Scarface (1932)
Crime, Drama • 1h 33m
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, C. Henry Gordon, George Raft, Vince Barnett, Boris Karloff, Purnell Pratt, Tully Marshall, Inez Palange, Edwin Maxwell, Jean Harlow, Henry Armetta, Gus Arnheim, Eugenie Besserer, Maurice Black, James Conaty, Gino Corrado, Virginia Dabney, William B. Davidson, James Durkin, Bill Elliott, Eddie Fetherston, Paul Fix, Dick Gordon, Howard Hawks, Brandon Hurst, Sydney Jarvis, John Lee Mahin, Hank Mann, Frank McLure, Frank Mills, William H. O'Brien, Dennis O'Keefe, Jack Perry, Pedro Regas, Warner Richmond, Constantine Romanoff, Ronald R. Rondell, Bert Starkey, Charles Sullivan, Harry Tenbrook, Helen C. Thompson, Nick Thompson, Ellinor Vanderveer, Harry J. Vejar, Sailor Vincent, Douglas Walton, Stanhope Wheatcroft
Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
Overview
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Director: James Cameron
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 1997 Image DVD/2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
Sources: facebook.com (opens in a new tab) · vimeo.com (opens in a new tab)
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 1997 Image DVD/2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: Rob Reiner
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Arrow 4K Blu-ray releasing December 14 2026
Director: David Fincher
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
4K Blu-ray has exclusive “unrated” audio with a small change to one line under the request of David Fincher (removed the poor dub over of frickin’ in the line “Screw it, let’s gut the f**kin’ nerd.”).
Director: John Schlesinger
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Included Imprint Blu-Ray also has markedly better image compression than the Criterion Blu-Ray, though do note the Imprint has some adjusted color grading within roughly the first five minutes of the film
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16775595&postcount=450
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24237074&postcount=73
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray used what was also originally screened theatrically: The Perspecta Stereo 3.0 and a mono option. The Perspecta track sounds best with better dynamic range and was set as default with the mono as optional. The previous releases stereo were downmixes of a now lost original 4-track, and it sounds very thin as a result. See comparison
Director: John Carpenter
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Universal 4K Blu-ray. Maybe Turbine Blu-ray instead for better audio?
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: W.S. Van Dyke
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Warner Archive Blu-ray, 4k scan
Director: Martin Scorsese
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook
Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding
Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: George Stevens
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hawks
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hawks
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hawks
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hawks
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray (not by much, caps)
Closest to original: 1995 Columbia LaserDisc
But Sony 4K Blu-ray is the best available one.
From cbc:
I much prefer the 4K Blu-ray track. LaserDisc has several nasty constant hums, and even after you remove that, the detail level is on-par with the 4K Blu-ray and has a lot of crackling. The 4K Blu-ray has some variable noise reduction, but it's done well and non-intrusive IMO, I watched it with that track and was happy.
Directors: Henry Hathaway & Howard Hawks & Henry King & Henry Koster & Jean Negulesco
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hawks
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Howard Hawks
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Directors: Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
4K encode is low-pass filtered and noticeably so, which was unfortunately par for the course with Criterion 4Ks until sometime in 2024. Still better than the Criterion and Lionsgate Blu-Ray discs for the Dolby Vision grading alone.
Director: David Lynch
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December
Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray - subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
Director: Jūzō Itami
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Carol Reed
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is slightly better than French 4K Blu-ray see caps
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut
Director: Joachim Trier
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
MUBI 4K Blu-ray has zero extras
Director: David Lynch
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray.
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and doesn’t have the low-pass filter the Criterion 4K Blu-ray has.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
Director: Martin Scorsese
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: facebook.com (opens in a new tab) · Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.
The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review
1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html
Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:
I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.
Edit history
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.