Tuesday, 26 December 2017

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

The old Columbia DVD* and the Sony blu-ray sound very similar--not particularly great. It's clear that both come from the same analogue source and that both have been subjected to a strong amount of filtering. All frequencies above 7.5 kHz on the blu-ray have been chopped off.

*The one not part of the Capra box set, although there's no reason to suspect the box set DVD is any different

I suspect the old Columbia Tri-Star LaserDisc has the least neutered audio track, assuming it uses the same Library of Congress restoration as the DVD.

1 comment:

  1. I just got the LD and it credits the LoC restoration. The BD used a surviving optical track from Capra's own personal print. The 2006 discs I think may have had some work done to them but the first DVDs were all very likely ports of the LDs as some were extremely worn like You Can't Take It With You.

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