The Tarnished Angels (1957)
Drama • 1h 31m
Director: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, Robert Middleton, William Schallert, Alan Reed, Alexander Lockwood, Robert J. Wilke, Christopher Olsen, Troy Donahue, Betty Utey, Phil Harvey, Steve Drexel, Eugene Borden, Steve Ellis, Bill Baldwin, Chet Brandenburg, Jack Chefe, Bess Flowers, Jack Lomas
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
Overview
In the 1930s, once-great World War I pilot Roger Shumann performs as a daredevil barnstorming pilot at aerial stunt shows while his wife, LaVerne, works as a parachutist. When newspaper reporter Burke Devlin arrives to do a story on the Shumanns’ act, he quickly falls in love with the beautiful--and neglected--LaVerne.
Director: Douglas Sirk
Kino Lorber or Universal or Arrow Blu-ray
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is superior to France Elephant Films Blu-ray see caps but no comparisons on Universal or Arrow
Director: Douglas Sirk
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Douglas Sirk
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · filmpreserve.org (opens in a new tab)
SFFP new 4K restoration
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Louis Feuillade
Director: John Frankenheimer
Director: Howard Hawks
Director: Hal Ashby
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
MoC slightly better than Kino Lorber http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_76/anatahan_blu-ray.htm
Director: Fritz Lang
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC Blu-ray or Kino Lorber Blu-ray
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC 2-disc DVD set > Kino Lorber 1-disc Restored Authorized Edition DVD
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC Blu-ray > Kino Lorber Blu-ray
Director: F. W. Murnau
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Eureka MoC Blu-ray, see caps
MoC is sourced from an earlier scan, but still looks more detailed than the later 4K restoration released by Kadokawa in Japan, which has some black crush and DNR. French Capricci disc is sourced from the same scan as MoC but with much worse encoding and wrong levels.
1991 Daiei LaserDisc
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: David Hamilton
Blu-ray better than Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray, heavy DNR on the 4K Blu-ray
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
2012 Criterion Blu-ray is the most accurate
4K Blu-ray unrecommended because of controversial colours, no HDR, minimal resolution uptick, and DNR master
The 4K Blu-ray 5.1 adds additional foley and effects.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
For 3D: 2014 Warner Bros 2D+3D Blu-ray
For ATMOS & music-less version: 2024 Blu-ray/2013 Diamond Luxe Edition Blu-ray
For 5.1: 2014 Warner Bros 2D+3D Blu-ray
This film received multiple blu-ray versions since its initial release. Be sure on whether the Dolby Atmos track, newer extras or 3D image is preferred. The 2024 release is a reprint of the Diamond Luxe.
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Caps for France vs Germany vs UK vs Turkish release https://slow.pics/c/jYBS2CWE not sure what the correct grading is but Germany release looks too dark
Director: Miloš Forman
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally
Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.
Director: Julia Ducournau
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Curzon 4K
HDR helps considerably with the deliberately murky aesthetic. VDMS encode is overall very good despite chroma noise in flashback sequences.
Directors: Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie
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.
StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal was overseen and approved by Nicolas Roeg and has a more filmic color grade than the Warner Archive Blu-Ray.
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· last reviewed 1 year ago
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