MovieChat Forums > The Uninvited (1944) Discussion > Criterion Blu-ray vs. DVD

Criterion Blu-ray vs. DVD

posted 11 years ago by SeanJoyce
12 replies | jump to latest

I plan on taking advantage of B&N's current Criterion sale and picking this one up. But it irks me to no end that every review available chooses to focus only on the blu-ray and not the dvd release. Even my normally-reliable dvdbeaver dropped the ball here. This kind of information is important for people consumers, especially the more judicious ones.

I myself tend to gravitate towards Criterion's blu releases, but I'll save the few extra dollars if the difference in quality is nominal. Is there anybody out there who can testify to their comparitive quality?

http://jmoneyyourhoney.filmaf.com/owned

[–] elizabeth_owens52 11 years ago

You should BUY THE DVD! I have seen several reviews that complain that the BLU-RAY's clarity is a little too sharp in clarity, lots of graininess. That is to be expected with a picture of this age. I own the DVD, and think the picture is quite excellent. A definite improvement over the VHS version I bought in the mid 90s.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

I have not seen the BR version but have heard similar comments about it to those cited by poster elizabeth_owens52. (Though to be fair some people think the Blu is great.) It sounds counter-intuitive but you can sharpen a film's clarity too much, so that previously hidden flaws become evident.

Unlike many people (including the OP), I still tend towards standard DVD, with certain exceptions, and to me it sounds as if The Uninvited comes across better on DVD than Blu. I don't know how many people will buy both so it might be hard to get a firsthand comparison of the two.

As far as the current B&N sale goes, the DVD, which retails at the rock-bottom (for Criterion) price of $19.99, can be had for just $9.99 -- $8.99 if you have their 10% membership discount. The Uninvited was the next-to-last film released by Criterion in separate DVD and Blu-ray editions (beginning in November they've gone the combo-pack route, at a standard price of $39.99), so this is undoubtedly the last time we'll ever find a Criterion release so cheap -- even their standard $29.99 DVDs are now a thing of the past. I for one am glad they didn't make their production switch effective until the month after this film's Criterion debut. Price aside, I like having a choice of format.

[–] Big G-2 11 years ago

I had no problems with the blu-ray, though I can't compare it to the DVD, since I don't have that one (and can only afford one, and my preference is usually the blu-ray).

I have heard about clarity being a problem in other movies, where all of a sudden, I could see piano wire holding up some object, which was not visible before (THE INVISIBLE MAN with Claude Rains for instance).

I think it is both convenient and not so convenient that Criterion will be selling both versions in the same package. Yes, it would finally be nice to have a blu-ray and a DVD, but of course, the cost will be a little higher. Probably best to wait for a Criterion "50% off" sales and with a coupon one gets via e-mail from B&N.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Even standard DVD has often revealed hitherto hidden flaws -- the wires holding up the Martian war machines in the 1953 The War of the Worlds, for one of hundreds of examples. Oftentimes different visual elements in a shot tend to "move", waver or jump a little, compared to the rest of the picture, which can be an unfortunate consequence of digitally converting a movie.

Having watched the DVD of The Uninvited I can imagine that an even sharper Blu-ray might actually make the picture look worse -- more unreal, badly shot. I'm satisfied with the DVD.

Yes, Criterion's prices will now revert to the usual level they once sold at before they began producing BDs -- $39.99 retail, which a huge number of their DVDs, not yet joined by a Blu-ray, are still priced at. (Even the advent of a Blu edition of a title didn't always mean that an earlier DVD went down in price: both editions of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold cost $39.99. On the other hand, some existing DVD titles did drop to $29.99 when a Blu version came out, but only, it appears, if the entire film was remastered, new extras were added, that sort of thing.) Of course, some DVDs retail at only $29.99, and a couple for even less. However, I also noticed that they've repackaged the DVD of The Battle of Algiers without the booklet found in the old edition; the new edition just has the three discs. Yet the price is still $49.99. You just never know.

