About the film
Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois. The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.
- TSPDT
- 2026: #6422025: #6272024: #6152023: #6002022: #600
Director: Jean Renoir
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
(both from the same flawed restoration)
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
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2005 StudioCanal DVD
2005 StudioCanal DVD > Criterion
Director: Jean Renoir
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: Jean Renoir
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
2021 StudioCanal Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
2021 StudioCanal Blu-ray has better encode and gamma levels compared to older StudioCanal Blu-ray caps
StudioCanal 4k transfer
Director: Jean Renoir
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
StudioCanal France and Spain
StudioCanal France and Spain have BDs
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Mike Nichols
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K caps.Criterion Blu-ray better encode than StudioCanal Blu-ray.
Director: Mike Cheslik
Director: Hal Ashby
Director: Tom Holland
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
sounds better than the Sony 4K Blu-ray , https://slow.pics/c/pJfES0fl
Twilight Time has an isolated score
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
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· last reviewed 1 year ago
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