The Maltese Falcon (1941)

1981 Magnetic Video VHS: For a linear track, this sounds surprisingly decent despite all the extra noise. There's a clarity here that's immediately noticeable, but after a while it all seems a bit bright. It really lacks bass.

1984 CBS/Fox HiFi VHS: Darker than the Magnetic Video tape, but with much less tape noise. Lifting the treble a bit opens things up nicely, but compared to the DVD transfer, which I believe was sourced from lower generation elements, it still lacks detail and has a thick blanket of extra noise atop everything. There's a loud hum that can be attenuated easily, but even after doing so and applying some EQ I prefer the DVD.

1989 MGM Hi-Fi VHS: This sounds poor. Detail starts rolling off above 5 kHz and there's not much hiss to suggest source issues, so I believe this is the result of crude mastering work. 11/28/23:  confirmed, given how much better the 1984 tape sounds.

1990 MGM LaserDisc [ML101546]: This analogue track is basically identical to the '89 VHS.

1992 MGM HiFi VHS (colourised): This is fake stereo, but it collapses to mono without incurring phase cancellation, which I've done for the images below. It sounds poor - like the 1989 tape/1990 LD but with additional NR. 

1998 MGM LaserDisc [PILF-2621]: A PCM version of the ~1989 mastering (sounds poor). 

2000 R1 Warner DVD: Okay. A bit muffled,with obvious signs of moderate filtering, but a bit more detail and much less (generational?) noise than the CBS/Fox tape. Better than most studio soundtracks released in the digital era.

2006 R1 Warner SE DVD: Like the earlier DVD but with further attenuation of its highs (EQ).

2010 Warner Blu-ray: Identical to the SE DVD.

2023 HBO Max Stream: Like the first DVD.

2023 Warner UHD Blu-ray: Significant additional noise reduction - more than the 2006 DVD. Clearly derived from the DVD mastering from ~2000.

11/28/2023: Added the 1981 Magnetic Video VHS, 1984 CBS/Fox HiFi VHS, 1990 MGM LaserDisc, and 1992 MGM HiFi VHS.
1/7/2024: Added the 1998 MGM LaserDisc.