The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Drama, Crime • 1h 59m
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang, Darren McGavin, Robert Strauss, John Conte, Doro Merande, George E. Stone, George Mathews, Leonid Kinskey, Emile Meyer, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Herschel Graham, Frank Mills, Harry 'Snub' Pollard, Jeffrey Sayre, Jered Barclay, Leonard Bremen, Paul E. Burns, Pete Candoli, Harold 'Tommy' Hart, Mike Lally, Frank Marlowe, Joe McTurk, Gordon Mitchell, Jack Mulhall, Ralph Neff, Norman Papson, Ernest Raboff, Frank Richards, Suzanne Ridgway, Charles Seel, Martha Wentworth, Will Wright
Best video release
Updated 6 months ago
About the film
When illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine gets out of prison, he decides to straighten up. Armed with nothing but an old drum set, Frankie tries to get honest work as a drummer. But when his former employer and his old drug dealer re-enter his life, Frankie finds it hard to stay clean and eventually finds himself succumbing to his old habits.
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- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2020
Director: Richard Brooks
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
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
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.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
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: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
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.
Director: Otto Preminger
Director: Otto Preminger
Director: Otto Preminger
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sony 4K Blu-ray Columbia Classics Vol 2
1986 RCA/Columbia LaserDisc
Director: Erle C. Kenton
No comparison available
Director: Leo McCarey
No comparisons
Director: Leo McCarey
2012 MoC Blu-ray or Elephant Films France Blu-ray
They are using the same very old HD transfer.
Director: Tim Whelan
2013 Elephant Films France Blu-ray
Kino Lorber, BFI, Elephant Films (no EN subs)
Kino Lorber, BFI, Elephant Films (no EN subs) are likely all from the same 1080p transfer
Director: Luis Buñuel
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
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