The Sterile Cuckoo (1969)
Comedy, Drama • 1h 47m
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Wendell Burton, Tim McIntire, Anita Alberts, Eric Best, Chris Bugbee, Becki Davis, Philip S. Derfler, Sandy Faison, Mark P. Fish, A. Frederick Gooseen, Elizabeth Harrower, Cynthia Hull, John Hussey, Tim Laurie, Margaret Markov, Paul McConnell, Jawn McKinley, Warren Peterson, Toni Shorrock, Frances Tobin, Adele Wynn, Austin Green
About the film
Uptight college freshman Jerry Payne finds a carefree friend in zany Pookie. After an awkward meeting on the bus, Pookie quickly works her way into Jerry's life. She makes an unannounced visit to Jerry's campus, and before long annoyance turns to affection, and friendship turns to romance. But with Pookie's increasingly neurotic behavior, how long can this love affair last?
- Alternative Titles
- Pookie
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · hollywood-elsewhere.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray (caps; grade on the BD was controversial)
Later Warner Bros Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray are minor downgrades
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Germany Universal Blu-ray has better encoding than US Shout! Factory, but it's more cropped?See caps https://slow.pics/c/cDui4NGF and https://slow.pics/c/JFGZRwhQ
Germany Universal Blu-ray is more dynamic than US Shout! Factory https://slow.pics/c/euldbr8T
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Amazon US HD Streaming is from the 2018 UCLA restoration. Olive Films Blu-ray is from an older scan and quite rough. caps
Olive Films Blu-ray is again rough, with distortion, crackle and other issues, but sounds much more natural. With some EQ the restored track can be significantly improved
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
2017 Olive Films Signature Blu-ray
The Jokers 4K 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
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)
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.
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono
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: André de Toth
Sources: cinema.ucla.edu (opens in a new tab)
New UCLA restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Dave Fleischer
Olive Films Betty Boop: The Essential Collection: Volume 4 Blu-ray
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: William Dieterle
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
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