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The Verdict (1946)
The Verdict (1946) poster
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The Verdict (1946)

Mystery, Crime • 1h 26m

Director: Don Siegel

Cast: Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Joan Lorring, George Coulouris, Rosalind Ivan, Paul Cavanagh, Arthur Shields, Morton Lowry, Holmes Herbert, Art Foster, Clyde Cook, Jimmy Aubrey, Billy Bletcher, Creighton Hale, Colin Kenny, Leo White, Ian Wolfe, Howard Davies, Mark Strong, Olaf Hytten, Harry Cording

Letterboxd
IMDbThe Movie Database (TMDB)

Best English-friendly & video release

Video notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Updated 4 months ago


About the film

After an innocent man is executed in a case he was responsible for, a Scotland Yard superintendent finds himself investigating the murder of his key witness.

More from Don Siegel

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Director: Don Siegel

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

All three are not ideal.

All three are not ideal.

  • Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has frozen grain, sharpening, lots of debris, and handles lesser materials. The supposed non-Superscope version is false advertising. It merely reveals more picture information. 

Best Audio:

1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono

Additional Info:

Criterion LaserDisc has exclusive commentary. Olive Films Signature Blu-ray and BFI Blu-ray each have exclusive extras. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has exclusive commentary.

Director: Don Siegel

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB 4K Blu-ray despite extreme frozen grain in moments, overzealous HDR brightness in outdoor sequences, color timing shifts in some shots

Best Audio:

Original Mono Mix: 1990's LaserDisc stereo remix folded back to mono, original VHS and Beta Hifi, WB 4K Blu-ray mono

Director: Don Siegel

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray's source is provided by Paramount has had DNR applied which affects the inherently soft looking film pretty strongly for at least a third of the running time

Director: Don Siegel

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

More from Warner Archive

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Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive DVD

Director: Roy Del Ruth

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Vincent Sherman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: George Pal

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Compton Bennett

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from original technicolor negatives

Director: Jack Conway

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: George B. Seitz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

More Mystery on Blu-ray

Director: Jonathan Demme

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome/Cinématographe 4K

Sources: vitalpassenger.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

FiM are mistakenly credited, one of the four known instances of this for a Cinématographe title (the other three being Thieves Like Us, Who Killed Teddy Bear?, and The Gambler). 4K encode was done by Vital Passenger.  https://vitalpassenger.com/our-work

Director: Buster Keaton

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027

Video Notes:

Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?) > Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films

Director: Orson Welles

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

WB Europe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB Europe 4K Blu-ray slightly better encoding than Criterion (caveat: missing Criterion extras)

TV series

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best Video:

Germany Nameless Blu-ray

For uncut Dream Cruise: Germany Splendid Film standalone Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

Germany Nameless collection is uncut except Dream Cruise

Director: Doug Liman

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

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

US Cut: US Universal HD-DVD

International Cut: International Universal HD-DVD

Video Notes:

The Universal Blu-ray is slightly filtered and DNR'd compared to the HD-DVD, and the Universal 4K Blu-ray, on top of being upscaled, adds additional DNR and is softer than both previous HD releases.

Best Audio:

Universal Blu-ray DTS-HD 5.1

Additional Info:

Versions:
- The International version contains a short additional scene (part of the "Farmhouse" extended scene from the special features). See additional detail below.
- The US version does not contain this scene during the film. Director Doug Liman confirms in his audio commentary that the scene was cut from the original US theatrical release "for time".
- "The Explosive Extended Edition" found on some DVD releases is not an alternate cut of the film, simply an access mode that plays "The Bookend Scenes" features via non-seamless branching.

Deck the Halls scene:
The U.S. release is 118:17 while the European/Australian/Japanese releases are 118:36. There is no difference between the two running times from the start, but at 81:21, the U.S. version cuts from a kitchen scene of Marie and Eamon washing dishes, to a scene of Eamon bringing blankets to Jason and Marie. On the European/Australian releases, at the same point, there is a scene of Jason, Marie, Eamon and his children eating dinner while "Deck the Halls" plays in the background. There is no dialogue, the characters just each exchange uncomfortable glances. The scene goes to 81:40, then picks up the same scene of Eamon bringing blankets. This scene is included as an extra ("Farmhouse" extended scene) albeit sans the holiday themed music. Many thanks to Rewind user Mark Bowen for comparing these releases and letting us know the difference.

Director: David Fincher

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

20th Century Studios Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Digipack release includes an Amazing Amy book the standard edition doesn’t have.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering; WB 4K early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed. Comparison between Criterion and WB.

Best Audio:

6-Track 70mm mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray (restored for the box set), 1997 MGM LaserDisc, 1998 MGM DVD
35mm Mono Mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Matrixed Stereo Remix: MGM Japan LaserDisc (1985) [G158F5509]
5.1 Remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Alexandre Aja

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

US Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

US Lionsgate Limited, France ESC, or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

Germany Plaion is reportedly better than UK Second Sight.

Not sure about the US Lionsgate or France ESC.

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

Best English-Friendly:

Theatrical Cut: Austria NSM Blu-ray
Director's Cut: US Lionsgate Blu-ray

Best Video:

Theatrical Cut: Austria NSM Blu-ray
Director's Cut: France Metropolitan Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Metropolitan got better picture (higher bitrate + better grain + more detail) than Lionsgate

Best Audio:

Director's Cut: US Lionsgate Blu-ray

Director: Glen Morgan

Best English-Friendly:

2008 Canada TVA Films Blu-ray

Best Video:

2022 Germany Nameless Media 3-Disc Edition Blu-ray

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vanshady

· last reviewed 4 months ago

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