The Rules of the Game (1939)
La Règle du jeu
Drama, Comedy, Romance • 1h 53m
Overview
A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances.
Director: Jean Renoir
Cast: Jean Renoir, Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Julien Carette, Roland Toutain, Paulette Dubost, Gaston Modot, Mila Parély, Anne Mayen, Eddy Debray, Odette Talazac, Claire Gérard, Pierre Magnier, Pierre Nay, Richard Francœur, Léon Larive, Lise Elina, Nicolas Amato, Jacques Beauvais, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Celestin, Tony Corteggiani, Géo Forster, Camille François, Jenny Hélia, Maurice Marceau, Marcel Melrac, André Zwobada, Marguerite de Morlaye
Director: Martin Scorsese
Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.
The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review
1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html
Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:
I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.
The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review
1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html
Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:
I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director: Andrzej Żuławski
Second Sight 4K Blu-ray > Le Chat Qui Fume 4K Blu-ray > Umbrella 4K Blu-ray see caps
Second Sight uses the same Le Chat Qui Fume master, but encoded by FiM and applied Dolby Vision. Umbrella's encoding is visibly worse than Le Chat Qui Fume.
Mondo Vision Blu-ray and Anchor Bay DVD have an alternate audio track with an unauthorized soundtrack.
Director: Andrzej Żuławski
Second Sight 4K Blu-ray > Le Chat Qui Fume 4K Blu-ray > Umbrella 4K Blu-ray see caps
Second Sight uses the same Le Chat Qui Fume master, but encoded by FiM and applied Dolby Vision. Umbrella's encoding is visibly worse than Le Chat Qui Fume.
Mondo Vision Blu-ray and Anchor Bay DVD have an alternate audio track with an unauthorized soundtrack.
Director: Jacques Tati
2014 StudioCanal Blu-ray
The UHD is slightly cropped in.
Director: Jacques Tati
2014 StudioCanal Blu-ray
The UHD is slightly cropped in.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Mosfilm official 4K Youtube Streaming is the only release for the new 4K restoration. Mosfilm's release has no sepia, and whether or not if this is the original color grading is still under debate.
For other releases: Netherlands Lumière Blu-ray is best, but all releases of the 2K restoration have issues:
German Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is 2K upscale and has incorrectly pitched Russian audio. See caps
Criterion Blu-ray/Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray have yellow tint on sepia scenes
France Potemkine (Standalone) has raised blacks and poor encoding
France Potemkine (Boxset) has orange tint on sepia scenes and poor encoding
Netherlands Lumière has correct sepia scenes, good encode, but gamma is slightly off.
Italy General Video Recording has correct sepia scenes but gamma is off (more so than Netherlands Blu-ray and worse encode)
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Mosfilm official 4K Youtube Streaming is the only release for the new 4K restoration. Mosfilm's release has no sepia, and whether or not if this is the original color grading is still under debate.
For other releases: Netherlands Lumière Blu-ray is best, but all releases of the 2K restoration have issues:
German Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is 2K upscale and has incorrectly pitched Russian audio. See caps
Criterion Blu-ray/Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray have yellow tint on sepia scenes
France Potemkine (Standalone) has raised blacks and poor encoding
France Potemkine (Boxset) has orange tint on sepia scenes and poor encoding
Netherlands Lumière has correct sepia scenes, good encode, but gamma is slightly off.
Italy General Video Recording has correct sepia scenes but gamma is off (more so than Netherlands Blu-ray and worse encode)
Director: Béla Tarr
Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps
Director: Béla Tarr
Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps
Artificial Eye UK Blu-ray? Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.
Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
Artificial Eye UK Blu-ray? Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.
Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
2020 Criterion
2020 Criterion > StudioCanal > 2009 Criterion
2007 StudioCanal DVD
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
2020 Criterion
2020 Criterion > StudioCanal > 2009 Criterion
2007 StudioCanal DVD
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion 4K Blu-ray/2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray (preference)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray
Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion 4K Blu-ray/2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray (preference)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray
Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: Jean Renoir
The BFI and Gaumont Blu-ray releases are both from the same restoration by Éclair. Although this restoration is much superior in detail to the old Criterion DVD, like many Éclair restorations, it has issues with colour. There is a definite yellow cast to the footage, making skin tones appear sickly and dampening the impact of the colour. The image is also murkier than the Criterion.
