Kwaidan (1964)
怪談
Horror, Fantasy, Drama • 3h 3m
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Cast: Michiyo Aratama, Rentaro Mikuni, Misako Watanabe, Kenjirō Ishiyama, Ranko Akagi, Fumie Kitahara, Kappei Matsumoto, Yoshiko Ieda, Otome Tsukimiya, Kenzō Tanaka, Kiyoshi Nakano, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi, Yūko Mochizuki, Kin Sugai, Noriko Sengoku, Akiko Nomura, Torahiko Hamada, Jun Hamamura, Katsuo Nakamura, Tetsuro Tamba, Takashi Shimura, Yoichi Hayashi, Eiko Muramatsu, Kunie Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Ichirō Nakatani, Masanori Tomotake, Tokue Hanazawa, Shizue Natsukawa, Shin Tatsuoka, Makiko Kitashiro, Masakazu Kuwayama, Mutsuhiko Tsurumaru, Akira Tani, Yōsuke Kondō, Kiyoshi Yamamoto, Kinji Omino, Atsuo Nakamura, Ginzô Sekiguchi, Akio Miyabe, Gen'ya Nagai, Toru Uchida, Hikaru Jinno, Toshio Fukuhara, Kirô Abe, Toshiro Yagi, Yuriko Abe, Yuri Satô, Kyōichi Satō, Nobuo Aikawa, Taiji Kodama, Nobuaki Maeda, Teruhiko Shibata, Haruo Kaji, Michio Gina, Seiji Tabe, Mitsuko Narita, Noriko Mikura, Aiko Nagayama, Michiko Nakahata, Kan'emon Nakamura, Osamu Takizawa, Haruko Sugimura, Noboru Nakaya, Seiji Miyaguchi, Kei Satō, Shigeru Kōyama, Jun Tazaki, Junkichi Orimoto, Akiji Kobayashi, Yoshirō Aoki, Isao Tamagawa, Hideyo Amamoto, Ganjirō Nakamura II
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
MoC slightly better than Criterion http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_69/kwaidan_blu-ray.htm
Overview
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
> Germany Wicked Vision Blu-ray > US Flicker Alley Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Paul Leni
Theatrical/Original A negative: MoC Blu-ray
European C/D negative but better picture quality: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
From DVDBeaver: The MoC Blu-ray is scanned from the American A negative, as opposed to the European C or D negatives used by Photoplay and others (Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray), so it is identical with the film US audiences saw in 1927
See caps for comparison
In addition, the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has sepia tinting throughout while the MoC Blu-ray has yellow for normal scenes, blue for night scenes, and some even green tintings.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Director: John Frankenheimer
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: Kenji Mizoguchi
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · 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
More Horror on Blu-ray
Director: Glen Morgan
Director: George Pavlou
Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased
Germany Wicked Vision 4K Blu-ray better than US Kino Lorber?
Director: Roman Polanski
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray see caps. Much better contrast and grain exposure but the grade is a bit questionable as it skews heavily towards magenta in some caps and the encode looks low-pass filtered.
Atmos Remix: Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1: Imprint Australia Blu-ray or StudioCanal Germany/France Blu-ray
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray encoded the "Original 5.1" as lossy Dolby Digital, which is very different from the AC3 on the original DVD. This new "Original 5.1" may in fact be a downmix of the Atmos track. FWIW, the original DVD AC3 still sounds very good.
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray
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.
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
Director: Stanley Kubrick
US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray
International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray
Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, both the US and the International Cut, new restoration/remastering of the mono mix which should be better than the 1999 WB DVD, revised colour timing to make the film look more like it did in 1980 and for the first time ever on physical media, the film will be in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.
No Blu-ray or DVD release has presented the movie in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the US cut or 1.66:1 for the International cut.
The packaging on the back of the 4K Blu-ray incorrectly states it as 1.85:1 when the movie is actually 1.78:1 as is the original Blu-ray.
Director: Lewis Teague
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing
R1 DVD
R1 DVD sounds best and has the original mono and a Dolby Stereo remix
Director: Guillermo del Toro
WB 4K Blu-ray teased by Guillermo Del Toro
CA Alliance Blu-ray or dutch Blu-ray are the same masters but have additional sharpening.
The original DVD has an isolated score and a exclusive easter egg
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