The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Adventure, Romance, Action • 1h 34m
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Eugene Pallette, J. Edward Bromberg, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher, George Regas, Chris-Pin Martin, Robert Lowery, Belle Mitchell, John Bleifer, Frank Puglia, Pedro de Cordoba, Guy D'Ennery, Eugene Borden, Stanley Andrews, Fortunio Bonanova, Ralph Byrd, Robert Cauterio, Bob Cautiero, Robert Conway, Gino Corrado, Franco Corsaro, Andre Cuyas, Jean Del Val, Joseph DeVillard, Art Dupuis, William Edmunds, George Ghermanoff, Victor Kilian, Fred Malatesta, Francisco Marán, Francisco Moreno, Ted North, Hector V. Sarno, George Sorel, Charles Stevens, Rafael Alcayde, Paul Sutton, Lucio Villegas, Harry Worth, Frank Yaconelli, Ed Agresti, Brandon Beach, Alfredo Berumen, George Blagoi, George Bruggeman, Herman Hack, Carl M. Leviness, Victor Romito
Best English-friendly & video release
Kino Lorber Blu-ray not only suffers from Quicktime Gamma Bug, but also has slightly worse encoding see caps comparing 0.88 gamma
Updated 6 months ago
About the film
In 1820 Spain, the son of a California nobleman comes home to find his native land under a villainous dictatorship. On one hand, he plays the useless fop, while on the other, he is the masked avenger Zorro.
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- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2009
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.
Warner Archive Blu-ray, 4k scan
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Both 4k master but Kino Lorber has way more contrast (is it as intended?) also different AR http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_131/love_me_tonight_blu-ray.htm
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Indicator Blu-ray is minimally better than Kino Lorber Blu-ray, see DVDBeaver caps
More Adventure on Blu-ray
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: John Huston
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Eureka Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Older DVD or LaserDisc probably even better
All blu-ray releases so far is from the 2010 scan.
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Director: George Lucas
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
OG: "4K77" or "D+77" on high seas.
Special Edition: "4K97_IV" or "D+97_IV" on high seas.
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes (and usually included in fan restorations). There are 16mm/TV rips of the mono mixes.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
Director: David Lean
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray Purist choice: Blu-ray
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray new improved master with color grading and slight issues. Blu-ray is old master with original color grading
Blu-ray 5.1
The Paramount 4K Blu-ray has a much better new scan that removes the original extremely dated color grading. This is an improvement on one hand but a definite revisionist change on the other. There is the expected grain management and slight HDR issues in addition to encoding quirks from Paramount. It is a giant improvement over the original Blu-ray but the color change and other issues means that the Blu-ray is one to keep for purists to have the as-is original iteration of the film's presentation. Audio wise the film has been remixed into Atmos but it merely seems like a slightly tweaked and frankly tamed version of the original 5.1. Of the two I prefer the Blu-ray 5.1. The original Blu-ray was Dolby TrueHD and the reissue Blu-ray in the four film Blu-ray collection boxset was DTS-HDMA.
DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW
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