Local Hero (1983)
Comedy, Drama • 1h 51m
Director: Bill Forsyth
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay, Peter Capaldi, Jennifer Black, Jenny Seagrove, Norman Chancer, Rikki Fulton, Alex Norton, Christopher Rozycki, Gyearbuor Asante, John M. Jackson, Dan Ammerman, Tam Dean Burn, John Gordon Sinclair, Caroline Guthrie, Jimmy Yuill, Karen Douglas, Kenny Ireland, Sandra Voe, Harlan Jordan, Charles Kearney, David Mowat, John Poland, Ann Scott-Jones, Ian Stewart, Jonathan Watson, Dave Anderson, Ray Jeffries, James Kennedy, Willie Joss, Tanya Ticktin, Edith Ruddick, Betty Macey, Michelle McCarel, Anne Thompson, Brian Rowan, Mark Winchester, Alan Clark, Alan Darby, Roddy Murray, Dale Winchester, Luke Coulter
Additional info
The UK Blu-ray is a marginally better encode than the Criterion, with better preseveration of detail: https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=5302
The Criterion Blu-ray presents the original mono mix. Most other Blu-rays and DVDs are remixed either to stereo or 5.1 surround, with loss of detail and very little actual separation.
About the film
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
- TSPDT
- 2026: #7142025: #6952024: #6842023: #6852022: #685
Director: Sofia Coppola
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
See comparison
Director: Hal Ashby
Director: Govindan Aravindan
Director: Idrissa Ouedraogo
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original LaserDisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed. The compression is better, but some of the grain is lost. Difference is pronounced in screen caps, but not likely to be noticed during playback, without a reference to compare it to. Comparisons
All discs use the same source transfer. It's not of the highest quality, and it includes some slight distortion, looping, clicks, pops, and hum. Criterion cleaned it up for their release, but unfortunately also lost a lot of fidelity in the process.
MGM NTSC DVD doesn't seem to have some of the more prominent distortion and has slightly different EQ but is otherwise the same.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
More Comedy on Blu-ray
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
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
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