In any case, perhaps with a few exceptions, $39.99 is once again the new standard price -- when it's not going to be higher. Their January release of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World retails for $49.99, so even with B&N's next 50% sale (probably next June -- assuming they keep doing it), plus a 10% membership discount, we're still at $22.49. At least they don't raise the prices on pre-existing discs!

[–] Big G-2 11 years ago

Well, as I stated before, I can't compare the two, but I actually had no problems with the blu-ray. I really didn't spot any scenes where it was too clear as to take the surrealism out of it. But then again, that is just me. Others with sharper (and younger!) eyes may spot it better than I could.

And I've been waiting for close to a decade and a half for a complete (or near complete) version of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD on DVD. I've actually kept the double VHS box I bought back in the mid 1990s. So $49.99, won't be such a steep price (but I am hoping B&N would e-mail me a coupon for at least 10% off at the time of its release! ).

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

My understanding is that the release of IAMMMMW will include both the standard 154-minute release plus the "super" (my term) road show version, hitting 197 minutes. This includes all the footage originally previewed before it was slightly trimmed for the regular road show feature, which in turn was soon cut further to the common 154-minute print.

Apparently no one has ever released the film in its entirety; the "restored" version TCM used to show (whose deleted sequences, incorporated back into the film for broadcast, turned up as extras on the DVD) runs 175 minutes -- the regular road show edition. So we'll be seeing about 22 minutes more than that.

I'll be getting the set but I think I'll wait until next summer's B&N sale, or if it comes first Criterion's own 24-hour 50%-off sale, which they do twice a year. I'm in no hurry.

Anyway, their DVD of The Uninvited is great. After hoping for so many years that it'd show up as a Criterion release, it's hard to believe it's actually here. Though I don't like the cover art at all -- one of their worst, in my opinion.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

I prefer the UK cover art, too, which I believe is a replica of one of the original movie posters from 1944. It's not terrific (and the artist did a very awkward job of painting Milland hurling the candelabra, which looks very asymmetrical), but pretty good and reasonably suggestive of the film's eerie nature.

And yes, the Criterion disc has the cover art on it.

Criterion's website has a gallery of the alternate sketches the artist made for the cover, I think nine in all. Almost any one of them would have been better, though in my opinion, none is really all that appropriate.

Still, we buy the DVD for the film, not the cover, which we can always hide under a pillow while watching the movie!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

You said it, Doc!

[–] Trax-3 10 years ago

BLU-RAY's clarity is a little too sharp in clarity, lots of graininess

Grain is good, if you don't see all the grain you are not seeing all the detail.

Fully resolved grain is the sign of a great photographic scan. Anyway, the 2k scan of this release isn't even capable of resolving all the grain (and detail).

35mm photography is sharp and should be sharp. Film is HD, you are finally seeing it as it was supposed to be seen.

Even standard DVD has often revealed hitherto hidden flaws -- the wires holding up the Martian war machines in the 1953 The War of the Worlds, for one of hundreds of examples.

Those wires would be visible even on softish dye-transfer prints. So the fact that you can finally see them on home video is a Good Thing.

I've seen the film in 35mm dye-transfer Technicolor and the wires are certainly visible. However, the timing is much darker than later printings and that helped to disguise them.

35mm Technicolor prints were not THAT soft.

Yes, the wires are visible.

And, yes, 1953 audiences could certainly see them and understood what they were. The notion that moviegoers were less sophisticated in 1953 is ridiculous.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/322514-the-war-of-the-worlds-195 3-possible-blu-ray-release/

[–] liscarkat (18373) 3 years ago

I have the Criterion DVD, which looks very good on my 55-inch HD tv. I have found that almost all DVDs of older black-and-white movies look fine, while for some reason DVDs of pre-digital (filmed) color movies are often inferior to Blu-rays. Anyway, as far as "The Uninvited" is concerned, I wouldn't bother getting the Blu-ray instead of the Criterion DVD, especially if you can get the DVD on sale.