Darkest Hour (2017)
Drama, History • 2h 5m
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Gary Oldman, Stephen Dillane, Lily James, Ronald Pickup, Ben Mendelsohn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Nicholas Jones, Samuel West, David Schofield, Richard Lumsden, Malcolm Storry, Hilton McRae, Benjamin Whitrow, Joe Armstrong, Adrian Rawlins, David Bamber, Paul Leonard, David Strathairn, Eric MacLennan, Philip Martin Brown, Demetri Goritsas, Jordan Waller, Alex Clatworthy, Mary Antony, Bethany Muir, Anna Burnett, Jeremy Child, Brian Pettifer, Michael Gould, Paul Ridley, Robin Pearce, Michael Bott, Olivier Broche, Mario Hacquard, Pip Torrens, Edmund Wiseman, Hannah Steele, Nia Gwynne, Ade Dee Haastrup, James Eeles, Flora Nicholson, Bronte Carmichael, Roisin O'Neill, John Locke, Jo Neary, Richard Glover, Tom Ashley, Joshua Higgott, Imogen King, Miles Gallant, Faye Marsay, John Atterbury, James Harkness, Joshua James, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Patsy Ferran, Sarah Flind, Steffan Donnelly, Kieran Buckeridge, Johnny Otto, Nick Howden-Steenstra
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 24 days ago
Overview
In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
Director: Joe Wright
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Universal 4K Blu-ray is just an 2K upscale of the previous Blu-ray see caps, but it does have Dolby Vision
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Box Set coming on October 20th with FiM encode
DTS:X mix most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD has additional features not found on the 4K Blu-ray
Director: John Carpenter
Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)
1997? Signature Collection LD
Good: 2017 Arrow and 2016 Shout! Factory Blu-ray have the original audio options.
the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.
Director: James Whale
Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026
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Director: James Whale
Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026
1993 CIC Video LaserDisc
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Preston Sturges
No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Director: Martin Scorsese
Other releases have horrendous DNR
Director: Roman Polanski
Kino Lorber disc has audio pitch errors
Director: Roman Polanski
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm Fine Grain. Even with its unfortunate and noticeable print damage, tears, and other issues, still easily beats any prior disc release, though the Imprint BD (same master as Kino, but inferior encode) included in their Essential Film Noir Collection Vol. 3 set does include more extras. https://youtu.be/-Wrsn6-XJCo
Director: Michael B. Jordan
Caveat: No IMAX expanded aspect ratio
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