Broken Lullaby (1932)
Drama • 1h 16m
Overview
A young French soldier in World War I is overcome with guilt when he kills a German soldier who, like himself, is a musically gifted conscript, each having attended the same musical conservatory in France. The fact that the incident occurred in war does not assuage his guilt. He travels to Germany to meet the man's family.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Phillips Holmes, Nancy Carroll, Louise Carter, Lucien Littlefield, Tom Douglas, Zasu Pitts, Frank Sheridan, George Bickel, Emma Dunn, Reginald Pasch, Rodney McLennan, George Irving, Marjorie Main, Tully Marshall, George Davis, Robert Dudley, Lillian Elliott, Julia Swayne Gordon, Kate MacKenna, Torben Meyer, Russ Powell, Joan Standing, Marvin Stephens, John Steppling, Louis Van der Ecker, Anton Vaverka, Dorothy Vernon, Paul Weigel, Lottie Williams
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Subjective, but the concertina score by Bernard Wrigley on the OOP MoC Blu-ray is generally regarded as very weak. For example, it frequently doesn't match the action. The Meg Morley score on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray is considered superior.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Subjective, but the concertina score by Bernard Wrigley on the OOP MoC Blu-ray is generally regarded as very weak. For example, it frequently doesn't match the action. The Meg Morley score on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray is considered superior.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
The 1997 LaserDisc has more high end detail in the audio than the new restoration
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
The 1997 LaserDisc has more high end detail in the audio than the new restoration
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Kino Lorber 4k resto
The audio on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray comes from a better source than the various DVDs and the previous HD version on streaming. This audio is relatively untampered with, and is likely the best available source as no laserdisc was ever issued.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Kino Lorber 4k resto
The audio on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray comes from a better source than the various DVDs and the previous HD version on streaming. This audio is relatively untampered with, and is likely the best available source as no laserdisc was ever issued.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
MoC OOP Blu-ray is likely to have better encoding than Kino Lorber Blu-ray judging from other movies in the boxset
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
MoC OOP Blu-ray is likely to have better encoding than Kino Lorber Blu-ray judging from other movies in the boxset
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
MoC OOP Blu-ray is likely to have better encoding than Kino Lorber Blu-ray judging from other movies in the boxset
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
MoC OOP Blu-ray is likely to have better encoding than Kino Lorber Blu-ray judging from other movies in the boxset
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
MoC OOP Blu-ray is likely to have better encoding than Kino Lorber Blu-ray judging from other movies in the boxset
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
MoC OOP Blu-ray is likely to have better encoding than Kino Lorber Blu-ray judging from other movies in the boxset
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: Ridley Scott
UK Universal 4K Blu-ray is missing Kino Lorber extras
Director: Ridley Scott
UK Universal 4K Blu-ray is missing Kino Lorber extras
Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available
Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP
Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available
Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Director: John Woo
Director: John Woo
Director: Howard Deutch
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray, but the compression on the 4K is bad.
Director: Howard Deutch
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray, but the compression on the 4K is bad.
Director: Bryan Gordon
Director: Bryan Gordon
Director: John Waters
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encoding see caps but still a huge improvement over the 2014 Universal Blu-ray
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray Both the 2.0 and 5.1 tracks are improvements over the 2014 Universal Blu-ray
Theatrical cut is on the 4K disc, but the restored Director's Cut is only on the Blu-Ray disc. Director's Cut utilizes the same 4K transfer as the theatrical cut for 86 minutes, but the 6 minutes of restored footage could only be salvaged from a standard definition source and are thus needed to be upscaled.
Director: John Waters
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encoding see caps but still a huge improvement over the 2014 Universal Blu-ray
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray Both the 2.0 and 5.1 tracks are improvements over the 2014 Universal Blu-ray
Theatrical cut is on the 4K disc, but the restored Director's Cut is only on the Blu-Ray disc. Director's Cut utilizes the same 4K transfer as the theatrical cut for 86 minutes, but the 6 minutes of restored footage could only be salvaged from a standard definition source and are thus needed to be upscaled.
More Drama on Blu-ray
1991 Home Video Cut: Paramount 2008 Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and worse encoding than the Coda cut.
Coda Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and also has slightly better encoding than the Theatrical/1991 Home Video cuts on 4K.
1991 Home Video Cut: Paramount 2008 Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and worse encoding than the Coda cut.
Coda Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and also has slightly better encoding than the Theatrical/1991 Home Video cuts on 4K.
LaserDisc for original mix
The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes. Part III fares best of the three and these issues are at their most minimal-but they're still there. The new Coda version is given prominence with lesser encodes for the other two versions. The original mix was remixed into 5.1 decades ago and we have yet another version of this instead of the original Dolby Stereo SR as heard on the LaserDisc release.
