O. Henry's Full House (1952)
Drama, Comedy • 1h 57m
Directors: Henry Hathaway & Howard Hawks & Henry King & Henry Koster & Jean Negulesco
Cast: Fred Allen, Anne Baxter, Jeanne Crain, Farley Granger, Charles Laughton, Oscar Levant, Marilyn Monroe, Jean Peters, Gregory Ratoff, Dale Robertson, David Wayne, Richard Widmark, Joyce Mackenzie, Lee Aaker, Richard Rober, Fred Kelsey, Richard Garrick, John Steinbeck, Kathleen Freeman, Irving Bacon, William Vedder, Will Wright, Thomas Browne Henry, Steven Geray, Warren Stevens, Robert Easton, Carl Betz, Herb Vigran, Harry Hayden, Fritz Feld, Sig Ruman, Frank Jaquet, House Peters, Bert Stevens, Marjorie Holliday, Pat Flaherty, Robert Foulk, Everett Glass, Norman Leavitt, Jack Mather, Frank Mills, Martha Wentworth, Ava Norring, Gloria Gordon, A. Cameron Grant, Tom Greenway, Bert Hicks, Jimmie Horan, Richard Hylton, Richard Karlan, Don Kohler, Ann Kunde, Nick Lekaj, David McMahon, Tyler McVey, Alfred Mizner, William J. O'Brien, Stuart Randall, Henry Slate, Harry Tenbrook, Beverly Thompson, Philip Tonge, Phil Tully, Ernö Verebes, Ruth Warren, Billy Wayne, May Wynn, Richard Allan, Phil Arnold, Warner Baxter, Harry Carter, Robert Cherry, Abe Dinovitch, James Flavin
About the film
Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".
Directors: Henry Hathaway & John Ford & George Marshall
Warner Bros Blu-ray 2-Disc version (Digibook) for the Smilebox presentation
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Director: Henry Hathaway
Director: Alexandre Aja
Director: David Lynch
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December
Subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
DE Koch Media is presented in the correct 25fps and is likely better compressed than UK Dogwoof (29 vs 14 Mbps), but it doesn’t have English subtitles.
US Drafthouse is in 24fps for Region A compatibility, and is encoded at around 30 Mbps.
(Although bitrate does not solely determine the quality of the encode, the difference is large enough here and there are no publicly available caps.)
No info on the JP VAP Blu-ray.
DE Koch Media and US Drafthouse feature a lossless 5.1 track. Dogwoof offers only AC-3.
Director: Ivan Reitman
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
> US Kino Lorber see comparison and caps
Kino Lorber has an exceedingly poor encode, only slightly improved by the DV layer.
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Universal US Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Plaion DE 4K Blu-ray
Universal's BD uses the same transfer as the old LaserDisc and sounds a bit better than Plaion's, which has worse dynamics.
Plaion's Atmos remix is tastefully done and preserves the original mix's characteristics, the 5.1 track on Kino's release is overly aggressive and unbalanced.
Director: William Wyler
> Paramount 4K Blu-ray (marginally)
Director: Adrian Lyne
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Better compression than other 4K Blu-rays
Director: Enzo G. Castellari
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
German Plaion 4K Blu-ray see caps but doesn't have EN subtitles
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Maybe Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode), Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray, or Pony Canyon Japan 4K Blu-ray. All other existing 4K Blu-rays have terrible compression: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=21423337&postcount=173
The master is heavily DNR'd.
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: John Boorman
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)
Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.
Director: John Schlesinger
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2027 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Included Imprint Blu-Ray also has markedly better image compression than the Criterion Blu-Ray, though do note the Imprint has some adjusted color grading within roughly the first five minutes of the film
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16775595&postcount=450
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24237074&postcount=73
Director: Claire Denis
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
FiM encode; BFI shows noticeable macroblocking
Director: David Fincher
Digipack release includes an Amazing Amy book the standard edition doesn’t have.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Cineverse 4K Blu-ray announced with a new 4K restoration from the original negatives
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray both have issues, up to preference. UK Optimum/Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better, Criterion is worse
Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better encoded than the Optimum, is in the original 1.85 ratio, and has the original colors
Director: Barry Jenkins
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Lionsgate 4k
Criterion 4K Blu-ray announced by director Barry Jenkins
Director: Brian De Palma
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
US Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray re-release announced with Dolby Vision, a new exclusive bonus, and the previously retailer pre-order bonus-exclusive/Hong Kong-exclusive bonus interviews in HD
Italy Eagle Pictures has DV, better encode, and no brightness shifts compared to Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray for the original Dolby Atmos mix
Hong Kong Panorama 4K Blu-ray has two interviews available in HD that are SD everywhere else and only included as retailer-exclusive pre-order bonus DVDs with the US Blu-ray
Director: Toshiharu Ikeda
UK Third Window Blu-ray and US Error 4444 Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
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