A Foreign Affair (1948)
Romance, Comedy, Drama • 1h 56m
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell, Peter von Zerneck, Stanley Prager, William Murphy, Gordon Jones, Freddie Steele, Raymond Bond, Boyd Davis, Robert Malcolm, Charles Meredith, Michael Raffetto, James Larmore, Damian O'Flynn, Frank Fenton, Harland Tucker, George M. Carleton, Nick Abramoff, Ted Cottle, Zina Dennis, Jimmie Dundee, Lisa Golm, Leo Gregory, Ilka Grüning, Vilmos Gymes, Chester Hayes, Hans Herbert, Len Hendry, Friedrich Hollaender, Jerry James, Howard Joslin, George Kachin, Willy Kaufman, Phyllis Kennedy, Henry Kulky, Harry Lauter, Rex Lease, Norman Leavitt, Paul Lees, Kenneth Lundy, Don Lynch, Gregory Merims, Bert Moorhouse, Hazard Newberry, Larry Nunn, Paul Panzer, George Paris, Frank Popovich, Otto Reichow, Albin Robeling, Richard Ryen, William Sabbot, William Self, Pat Shade, John Shay, William F. Sheehan, Peter Similuk, Bob Simpson, Zivko Simunovich, Bert Stevens, Walter Thiele, George Unanoff, Edward Van Sloan, Jack Vlaskin, Sergei N. Vonesky, Henry Vroom, Otto Waldis, Fay Wall, Christa Walton, Bobby Watson, Eric Wyland, Frank Yaconelli, Nicholas L. Zane
About the film
In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi café singer and the US congresswoman investigating her.
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
(transfer of the 1989 MGM LaserDisc, without problems plaguing Kino Lorber's release)
Arrow UHD is an update of the original 4K scan done for their BD. It is also visually far superior to the Kino version and adds Dolby Vision HDR. The Arrow UHD uses a new LD mono capture and has none of the issues or processing found in the Kino UHD which also used an LD mono capture and somehow mucked it up. Short of a brand new scan, the Arrow UHD is as good as it possibly can be.
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber
But still a bit overly noise-managed.
1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
1991 MCA LaserDisc
Director: Billy Wilder
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray is a fine release with no glaring encode issues, the new master is also fine but graded to look quite dim in HDR/DV. Unsure whether that's really respectful to the source
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray / Paramount EU Blu-ray
Old Warner Bros US release is inferior.
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
UK MoC Blu-ray has the better encoding
US Kino Lorber Blu-ray has inferior encoding and likely suffers from the Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps
MOC Blu-ray or MGM Laserdisc
Eureka MOC is far superior to Kino with also more printed booklet extras. The reconstruction work, transfer and extras date back to MGM's Laserdisc attempt. The LD master and materials were ported to the MGM DVD which in turn was paired with an updated HD master for the BDs. The film still cries out for a proper modern restoration and reconstruction attempt with the partially surviving cut sequences. The extras on LD also have PCM audio and one of the visuals in one of the cut episodes is more untouched which is censored for nudity on the modern versions. It's small but the particular element has been blurred on most versions today.
Director: Billy Wilder
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing
Kino UHD has frozen grain and other artifacts from a Paramount master with the usual lackluster Kino encoding.
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Germany Plaion Blu-ray has better encoding and Kino Lorber Blu-ray likely suffers from the Quicktime Gamma Bug, see caps
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Germany Plaion Blu-ray has the best encoding, and both MoC and Kino Lorber Blu-ray have Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps
For encoding, Plaion > MoC > Kino Lorber
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.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Buster Keaton
Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027
Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?) > Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films
Director: Hal Ashby
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
See caps https://slow.pics/c/lVdZaG0W
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
UK MoC Blu-ray > Germany Wicked Vision Blu-ray > US Flicker Alley Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Paul Leni
Theatrical/Original A negative: MoC Blu-ray
European C/D negative but better picture quality: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
From DVDBeaver: The MoC Blu-ray is scanned from the American A negative, as opposed to the European C or D negatives used by Photoplay and others (Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray), so it is identical with the film US audiences saw in 1927
See caps for comparison
In addition, the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has sepia tinting throughout while the MoC Blu-ray has yellow for normal scenes, blue for night scenes, and some even green tintings.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Director: John Frankenheimer
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
MoC slightly better than Kino Lorber http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_76/anatahan_blu-ray.htm
More Romance 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: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Compton Bennett
4K restoration from original technicolor negatives
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
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