The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 restoration, while an imperfect outdated disc, is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0
Despite being restored alongside the Coppola Restorations of The Godfather: Parts I and II, the Part III restoration is not officially labelled a Coppola Restoration.
1991 Home Video Cut: Paramount 2008 Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and worse encoding than the Coda cut.
Coda Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and also has slightly better encoding than the Theatrical/1991 Home Video cuts on 4K.
1991 Home Video Cut: Paramount 2008 Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and worse encoding than the Coda cut.
Coda Cut: Paramount 4K Blu-ray, but it has problems described below in the additional info section, and also has slightly better encoding than the Theatrical/1991 Home Video cuts on 4K.
LaserDisc for original mix
The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes. Part III fares best of the three and these issues are at their most minimal-but they're still there. The new Coda version is given prominence with lesser encodes for the other two versions. The original mix was remixed into 5.1 decades ago and we have yet another version of this instead of the original Dolby Stereo SR as heard on the LaserDisc release.
The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 restoration, while an imperfect outdated disc, is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0
Despite being restored alongside the Coppola Restorations of The Godfather: Parts I and II, the Part III restoration is not officially labelled a Coppola Restoration.
Director: Max Ophüls
French version: Criterion Blu-ray (Carlotta has no English subtitles)
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
French version: 2020 Carlotta Blu-ray
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Carlotta Films corrects the mistakes of Criterion due to the compression on dark scenes and gives the gorgeous transfer of the restoration a better encode/compression and more bitrate.
The German cut, titled Lola Montez, is considered by Ophüls scholars such as Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dan Sallitt and Tag Gallagher to be superior to the French cut. It has only been reissued on the Filmmuseum DVD.
Director: Max Ophüls
French version: Criterion Blu-ray (Carlotta has no English subtitles)
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
French version: 2020 Carlotta Blu-ray
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Carlotta Films corrects the mistakes of Criterion due to the compression on dark scenes and gives the gorgeous transfer of the restoration a better encode/compression and more bitrate.
The German cut, titled Lola Montez, is considered by Ophüls scholars such as Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dan Sallitt and Tag Gallagher to be superior to the French cut. It has only been reissued on the Filmmuseum DVD.
2017 Olive Films Signature Blu-ray. (Jokers 4K Blu-ray has forced France subs)
The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has raised black levels/gamma issue, good when fixed
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc
2017 Olive Films Signature Blu-ray. (Jokers 4K Blu-ray has forced France subs)
The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has raised black levels/gamma issue, good when fixed
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc
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: Lloyd Bacon
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Director: S. S. Rajamouli
Zee5 Streaming has the original Telugu audio and English subtitles (albeit with English portions also overdubbed in Telugu)
Netflix Streaming only has the Hindi dub but better video quality
Japan Twin Co. 4K Blu-ray
Japan Twin Co. 4K Blu-ray has original Telugu Atmos audio
Director: S. S. Rajamouli
Zee5 Streaming has the original Telugu audio and English subtitles (albeit with English portions also overdubbed in Telugu)
Netflix Streaming only has the Hindi dub but better video quality
Japan Twin Co. 4K Blu-ray
Japan Twin Co. 4K Blu-ray has original Telugu Atmos audio
Japan IVC Blu-ray but not English-friendly
Film Foundation has 4k restoration https://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema but no EN-friendly release yet
Japan IVC Blu-ray but not English-friendly
Film Foundation has 4k restoration https://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema but no EN-friendly release yet
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Flicker Alley Blu-ray new 4K restoration
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Flicker Alley Blu-ray new 4K restoration
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, Volume 1 Blu-ray
Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, Volume 1 Blu-ray or potentially French Intersections Blu-ray but not English-friendly
There are no comparisons, and all releases are likely the same transfer from 2K restoration. However, given that other releases in the Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, Volume 1 Blu-ray are superior to other Polish releases, likely the same conclusion applies here.
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, Volume 1 Blu-ray
Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, Volume 1 Blu-ray or potentially French Intersections Blu-ray but not English-friendly
There are no comparisons, and all releases are likely the same transfer from 2K restoration. However, given that other releases in the Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, Volume 1 Blu-ray are superior to other Polish releases, likely the same conclusion applies here.
Edit History
6/18/2026
Format
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Additional Info
Added
Video comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/ryvPN8Uu
Audio comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/KEs7dwRg
Added
Video comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/ryvPN8Uu
Audio comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/KEs7dwRg
Blu-ray.com
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Broken-Lullaby/775163/#Releases
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Broken-Lullaby/775163/#Releases
DVDBeaver
Added
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_171/broken_lullaby_blu-ray.htm
Added
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_171/broken_lullaby_blu-ray.htm
