As far as I'm aware, the mono mix that accompanied the film's 1973 release has never been released on home video. Every edition since at least the early '90s uses the same stereo mix, presumably Walter Murch's 1978 remix.
Universal's blu-ray sounds dead and unexciting. The Collector's Edition DVD is similar.
The Japanese CIC Video LaserDisc from 1992 is free of hiss reduction and is considerably less murky.
The 1996 MCA LaserDisc sounds more like the DVD and blu-ray than the CIC LaserDisc. It's clearly been subjected to hiss reduction of some form, and I believe the later editions are derived from this track.
2/5/2021: Added the 1996 MCA LaserDisc.
you are correct that the mono mix never saw a home video release, it was remixed in stereo in 1978 for the re-release along with adding a couple of extra scenes cut out of the 1973 version (along with changing a death date towards the end), the 1978 cut is the one that all home video releases are based on
ReplyDeleteI saw this movie in a recent screening theatrically and it has a new 5.1 mix for it. It's very interesting because it has entirely new sound effects but its fidelity is vastly superior (to me at least) than the 2.0 track on the old BD. I actually noticed hiss during the presentation and it would spike whenever someone would speak.
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