Capelight Blu-ray

Capelight Blu-ray, better encoded than MGM Blu-ray

MGM Blu-ray's stereo track.

MGM's 7.1 track is a remix with a few flaws and much worse fidelity. Capelight's stereo and 7.1 track are both from the remix.

The movie was originally premiered as a roadshow release, with a a 70mm 6-Track Stereo mix. This mix, unfortunately has not been released on home video.

The closest thing to that mix, is the stereo track included on the 2010 Blu-ray. It sounds great, with high fidelity and little filtering. It's lossy, but that doesn't matter very much.

Both the DVD 5.1 and the Blu-ray 7.1 tracks (identical on both discs) are a new remix, rather than a repackaging of the original mix. The 7.1 track sounds quite muffled, though not evenly so. The Capelight Blu-ray's lossless stereo track uses the same remix, but with higher fidelity than the surround tracks, sounding significantly less muffled. Compared to the original, this remix sounds wider and more "cleaned up". The remix contains a handful of errors, for example the intermission cue fades out, rather than ending correctly.

Comparison samples

France ESC 4K Blu-ray, better than Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray.

Capelight 4K Blu-ray (the ESC 4K Blu-ray have no original 2.0 and a different Atmos mix. More about the ESC mix in this review)

Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray

Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray

Arrow Blu-ray has the most extras

Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Capelight 4K Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray > US Shout! Factory - caps

5.1 mix: Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: MGM NTSC DVD

The 5.1 track sounds very good and is said to be sourced from the original 6-track mix used for 70mm blow-up releases, but there is no conclusive proof of that.

Criterion Blu-ray or maybe 2020 Capelight Blu-ray?

Criterion > BFI & 2012 Capelight, not sure about 2020 Capelight

2012 Capelight Blu-ray?

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

Capelight 4K Steelbook and Mediabook announced for 2026

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

The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.

Universal Blu-ray

Universal Blu-ray or Capelight Blu-ray, they look fairly similar, see caps

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

1992 MGM LaserDisc [ML102699], but still a bit overly noise-managed.

1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?