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Anatahan (1953)
Anatahan (1953) poster
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3.7

Anatahan (1953)

アナタハン

Drama, War • 1h 32m

Overview

From June 1944, twelve Japanese seamen are stranded for seven years on an abandoned and forgotten island called Anatahan.

Best English-Friendly Release

Best Video Release

MoC slightly better than Kino Lorber http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_76/anatahan_blu-ray.htm

Format

1080p Blu-ray

TSPDT

2025: #987
2024: #969
2023: #961
2022: #961

Length

92 mins

Type

Movie

Alternative Titles

The Saga of Anatahan, Ana-ta-han, The Devil's Pitchfork

Last Updated

21 days ago

Contributors

Best English-Friendly Release
Best Video Release

MoC slightly better than Kino Lorber http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_76/anatahan_blu-ray.htm

Format
1080p Blu-ray
TSPDT
2025: #987
2024: #969
2023: #961
2022: #961
Length
92 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
The Saga of Anatahan, Ana-ta-han, The Devil's Pitchfork
Last Updated
21 days ago
Contributors

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Additional Info:

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Best English-Friendly:

Indicator Blu-ray

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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.

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Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

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

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

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

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Best Video:

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Best Audio:

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Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

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

Best Audio:

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No caps on France Elephant Films Blu-ray

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Best Video:

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Kino Lorber and Artificial Eye Blu-ray use the same master, between the two the PQ on Kino's release is slightly better, but the difference is negligible.

The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.

Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration

Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:

With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.

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Best English-Friendly:

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Best Video:

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The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.

Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration

Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:

With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.

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Additional Info:

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UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

 Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray (damage removed, improved color/HDR, and best audio) or Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (best compression but no damage removal and LaserDisc audio from Arrow)

Best Video:

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Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray  Kino Lorber US Blu-ray, see caps

Arrow has done additional cleanup work removing nearly all the damage in the transfer. They have massaged the color timing and HDR to try and improve what they could. The Capelight may have better encoding but it does not have these improvements. The Arrow encoding is solid and in motion there are no issues whatsoever. The Kino release has the damage and other issues plus frequent noise due to the lesser encoding.

Some scenes in the Arrow transfer are better, some better in the Capelight.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow  4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LD track, see spectrograms) This track has the best fidelity of any release but does have some channel bleeding baked in. The 2017 2.0 on the Arrow and Shout BDs was the Dolby Stereo original mix without channel bleeding but that had heavy noise reduction resulting in a very flat and underwhelming presentation. The surround winds up being lessened as well due to the processing. It's a tough choice between the two but the Image LD audio wins out because it hasn't been messed with and the impact is so unrestrained that no other version hits in the same way.

Capelight and old Arrow BD included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino only included a painfully defective 2.0 track sourced from somewhere with limited fidelity, volume spikes and screechy high end which frequently ruins the music. The 5.1 remix on most modern release is a processed version that does not sound as good as it once did.

The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is the original version from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in lossy AC3 form.

Best English-Friendly:

 Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray (damage removed, improved color/HDR, and best audio) or Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (best compression but no damage removal and LaserDisc audio from Arrow)

Best Video:

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Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray  Kino Lorber US Blu-ray, see caps

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Some scenes in the Arrow transfer are better, some better in the Capelight.

Best Audio:

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The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is the original version from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in lossy AC3 form.

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1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

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Best Video:

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4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, disc replacement program for the 4K disc has been setup to correct the color space issue. 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 announced a replacement program for the defective UHD but it is highly likely all the other problems will go unaddressed. The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.

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1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, disc replacement program for the 4K disc has been setup to correct the color space issue. 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:

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Best English-Friendly:

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Best Video:

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No comparisons available against France Potemkine or Japan IVC. They are presumably from the same master, but do not feature English subs.

Best Audio:

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Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI Blu-ray: strong VDMS encode of a 4K scan.

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Best Audio:

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Best English-Friendly:

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Best Video:

2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

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There has been no replacement disc announced. See nicwood's BR post.

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UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original matrixed DTS Stereo mix: 2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
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There has been no replacement disc announced. See nicwood's BR post.

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Anatahan (1953) backdrop