The Reckless Moment (1949)
Drama, Thriller • 1h 22m
Director: Max Ophüls
Cast: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O'Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair, Roy Roberts, Jessie Arnold, Al Bain, Jack Baker, Pat Barton, Holger Bendixen, Gail Bonney, Chet Brandenburg, Peter Brocco, Paul E. Burns, John Butler, Kathryn Card, Claire Carleton, Boyd Davis, Karl 'Killer' Davis, George Dockstader, Charles Evans, Charles Ferguson, Everett Glass, Buddy Gorman, Harry Harvey, Virginia Hunter, Danny Jackson, Charles Jordan, Kenneth Kendall, Norman Leavitt, David Levitt, Mike Mahoney, Charles Marsh, Louis Mason, Richard Mickelson, John Monaghan, Sue Moore, Evelyn Moriarty, Pat O'Malley, Joe Palma, Dorothy Phillips, Joe Ploski, Byron Poindexter, Joe Recht, Barry Regan, John Roy, Cosmo Sardo, Celeste Savoi, William Schallert, Ann Shoemaker, Billy Snyder, Glenn Thompson, Frances E. Williams, Harry Wilson
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
Overview
After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.
Director: Max Ophüls
French version: Criterion Blu-ray
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · cinema-scope.com (opens in a new tab) · fredcamper.com (opens in a new tab) · +1 more
French version: 2020 Carlotta Blu-ray
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
French version: Criterion Blu-ray (Carlotta has no English subtitles)
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Carlotta Films corrects the mistakes of Criterion due to the compression on dark scenes and gives the gorgeous transfer of the restoration a better encode/compression and more bitrate.
The German cut, titled Lola Montez, is considered by Ophüls scholars such as Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dan Sallitt and Tag Gallagher to be superior to the French cut. It has only been reissued on the Filmmuseum DVD.
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
2017 Olive Films Signature Blu-ray
The Jokers 4K Blu-ray
(Jokers 4K Blu-ray has forced France subs)
The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has raised black levels/gamma issue, good when fixed
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
More Drama on Blu-ray
Directors: Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell
Imprint 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · filmalert101.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
FiM encode and none of the low-pass filtering present on the Criterion 4K, resulting in more detail and better handling of highlights on Imprint
Review, comparisons
All HD and 4K sources use the same 2009 restoration. Criterion's master (also used by Imprint) is a bit more rolled off, though the difference is minor.
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Preston Sturges
No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Director: Martin Scorsese
Other releases have horrendous DNR
Edit history
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Maintained by the community
· last reviewed 1 year ago
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