Wednesday 13 February 2019

A Man Escaped (1956)

The old New Yorker DVD sounds the best. Not objectively amazing, but probably a faithful representation of the best extant sound element (which the Criterion booklet identifies as a sound negative). The Gaumont blu-ray is definitely sourced from the same element, but has NR applied, and the Criterion blu-ray has even more still.

The Artificial Eye DVD has similar filtering applied, but it also has some wonky EQ -- the highs are rolled off, yet the extreme highs are emphasised, so hiss is more evident while actual high-frequency sounds have been made indistinct. The opening and closing music have also been spliced in from another source that is less distorted but very thin-sounding and out of place here. The fade transitions between these segments and the film proper are less seamless than in the original edit.





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