Best Blurays IconBest Blurays
Films
/
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) poster
Letterboxd

3.5

The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)

Drama • 2h 17m

Overview

A young priest, Father Chisholm is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among the non-Christian Chinese. While his boyhood friend, also a priest, flourishes in his calling as a priest in a more Christian area of the world, Father Chisholm struggles. He encounters hostility, isolation, disease, poverty and a variety of set backs which humble him, but make him more determined than ever to succeed.

Director: John M. Stahl

Best English-Friendly Release

Best Video Release

Best Audio Release

Format

1080p Blu-ray

Length

137 mins

Type

Movie

Last Updated

3 months ago

Contributors

Best English-Friendly Release
Best Video Release
Best Audio Release
Format
1080p Blu-ray
Length
137 mins
Type
Movie
Last Updated
3 months ago
Contributors

More from John M. Stahl

See more →
Imitation of Life poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Universal Blu-ray

Best Video:

Universal Blu-ray (2-Movie collection) is marginally better than Criterion, see caps

Best English-Friendly:

Universal Blu-ray

Best Video:

Universal Blu-ray (2-Movie collection) is marginally better than Criterion, see caps

Leave Her to Heaven poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray has minimally better encoding than Twilight Time Blu-ray see caps

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray has minimally better encoding than Twilight Time Blu-ray see caps

More from Twilight Time

See more →
Salvador poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

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

  • Analog 1986 US LaserDisc sounds poor

Perhaps the digital JP LD would be better.

Salvador poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

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

  • Analog 1986 US LaserDisc sounds poor

Perhaps the digital JP LD would be better.

The Gang's All Here poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

MoC OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:

MoC OOP Blu-ray has a completely different grading to Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray, but given that MoC is much closer to Fox DVD, and each label's track record and poll preference on DVDBeaver MoC is likely the better one. See caps and caps

Otherwise HD Streaming is also available

Best English-Friendly:

MoC OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:

MoC OOP Blu-ray has a completely different grading to Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray, but given that MoC is much closer to Fox DVD, and each label's track record and poll preference on DVDBeaver MoC is likely the better one. See caps and caps

Otherwise HD Streaming is also available

Judgment at Nuremberg poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

UK BFI Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK BFI Blu-ray is very similar to Germany Capelight Blu-ray but Capelight is slightly more sharpened see caps

Both Kino Lorber and Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray suffer from Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps

Best English-Friendly:

UK BFI Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK BFI Blu-ray is very similar to Germany Capelight Blu-ray but Capelight is slightly more sharpened see caps

Both Kino Lorber and Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray suffer from Quicktime Gamma Bug see caps

The Big Heat poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray. 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"

Best Audio:

Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)

The Big Heat poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray. 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"

Best Audio:

Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

UK MoC OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK MoC OOP Blu-ray is strongly preferred over US Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray: the color on Twilight Time looks very off and loses a lot of shadow details, overall just looks wrong see caps

Otherwise HD Streaming is available

Best English-Friendly:

UK MoC OOP Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK MoC OOP Blu-ray is strongly preferred over US Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray: the color on Twilight Time looks very off and loses a lot of shadow details, overall just looks wrong see caps

Otherwise HD Streaming is available

Zulu poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

US OOP Twilight Time Blu-ray

Best Video:

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.

Zulu poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

US OOP Twilight Time Blu-ray

Best Video:

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.

Stormy Weather poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray

Lilies of the Field poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray is minimally better encoded than Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray see caps

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray is minimally better encoded than Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray see caps

The Hospital poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sandpiper Pictures Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sandpiper Pictures Blu-ray is likely the same as previous Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray

The Hospital poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sandpiper Pictures Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sandpiper Pictures Blu-ray is likely the same as previous Twilight Time OOP Blu-ray

Fright Night poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Eureka Blu-ray's stereo sounds better than the Sony 4K Blu-ray stereo

Additional Info:

Twilight Time has an isolated score

Fright Night poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Eureka Blu-ray's stereo sounds better than the Sony 4K Blu-ray stereo

Additional Info:

Twilight Time has an isolated score

More Drama on Blu-ray

The Mothman Prophecies poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Upcoming Release:

UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October

Best Video:

Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling

Best Audio:

Germany Concorde Blu-ray has lossless DTS-HD 5.1

Best English-Friendly:

Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Upcoming Release:

UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October

Best Video:

Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling

Best Audio:

Germany Concorde Blu-ray has lossless DTS-HD 5.1

100 METERS poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Netflix Streaming

Best Audio:

Japan Pony Canyon Blu-ray for original 7.1 mix

Netflix Streaming for English dub

100 METERS poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Netflix Streaming

Best Audio:

Japan Pony Canyon Blu-ray for original 7.1 mix

Netflix Streaming for English dub

Drive poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Atmos on the Sony 4K Blu-ray maybe better?

Regarding the "original theatrical audio" 5.1 mixes:

The Sony UHD and the BD DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are the same but the UHD has been pushed slightly harder and has a lot of clipping. The UHD is 16 bit vs the BD's 24 bits.

The Second Sight UHD DTS-HD 5.1 is a downmix of its respective Atmos track. Definitely different from the Sony UHD/BD mix plus a little less dynamic. Whether or not that's representative of the theatrical Dolby Digital mix is anyone's guess.

So, if you want the best version of the original 5.1, the 2012 BD is the winner.

Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Atmos on the Sony 4K Blu-ray maybe better?

Regarding the "original theatrical audio" 5.1 mixes:

The Sony UHD and the BD DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are the same but the UHD has been pushed slightly harder and has a lot of clipping. The UHD is 16 bit vs the BD's 24 bits.

The Second Sight UHD DTS-HD 5.1 is a downmix of its respective Atmos track. Definitely different from the Sony UHD/BD mix plus a little less dynamic. Whether or not that's representative of the theatrical Dolby Digital mix is anyone's guess.

So, if you want the best version of the original 5.1, the 2012 BD is the winner.

The Corruptor poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Toy Robot 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

The Corruptor poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Toy Robot 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

The Skeleton Key poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Australia Imprint Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Australia Imprint Blu-ray

Secretary poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

France Metropolitan or Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Best Video:

France Metropolitan or Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Best Audio:

US LionsgateFrance Metropolitan, and Germany Blu-ray have a 7.1 track, Australia Imprint has stereo only.

Secretary poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

France Metropolitan or Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Best Video:

France Metropolitan or Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Best Audio:

US LionsgateFrance Metropolitan, and Germany Blu-ray have a 7.1 track, Australia Imprint has stereo only.

Madadayo poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Imprint AU Blu-ray

Madadayo poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Imprint AU Blu-ray

LBJ poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony Blu-ray

LBJ poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony Blu-ray

The Bucket List poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

The Bucket List poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Shock and Awe poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Vertical Blu-ray

Shock and Awe poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Vertical Blu-ray

Edit History

1 edit
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) backdrop

Made with ❤️ 📀 by vanshady