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The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) poster

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Adventure, Drama • 2h 9m

Director: John Huston

Cast: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saeed Jaffrey, Doghmi Larbi, Jack May, Karroom Ben Bouih, Mohammad Shamsi, Albert Moses, Paul Antrim, Graham Acres, Shakira Caine, Nadia Atbib, Yvonne Ocampo, Gurmuks Singh, Kimat Singh

Best English-friendly release

 · updated 1 year ago

Best video release

1080p Blu-ray

Overview

A robust adventure about two British adventurers who take over primitive Kafiristan as "godlike" rulers, meeting a tragic end through their desire for a native girl. Based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling.

Release details

TSPDT
2026: #782
2025: #769
2024: #777
2023: #750
2022: #750
Length
129 mins
Type
Movie

More from John Huston

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Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1992 MGM VHS

Director: John Huston

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2023 WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

HBO MAX WEB-DL/2000 R1 MGM DVD

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray 2k scan

Best Audio:

1993 MGM LaserDisc

Director: John Huston

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray see nic's review "fantastic restoration, beautifully graded with tasteful HDR and solid encoding"

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray from nic: "4.0 audio is brilliantly detailed, rich and spacious without audible filtering or processing"

Director: John Huston

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Eureka Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

> StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Older DVD or LaserDisc probably even better

Additional Info:

All blu-ray releases so far is from the 2010 scan.

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

UK Indicator Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> US Twilight Time Blu-ray see caps

Directors: Val Guest & Ken Hughes & John Huston & Joseph McGrath & Robert Parrish

Best English-Friendly:

MGM Blu-ray 

Best Video:

MGM Blu-ray despite dated master

Best Audio:

Sony Columbia 1994 LaserDisc Mono

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Director: John Huston

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

More from Warner Archive

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Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Morton DaCosta

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Nov 24th

Director: David Lean

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Dec 1st

TV series

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Complete Series DVD

Director: John Ford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Japan IVC Blu-ray

Director: Edgar Selwyn

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration

TV series

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative for all episodes

Director: John Ford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Sources: ibb.co (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Warner Archive Blu-ray is 4K restoration from nitrate projection elements

Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ

Director: Norman Taurog

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Delbert Mann

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

More Adventure on Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.

Audio Notes:

DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix

Additional Info:

Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Paul King

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray minimal picture upgrade (2K upscale)

Audio Notes:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray has good new Atmos mix

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering; WB 4K early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed. Comparison between Criterion and WB.

Best Audio:

6-Track 70mm mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray (restored for the box set), 1997 MGM LaserDisc, 1998 MGM DVD
35mm Mono Mix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Matrixed Stereo Remix: MGM Japan LaserDisc (1985) [G158F5509]
5.1 Remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: John Boorman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: highdefdiscnews.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

(Arrow 4K Blu-ray's mono seems to be out of sync, suggested by comparisons. Issue is TBC officially)

Best Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray is FiM encoded, see caps

Additional Info:

Arrow LE will have an exclusive 3rd disc which will not be on the standard edition

Director: Simon Wells

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Dolby Stereo: THX Certified Laserdisc

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

2026 Japan Studio Ghibli (remastered) Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

France 4K Blu-ray announced

Video Notes:

Remastered Blu-ray only included as a pack-in with the 4K Blu-ray. Includes English subtitles and a dub, which the 4K Blu-ray does not.

Best Audio:

Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray

UK StudioCanal Blu-ray for the English dub

Audio Notes:

4K Blu-ray includes the original 5.1 mix in its unaltered form, all other releases after the LaserDisc, as well as the remastered Blu-ray, had its dynamic range lowered.

For the English dub, the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the least limited mix.

Additional Info:

US Disney Blu-ray has dubtitles. US GKIDS Blu-ray and Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray releases (both 2013, box set, and RM4K) have proper English subtitle translations.

Directors: Irving Pichel & Ernest B. Schoedsack

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK MoC Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

MoC Blu-ray offers both restored and an unrestored tracks

Director: Simon Wincer

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.

Best Audio:

DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases. 

Additional Info:

The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.

Director: Victor Fleming

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

3D: Warner Bros 3D Blu-ray or Apple Vision Pro

Best Audio:

1989 MGM LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

(caveat: "there's" in first "there's no place like home" utterance in final Kansas scene truncated)

Director: Luc Besson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.

  • StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.

  • 2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.

  • 2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps

Audio Notes:

The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.

Additional Info:

Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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