Shoah (1985)
Documentary, History • 9h 26m
Director: Claude Lanzmann
Cast: Claude Lanzmann, Simon Srebnik, Michael Podchlebnik, Motke Zaidl, Jan Karski, Paula Biren, Abraham Bomba, Inge Deutschkron, Ruth Elias, Richard Glazar, Filip Müller, Rudolf Vrba, Raul Hilberg, Hanna Zaïdl, Jan Piwonski, Itzhak Dugin, Helena Pietyra, Pan Filipowicz, Pan Falborski, Czeslaw Borowi, Henrik Gawkowski, Franz Suchomel, Joseph Oberhauser, Alfred Spiess, Franz Schalling, Martha Michelsohn, Moshe Mordo, Armando Aaron, Walter Stier, Franz Grassler, Gertude Schneider, Itzhak Zuckermann, Simha Rotem, Francine Kaufmann, Barbara Janicka, Mrs. Apfelbaum, Charlotte Hirschhorn
Best audio release
R2 Video Film/Express DVD
About the film
Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.
- Featured Lists
- TSPDT
- 2026: #662025: #652024: #642023: #652022: #65
- Alternative Titles
- Shoah, First Era, Shoah, Second Era
New 4K restoration recently screened at Venice Film Festival https://variety.com/2026/film/news/apichatpong-weerasethakuls-4k-restorations-match-factory-1236843949/
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray > BFI 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/nPcxCNW4
BFI has more DNR and AI upscaling like their horrible 1979 Nosferatu 4K Blu-ray, and Shout! Factory has more over-exposed grading https://slow.pics/c/WQKmBTLJ
2000 R2 Stonevision DVD
2000 R2 Stonevision DVD vs Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray?
Director: Ridley Scott
Final Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray (Caveat: No Dolby Vision from Streaming)
Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set for a better AVC encode
1982 Theatrical Mix: Embassy Video releases, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
International Cut Dolby Stereo: Criterion Collection LaserDisc, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
1992 Director's Cut Dolby Stereo: WB CAV LaserDisc 2.0 PCM-best fidelity of any mix, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set DTS-HD MA 5.1
2007 Final Cut remix: Blu-ray Dolby TrueHD 5.1
WB 4K Blu-ray only has Final Cut and contains a bad Atmos remix with new sound effects. Original Final Cut mix was removed.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray
2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray > US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (Taiwan 4K Blu-ray is not low passed as the US 4K Blu-ray and has better grain and fine detail retention)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: Buster Keaton
Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?
MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027
Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?) > Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films
Director: Billy Wilder
(transfer of the 1989 MGM LaserDisc, without problems plaguing Kino Lorber's release)
Arrow UHD is an update of the original 4K scan done for their BD. It is also visually far superior to the Kino version and adds Dolby Vision HDR. The Arrow UHD uses a new LD mono capture and has none of the issues or processing found in the Kino UHD which also used an LD mono capture and somehow mucked it up. Short of a brand new scan, the Arrow UHD is as good as it possibly can be.
Director: Leo McCarey
Director: Hal Ashby
See caps https://slow.pics/c/lVdZaG0W
Director: Anthony Mann
The film only exists in MGM letterbox masters and the HD version upgrades the DVD presentation. Sadly the film still needs a modern restoration and a better audio source. The master holds up very well today regardless and has a very natural appearance. The Eureka BD is far superior to the Kino Lorber in encode and extras making it easily the only version to consider.
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.
UK MoC Blu-ray > Germany Wicked Vision Blu-ray > US Flicker Alley Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Paul Leni
Theatrical/Original A negative: MoC Blu-ray
European C/D negative but better picture quality: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
From DVDBeaver: The MoC Blu-ray is scanned from the American A negative, as opposed to the European C or D negatives used by Photoplay and others (Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray), so it is identical with the film US audiences saw in 1927
See caps for comparison
In addition, the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has sepia tinting throughout while the MoC Blu-ray has yellow for normal scenes, blue for night scenes, and some even green tintings.
Director: Josef von Sternberg
MoC slightly better than Kino Lorber http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_76/anatahan_blu-ray.htm
More Documentary on Blu-ray
Sony Music 4K Blu-ray
AI upscale but color and HDR grading is improved as it's way more subdued see caps
Mono: 1999 WB DVD
5.1: Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Werner Herzog
Director: Steve James
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.
Director: Ebrahim Golestan
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· last reviewed 1 year ago
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