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The Little American (1917)
The Little American (1917) poster

The Little American (1917)

Drama, War, Romance • 1h 3m

Directors: Cecil B. DeMille & Joseph Levering

Best English-friendly & video release

Updated 9 months ago


About the film

A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to her ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.

Alternative Titles
The Little United States

More from Cecil B. DeMille

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Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly:

Artcraft Blu-ray

Best Video:

Artcraft Blu-ray 4K restoration encoded by FiM

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray with Photoplay 4K restoration

Best Audio:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray with Carl Davis score

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Flicker Alley Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Flicker Alley Blu-ray (encoded by FiM) has much better encoding than Lobster Films Blu-ray, see DVDBeaver caps

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Presents Blu-ray

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Plaion Media Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Germany Plaion Media Blu-ray is marginally better than Kino Lorber which suffers a little dark crush: https://slow.pics/c/BME05Jlw

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Olive Films Blu-ray OOP

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

More from VCI

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Director: Maurice Tourneur

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

VCI Blu-ray Dec 15th

Director: James Kirkwood

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

VCI Blu-ray Dec 15th

Director: René Cardona

Best English-Friendly & Video:

VCI Blu-ray

Director: Rouben Mamoulian

Best English-Friendly & Video:

VCI Blu-ray

Director: Wallace Fox

Best English-Friendly & Video:

VCI Blu-ray

Director: Robert F. Hill

Best English-Friendly & Video:

VCI Blu-ray

Director: William Dieterle

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

VCI Blu-ray Sep 22nd

Director: Luis Buñuel

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US VCI Blu-ray or UK Second Run Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

US VCI Blu-ray or UK Second Run Blu-ray share the same 4K restoration transfer and look essentially the same see caps

Best Audio:

2001 R2 Films Sans Frontières DVD

Director: Rudolph Maté

Best English-Friendly & Video:

VCI Film Noir Classics Double Feature Blu-ray

Director: William Beaudine

Best English-Friendly & Video:

VCI Blu-ray

Video Notes:

No comparison but the VCI Blu-ray is a newer 4K scan while the OOP Milestone Blu-ray is an HD scan

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Robert Altman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

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

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379

Video Notes:

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: Alan J. Pakula

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

MGM Blu-ray

Director: Steve Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Imprint 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

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

Best Audio:

Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD

Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)

Audio Notes:

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.

Additional Info:

Arrow has a much better translation.

Arrow LE has the Taiwan Extended Cut which will not be present on the standard edition. However, Imprint is FiM and has its own archival extras not present on the Arrow.

Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Vincent Sherman

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

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 9 months ago

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