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Morocco (1930)
Morocco (1930) poster

Morocco (1930)

Drama, Romance • 1h 32m

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Cast: Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou, Ullrich Haupt, Eve Southern, Francis McDonald, Paul Porcasi, Émile Chautard, Juliette Compton, Albert Conti, Thomas A. Curran, Theresa Harris, Lillian Savin, Harry Schultz, Philip Sleeman, Michael Visaroff

Best English-friendly & video release

Updated 1 year ago


About the film

Mogador, Morocco. Late 1920s. A complex romance develops between a womanizing Legionnaire and a disillusioned Parisian cabaret singer.

Featured Lists
TSPDT
2026: #798
2025: #784
2024: #786
2023: #782
2022: #782

Featured in National Film Registry

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Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Director: George B. Seitz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from safety preservation elements

Director: Elaine May

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

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.

Audio Notes:

Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.

Director: Sidney Lumet

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber US / Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K  / Capelight 4K

1.66:1: Criterion 4K

Video Notes:

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

Audio Notes:

Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

MoC OOP Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1

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: Sam Peckinpah

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Plaion Germany Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

4K Blu-ray said to be coming from Criterion, per Bill Hunt

Video Notes:

Includes Director's Cut and Roadshow Version

Same master as old WB Blu-ray but better encoding

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.

Best Audio:

1984 MGM Hi-Fi VHS

More from Josef von Sternberg

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Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray is slightly sharper than Criterion Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps

Additional Info:

Indicator Blu-ray has more extras than Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Given that Indicator Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and Kino Lorber uses the same transfer judging from different screenshots, Indicator is most likely to be better encoded.

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

All very old restoration, but Kino Lorber > Germany Universum > MoC. Kino Lorber Germany Blu-ray has more noise reduction while English version's noise reduction is kept at minimum. MoC has very week encoding and crushed blacks.

Sources:

Best Audio:

2001 Kino Lorber DVD or 2003 Eureka DVD

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray although MoC OOP Blu-ray looks similar, it's likely slightly worse

Best Audio:

Only the MoC edition has the Gaylord Carter organ score from the old VHS/LaserDisc release while Criterion has only the orchestral score by Robert Israel and electronic/percussion score by Alloy Orchestra.

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray has better encoding than Criterion Blu-ray, both 4K restoration, see DVDBeaver caps

No caps on France Elephant Films Blu-ray

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

More from Indicator

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Director: Alan Clarke

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

The 88 Films 4K Blu-ray is disappointing. Indicator Blu-ray > 88 Films Blu-ray. From nicolas:

Fine master, solid HDR but very poorly encoded with strong blocking artifacts in normal areas and clipped highlights that bring Criterion’s Walkabout to mind. Their Blu-ray is slightly better overall but then again still not as good as FiM’s encode for Indicator.

Additional Info:

Indicatorand 88 Films have exclusive extras

Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Vincent Sherman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Video Notes:

While no comparison is available Indicator Blu-ray is most likely better than Mill Creek Blu-ray

Director: John Ford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Gregory Ratoff

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Director: Mitchell Leisen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Director: Roy Boulting

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray > Kino Lorber see DVDBeaver 

Indicator is using a different restoration from earlier Kino Lorber Blu-ray and it has much better contrast and slightly better grain resolution

Director: John M. Stahl

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and likely better than Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Indicator Blu-ray see comparison

Director: Fritz Lang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray is superior to Kino Lorber transfer see caps. 2K restoration

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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