As Renoir scholar Tag Gallagher notes: "I talked a lot toward the end about the light blue walls (Criterion); but when I got the BFI blu I was greatly deflated, because the walls are light gray!"
That said, as visible in the screen caps at DVD Beaver, the Criterion has compromised colour too, and often looks too blue/magenta. There is a regraded edition of the BFI Blu-ray out there on the high seas.
The audio on the Blu-ray releases is slightly compressed, but better than earlier DVD releases and relatively full frequency.
The BFI is most likely the best English-friendly release as it includes English subtitles for the bonus features.
Director: Jean Renoir
The BFI and Gaumont Blu-ray releases are both from the same restoration by Éclair. Although this restoration is much superior in detail to the old Criterion DVD, like many Éclair restorations, it has issues with colour. There is a definite yellow cast to the footage, making skin tones appear sickly and dampening the impact of the colour. The image is also murkier than the Criterion.
As Renoir scholar Tag Gallagher notes: "I talked a lot toward the end about the light blue walls (Criterion); but when I got the BFI blu I was greatly deflated, because the walls are light gray!"
That said, as visible in the screen caps at DVD Beaver, the Criterion has compromised colour too, and often looks too blue/magenta. There is a regraded edition of the BFI Blu-ray out there on the high seas.
The audio on the Blu-ray releases is slightly compressed, but better than earlier DVD releases and relatively full frequency.
The BFI is most likely the best English-friendly release as it includes English subtitles for the bonus features.
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
2021 StudioCanal Blu-ray
2021 StudioCanal Blu-ray has better encode and gamma levels compared to older StudioCanal Blu-ray caps
Director: Jean Renoir
2021 StudioCanal Blu-ray
2021 StudioCanal Blu-ray has better encode and gamma levels compared to older StudioCanal Blu-ray caps
StudioCanal 4k transfer
StudioCanal 4k transfer
Director: Jean Renoir
Kino Lorber/Raro Blu-ray
Director: Jean Renoir
Kino Lorber/Raro Blu-ray
Director: Jean Renoir
StudioCanal France and Spain have BDs
Director: Jean Renoir
StudioCanal France and Spain have BDs
Director: Rob Reiner
Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray has a few exclusive extras
Director: Rob Reiner
Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray has a few exclusive extras
Director: John Boorman
Director: John Boorman
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Mosfilm official 4K Youtube Streaming
See comparison vs German Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray which is a 2K upscale of the previous restoration
Criterion/Artificial Eye Blu-ray are even older restoration than the Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray
Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray has incorrect pitch on the Russian audio see thread
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Mosfilm official 4K Youtube Streaming
See comparison vs German Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray which is a 2K upscale of the previous restoration
Criterion/Artificial Eye Blu-ray are even older restoration than the Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray
Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray has incorrect pitch on the Russian audio see thread
Director: Todd Haynes
Director: Todd Haynes
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Criterion 4K Blu-ray FiM encode Caps
UK Warner Bros Steelbook 4K Blu-ray is slightly worse in encoding compared to FiM but otherwise excellent see caps
Uncensored: Cinema DTS
Censored: Criterion
Comparison
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Criterion 4K Blu-ray FiM encode Caps
UK Warner Bros Steelbook 4K Blu-ray is slightly worse in encoding compared to FiM but otherwise excellent see caps
Uncensored: Cinema DTS
Censored: Criterion
Comparison
Director: Mike Mills
Criterion 4K Blu-ray upscales from 2K DI
Director: Mike Mills
Criterion 4K Blu-ray upscales from 2K DI
Director: Mike Mills
Criterion 4K Blu-ray upscale from 2K DI
Director: Mike Mills
Criterion 4K Blu-ray upscale from 2K DI
Director: Mike Mills
Director: Mike Mills
Director: David Lynch
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Australia Imprint Blu-ray upcoming included in After Dark Neo-Noir Cinema Vol. 4
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Director: David Lynch
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Australia Imprint Blu-ray upcoming included in After Dark Neo-Noir Cinema Vol. 4
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Director: Philip Kaufman
Director: Philip Kaufman
Edit History
Made with ❤️ 📀 by vanshady