The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse
Crime, Mystery, Thriller • 2h
Overview
After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi Sr., Camilla Spira, Otto Wernicke, Paul Henckels, Theo Lingen, Rudolf Schündler, Theodor Loos, Karl Meixner, Gustav Diessl, Gerhard Bienert, Josef Dahmen, Georg John, Hans Salcher, Henry Pleß, Paul Bernd, Hadrian Maria Netto, Adolf E. Licho, Wera Liessem, Karl Platen, Paul Rehkopf, Franz Stein, Ludwig Stössel, Eduard Wesener, Bruno Ziener, Heinrich Gotho, Michael von Newlinsky, Anna Goltz, Heinrich Gretler, Klaus Pohl
Director: Fritz Lang
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC Blu-ray or Kino Lorber Blu-ray
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC 2-disc DVD set > Kino Lorber 1-disc Restored Authorized Edition DVD
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC Blu-ray > Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: Fritz Lang
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC Blu-ray or Kino Lorber Blu-ray
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC 2-disc DVD set > Kino Lorber 1-disc Restored Authorized Edition DVD
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC Blu-ray > Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Criterion 4K Blu-ray. See nicolas review: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=841703#p841703 "The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering"
Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)
Director: Fritz Lang
Criterion 4K Blu-ray. See nicolas review: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=841703#p841703 "The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering"
Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)
Director: Fritz Lang
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
Director: Fritz Lang
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
Director: Fritz Lang
Kino Lorber vs MoC?
Kino Lorber and MoC same resto, no comparison
Director: Fritz Lang
Kino Lorber vs MoC?
Kino Lorber and MoC same resto, no comparison
Director: Fritz Lang
Imprint Blu-ray not only has the best encoding, but also has the "correct" aspect ratio compared to ClassicFlix which is horizontally stretched or Eagle Pictures which is squished see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Fritz Lang
Imprint Blu-ray not only has the best encoding, but also has the "correct" aspect ratio compared to ClassicFlix which is horizontally stretched or Eagle Pictures which is squished see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI BDs are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC BD is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made BDs of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber BD!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber BD remains one of the worst BDs of all time for this reason.
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI BDs are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC BD is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made BDs of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber BD!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber BD remains one of the worst BDs of all time for this reason.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Eureka MoC Blu-ray, see caps
MoC is sourced from an earlier scan, but still looks more detailed than the later 4K restoration released by Kadokawa in Japan, which has some black crush and DNR. French Capricci disc is sourced from the same scan as MoC but with much worse encoding and wrong levels.
1991 Daiei LaserDisc
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Eureka MoC Blu-ray, see caps
MoC is sourced from an earlier scan, but still looks more detailed than the later 4K restoration released by Kadokawa in Japan, which has some black crush and DNR. French Capricci disc is sourced from the same scan as MoC but with much worse encoding and wrong levels.
1991 Daiei LaserDisc
Director: Blake Edwards
Mono: Kino Lorber US Blu-ray possibly?
Director: Blake Edwards
Mono: Kino Lorber US Blu-ray possibly?
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Criterion 2.0 Surround Track
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Criterion 2.0 Surround Track
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: 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
Directors: Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton
Eureka MoC 4K Blu-ray, probably. No comparison with French Factoris Films 4K Blu-ray, but former has Dolby Vision and higher bitrate.
For standard Blu-ray, the MoC/Cohen are a 4k transfer https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=112722&page=5
Directors: Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton
Eureka MoC 4K Blu-ray, probably. No comparison with French Factoris Films 4K Blu-ray, but former has Dolby Vision and higher bitrate.
For standard Blu-ray, the MoC/Cohen are a 4k transfer https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=112722&page=5
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
More Crime on Blu-ray
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Atmos on the Sony 4K Blu-ray maybe better?
Regarding the "original theatrical audio" 5.1 mixes:
The Sony UHD and the BD DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are the same but the UHD has been pushed slightly harder and has a lot of clipping. The UHD is 16 bit vs the BD's 24 bits.
The Second Sight UHD DTS-HD 5.1 is a downmix of its respective Atmos track. Definitely different from the Sony UHD/BD mix plus a little less dynamic. Whether or not that's representative of the theatrical Dolby Digital mix is anyone's guess.
So, if you want the best version of the original 5.1, the 2012 BD is the winner.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Atmos on the Sony 4K Blu-ray maybe better?
Regarding the "original theatrical audio" 5.1 mixes:
The Sony UHD and the BD DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are the same but the UHD has been pushed slightly harder and has a lot of clipping. The UHD is 16 bit vs the BD's 24 bits.
The Second Sight UHD DTS-HD 5.1 is a downmix of its respective Atmos track. Definitely different from the Sony UHD/BD mix plus a little less dynamic. Whether or not that's representative of the theatrical Dolby Digital mix is anyone's guess.
So, if you want the best version of the original 5.1, the 2012 BD is the winner.
Director: James Foley
Director: James Foley
Director: Alexander Hall
Director: Alexander Hall
Director: Norman Taurog
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 4K restoration
Director: Norman Taurog
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 4K restoration
Film Detective or Film Masters Blu-ray 4K restoration from 35mm Original Camera Negative
Film Detective or Film Masters Blu-ray 4K restoration from 35mm Original Camera Negative
Director: Jean Becker
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is a transfer from StudioCanal’s 2021 4K restoration
Director: Jean Becker
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is a transfer from StudioCanal’s 2021 4K restoration
Director: Lewis Milestone
Flicker Alley Blu-ray 2K scan of a surviving 35mm safety fine grain provided by the Academy Film Archive
Director: Lewis Milestone
Flicker Alley Blu-ray 2K scan of a surviving 35mm safety fine grain provided by the Academy Film Archive
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
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