sounds much worse. A lot of the dialogue sounds off, sort of echoey, garbled or even artifacted. Its overzealous click removal also erased some sounds. Its only positive is a new EQ that brings out the bass more making some of the score more effective.
It seems that the new mastering likely uses AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering, resulting in extended peaks despite losing real high end detail (most pronounced on sample 3).
Samples (WAC is mislabeled as UHD)
Commentary is mono on the Blu-rays and panned stereo on NTSC DVD (different channels for each speaker).
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
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.
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Director: Orson Welles
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
WB Europe 4K Blu-ray
WB Europe 4K Blu-ray slightly better encoding than Criterion (caveat: missing Criterion extras)
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
All foreign language tracks were pitched too low, replacement disc and Ultimate Knockout Collection disc fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Director: Sylvester Stallone
2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Box Set
2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Box Set > 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray
2023 disc has a brief moment where the aspect ratio changes from 1.85:1 to 1.78:1, 2024 release fixed the error
Both cuts of the movie are on the same disc and don’t appear to be seamlessly branched.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc > Knockout collection original.
The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a stereo fold-down of the 5.1, it also has a missing piano cue. The replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition is the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Knockout Collection release had its 5.1 mix pitched too low, replacement disc and Ultimate Knockout Collection fixed the error.
The Steelbook and UK standard edition are the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: William Dieterle
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
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.
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Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.