The Iron Horse (1925)
Western, Drama, History, Romance • 2h 29m
Overview
Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy is all alone now.
Director: John Ford
Cast: George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull, Cyril Chadwick, Will Walling, Francis Powers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Jim Welch, George Waggner, Fred Kohler, James A. Marcus, Gladys Hulette, Jean Arthur, Chief John Big Tree, Winston Miller, Chris Willow Bird, Danny Borzage, George Brent, Milton Brown, Thomas Carr, Peggy Cartwright, Colin Chase, Harvey Clark, Elmer Dewey, John Webb Dillion, Thomas Durant, Bob Fleming, Willie Fung, Jack Ganzhorn, James Gordon, James Gordon, Ed Jones, Tiny Jones, Sid Jordan, Dick La Reno, Delbert Mann, Robert Milasch, Pat Moriarity, Charles Newton, Herman Nowlin, John M. O'Brien, Charles O'Malley, Jack Padjan, Edward Peil Sr., Jack Richardson, Vinegar Roan, Walter Rodgers, Harold D. Schuster, Tom Smith, Charles Stevens, Frances Teague, Stanhope Wheatcroft, Greg Whitespear, Leo Willis, Chief Eagle Wing
Director: Jonathan Demme
Director: Jonathan Demme
Director: George Roy Hill
Director: George Roy Hill
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: James Cameron
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: James Cameron
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: Billy Wilder
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber
Director: Billy Wilder
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber
Directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
Directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Director: Stanley Kubrick
US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray
International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray
Criterion Box Set
US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray
International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray
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
US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray
International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray
Criterion Box Set
US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray
International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray
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: 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: John Ford
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
Director: John Ford
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
2022 Paramount Presents Blu-ray disc included in 4K Blu-ray set
2022 Paramount Presents Blu-ray disc included in 4K Blu-ray set, same master, but less bitrate starved.
The encode on the BD is preferable to the UHD. Same master, but less bitrate starved: https://x.com/SadHillDevan/status/1530057783885721607?s=20 and see caps
2022 Paramount Presents Blu-ray disc included in 4K Blu-ray set
2022 Paramount Presents Blu-ray disc included in 4K Blu-ray set, same master, but less bitrate starved.
The encode on the BD is preferable to the UHD. Same master, but less bitrate starved: https://x.com/SadHillDevan/status/1530057783885721607?s=20 and see caps
Director: John Ford
USA Paramount has the best video transfer with the least amount of artifacts: https://slow.pics/c/sjZ3mqF6
Olive Films Blu-ray and Eureka MoC Blu-ray are sourced from the same restoration and are both very good.
Apart from some mild attenuation, the audio is the same on all releases of the newest restoration and is relatively untampered with: https://slow.pics/c/bWF9EGuM
Director: John Ford
USA Paramount has the best video transfer with the least amount of artifacts: https://slow.pics/c/sjZ3mqF6
Olive Films Blu-ray and Eureka MoC Blu-ray are sourced from the same restoration and are both very good.
Apart from some mild attenuation, the audio is the same on all releases of the newest restoration and is relatively untampered with: https://slow.pics/c/bWF9EGuM
Director: John Ford
The audio on the Warner Archive Blu-ray is appalling. It starts to cutoff at around 6kHz to have nothing above 10kHz. The LaserDisc is much more full-frequency.
Director: John Ford
The audio on the Warner Archive Blu-ray is appalling. It starts to cutoff at around 6kHz to have nothing above 10kHz. The LaserDisc is much more full-frequency.
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
More Western on Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hughes
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: Howard Hughes
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: George Pal
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
Director: George Pal
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
Director: Martin Ritt
Director: Martin Ritt
Original TV Version: Japan LaserDisc, US OOP Bandai DVD for English dub
"Remix" Remaster: Italy Dynit Blu-ray, US Funimation/Crunchyroll Blu-ray for English dub
The "Remix" remaster has slightly different cuts for some episodes, and completely redone audio mixes. The original TV version of the English dub also has an entirely different audio mix from either the Japanese mix or the "Remix" remaster.
Original TV Version: Japan LaserDisc, US OOP Bandai DVD for English dub
"Remix" Remaster: Italy Dynit Blu-ray, US Funimation/Crunchyroll Blu-ray for English dub
The "Remix" remaster has slightly different cuts for some episodes, and completely redone audio mixes. The original TV version of the English dub also has an entirely different audio mix from either the Japanese mix or the "Remix" remaster.
Director: David Dobkin
Director: David Dobkin
Director: Tom Dey
Director: Tom Dey
Director: Howard Hawks
Director: Howard Hawks
Director: Howard Hawks
Director: Howard Hawks
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