Films
/
The Lead Shoes (1949)
The Lead Shoes (1949) poster
Letterboxd

The Lead Shoes (1949)

Drama • 18m

Director: Sidney Peterson

Cast: Harlan Jackson

Letterboxd
IMDbThe Movie Database (TMDB)

Kino Lorber Avant-Garde 3: Experimental Cinema 1922-1954 OOP DVD

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 4 months ago

Overview

In "The Lead Shoes", we can neither thrust in our eyes nor our ears to help us understand how time flows or how space is. Therefore, Peterson forces us to take both space and time as relative experiences. The consistent disorientation in the film and our consistent inability to perceive them in absolute terms become the main subject of the film. Peterson makes us aware that space and time are more complicated than we think they are and they should be experienced in a more open-minded way. —Yoel Meranda

Release details

Featured Lists
National Film Registry

Year of Induction: 2009

Length
18 mins
Type
Movie

Featured in National Film Registry

See more →

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, work done to un-Nolan the 4K master, the first ever appearance of the 35mm mono track on physical media and a new restoration/remastering of the 70mm 6-track mix.

Video Notes:

(early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed)

Best Audio:

1997 MGM LaserDisc, 1998 MGM DVD

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming on October 20th with FiM encode

Audio Notes:

DTS:X mix most closely approximates original surround mix

Additional Info:

Criterion DVD has additional features not found on the 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, new restoration of mono mix which should be better than what was on the WB 4K Blu-ray and 1999 DVD and revised colour timing to make the film look more like it did in 1971.

Best Audio:

WB 4K 5.1: a remix but has higher fidelity

Mono: 4K Blu-ray/1999 DVD

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray

International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, both the US and the International Cut, new restoration/remastering of the mono mix which should be better than the 1999 WB DVD, revised colour timing to make the film look more like it did in 1980 and for the first time ever on physical media, the film will be in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

Best Audio:

1999 WB DVD

Additional Info:

No Blu-ray or DVD release has presented the movie in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the US cut or 1.66:1 for the International cut.

The packaging on the back of the 4K Blu-ray incorrectly states it as 1.85:1 when the movie is actually 1.78:1 as is the original Blu-ray. 

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode

Best Audio:

1994 LaserDisc (marginally)

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

MoC OOP Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1992 MGM VHS

Director: Charles Burnett

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray new restored 4K digital transfer approved by Charles Burnett

Best Audio:

iTunes version from 2018 see blah-ray

Director: William Wyler

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

HD Streaming

Director: John Ford

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Apple TV HD Streaming

More from Kino Lorber

See more →

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode

Director: John Frankenheimer

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1994 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Paul Leni

Best English-Friendly & Video:

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)

Video Notes:

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: Lewis Teague

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Upcoming Release:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing

Best Audio:

R1 DVD

Audio Notes:

R1 DVD sounds best and has the original mono and a Dolby Stereo remix

Director: Hal Ashby

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.

Audio Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Director: Andreas Prochaska

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available 

Germany Blu-ray doesn’t have good encoding, with visible blocking and banding etc.

Additional Info:

Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP 

Kino Lorber Blu-ray retains both the French and German dialogue in their native languages.

Germany Blu-ray dubs over the French dialogue in German.

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray worse than Blu-ray with poor encoding (review)

Director: Norman Jewison

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Martin Scorsese

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

(same as all tracks since the DVD)

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray see caps

Video Notes:

Phenomenal disc, and perhaps the single greatest testament to NexSpec's positive 180 this year. Highlights are beautifully handled and grain structure is fully intact in areas where NexSpec's (and Pixelogic's) encodes would frequently fall apart in 2025 and before then. Criterion BD encode also looks to be robust from linked caps, save for this one frame: https://slow.pics/c/cMjMefmi

https://slow.pics/c/qQbJum0H

https://slow.pics/c/C3kJJZg0

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, new restoration/remastering of the mono mix which should be better than the 1999 WB DVD, revised colour timing to make the film look more like it did in 1987 and for the first time ever on physical media, the film will be in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

Best Audio:

1999 WB R1 DVD

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Kino BD has original stereo mix.

Directors: Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: filmalert101.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

FiM encode and none of the low-pass filtering present on the Criterion 4K, resulting in more detail and better handling of highlights on Imprint https://filmalert101.blogspot.com/2026/09/on-4k-uhd-david-hare-rhapsodizes-over.html?m=1

Director: Yasujirō Ozu

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2020 BFI Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2005 Raro DVD

Director: Jerry Schatzberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Signal One UK Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Gorgeously filmic 2K remaster supervised and approved by Jerry Schatzberg from Fox and flawlessly encoded by FiM.

Directors: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Imprint AU 4K is world UHD debut and encoded by FiM. Part of the The Cinema Of Powell & Pressburger - Collection Two set.

Director: Leos Carax

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Edit history

1 edit

Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 4 months ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.