Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
Drama, Thriller • 1h 16m
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Jeanne Cagney, Lurene Tuttle, Elisha Cook Jr., Jim Backus, Verna Felton, Willis Bouchey, Don Beddoe, Harry Bartell, Gloria Blondell, John Call, Dick Cogan, Charles J. Conrad, Tom Daly, Elizabeth Flournoy, Bess Flowers, Charles Flynn, Robert Foulk, Grace Hayle, Marjorie Holliday, David McMahon, Eda Reiss Merin, Harold Miller, Vic Perrin, Michael Ross, Olan Soule, Brick Sullivan, Emmett Vogan, Harry Denny, Harry Evans, Tom Ferrandini, Kay Garrett, Carl M. Leviness, Hans Moebus, Monty O'Grady, Foster H. Phinney, Paul Ravel
Best English-friendly & video release
Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray has slightly tighter grain control than US Shout! Factory Anne Bancroft Collection Blu-ray see caps on BR
Updated 9 months ago
About the film
An airline pilot pursues a live-in babysitter at his hotel and gradually realizes she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Director: David Lynch
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut
Director: George Cukor
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Oliver Stone
Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Twilight Time Blu-ray or MGM NTSC DVD for the original mono mix
Shout! Factory 4K only has a stereo downmix (which sounds muffled, as do the surround tracks)
Twilight Time Blu-ray has the mono track with seemingly the best fidelity, but its dynamic range has been heavily compressed
MoC UK Blu-ray has a proper dynamics and good fidelity, but bizzarely, everything is repeated after a few miliseconds, rendering echoey and metallic
MGM NTSC DVD has been denoised and has had a strong EQ applied and sounds muffled as a result, but it retains proper dynamics
Koch Media DE BD had poor dynamics and wrong pitch
Perhaps the digital JP LD would be better.
Director: Fritz Lang
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
See nicolas review: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=841703#p841703 "The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering"
Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)
Director: Cy Endfield
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
US OOP Twilight Time Blu-ray > UK Paramount Blu-ray or US Inspired Blu-ray
The UK Blu-ray not only have some DNR applied, it's also squeezed and cropped: see comparison
The color contrast from Twilight Time is however possibly suffering the Quicktime Gamma Bug, but that's an easier issue to fix than DNR or cropped images.
All pre-4K BDs (Twilight Time US, Suevia Spain, Imprint Australia, Koch Media Germany)
All pre-4K BDs (Twilight Time US, Suevia Spain, Imprint Australia, Koch Media Germany) are the same, and significantly better than the 4K restoration (Shout! Factory, Arrow, Kino Lorber), and a bit better than the MGM NTSC DVD.
Director: George Cukor
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
US Twilight Time Blu-ray or UK Signal One Blu-ray are basically the same see cap
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: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
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
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