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Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) poster

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Comedy, Drama, Music • 1h 49m

Director: Russ Meyer

Arrow Blu-ray

1080p Blu-ray

Best English-friendly release · updated 4 months ago

Overview

An all-girl rock band moves to Hollywood in the hope of achieving success, only to fall into a whirlpool of wickedness and decadence.

Release details

TSPDT
2024: #977
2023: #979
Criterion Forum
Review

Picture: 8, Audio: 7, Extras: 8

Length
109 mins
Type
Movie

More from Russ Meyer

See more →

Director: Russ Meyer

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

US RM Films International Blu-ray

Best Video:same release

Director: Russ Meyer

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Severin 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Severin 4K Blu-ray scanned in 4K from the Original Camera Negative restored by MoMA

Director: Russ Meyer

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Severin 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:same release

More from Criterion

See more →

Directors: Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:same release
Additional Info:

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.

Director: David Lynch

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

 Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray - subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking

Best Audio:

1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD

Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110

Director: Jūzō Itami

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:same release
Best Audio:

Japan Toho Blu-ray

Director: Carol Reed

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Best Audio:

StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source

Additional Info:

StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

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

Best Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: George Stevens

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray, 2K restoration

Director: Alexander Mackendrick

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion or Arrow Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion = Arrow, not sure about France

Best Audio:

1989 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is slightly better than French 4K Blu-ray see caps

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI Blu-ray > 2018 Boxset Criterion (slightly). 2012 Standalone Criterion significantly worse.

Best Audio:

2004 R2 Tartan DVD

Director: David Lynch

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray

Uncensored version: old DVD

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

Upcoming Release:

2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut

Best Video:same release

More Comedy on Blu-ray

Director: Rob Reiner

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray releasing December 14 2026

Best Video:same release

Director: Chris Columbus

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

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

Best Video:

Kaleidescape 4K Streaming

Disney 4K Blu-ray has encoding issues with bitrates dipping into 40mbps, and Kaleidescape has better encoding than Disney see caps 
Old Fox Blu-ray master is stretched and sharpened

Director: Archie Mayo

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

ClassicFlix Blu-ray

Best Video:same release

Director: Tsui Hark

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid

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

Best Video:same release
Additional Info:

There is a newer 4K restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata, which should be of better scan quality. The 4K restoration used on all current 4K disc releases stems from a low-quality Cintel scanner. The newer restoration has yet to be released on home video.

Director: Peter Faiman

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD

International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray

Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding

Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut

Best Video:same release
Best Audio:

Australia Cut: Laserdisc

Additional Info:

The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: capelight.de (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray > Paramount US, same black crush as the US disc but encoded by FiM and very good new supplements

Additional Info:

Paramount US 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision 

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray has MEL Dolby Vision

Director: W.S. Van Dyke

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray, 4k scan

Director: Victor Schertzinger

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Universal Blu-ray

Best Video:same release

Director: Raoul Walsh

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Universal Blu-ray

Best Video:same release

Director: Frank Tuttle

Best format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Universal Blu-ray

Best Video:same release

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Researched and maintained by

AdamA

· last reviewed 4 months ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.