Don't Bother to Knock Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Don't Bother to Knock Blu-ray Movie Review

Don't Bother to Knock (1952) is being released as part of Shout Select's eight-disc box set, The Anne Bancroft Collection.

I wrote about the film for Twilight Time's release here.

Singing the blues.

Don't Bother to Knock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Don't Bother to Knock was Anne Bancroft's inaugural feature and it's also the first disc in the late star's box set assembled by Shout Select. Shout! Factory's sublabel has used the MPEG-4 AVC encode and given the feature an average video bitrate of 36000 kbps on this BD-50. While Shout has derived similar elements for its transfer as TT, the two share appreciable differences. It seems that Shout's technical authors didn't feel that there was ample grain on the TT and have added faux grain to compensate. To my eyes, there's more digital video noise prevalent here. It doesn't look as "filmy" or smooth as the TT in-motion. There's also some jitter, shimmering, and edge halos. The grain structure occasionally looks inconsistent. The main detriment I referenced in my other review is the moiré pattern on Richard Widmark's suit coat which one can also spot in Screenshot #3 in this review. There are scenes and moments where the image looks very good but others where it's akin to an unpcoverted DVD or a victim of too much electronic post-processing. This had the potential to be a great transfer had Shout simply replicated TT's.

The Shout has a dozen fewer scene selections (12) as TT's.

Don't Bother to Knock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono mix (1569 kbps, 24-bit). The monoaural sound track is technically beneath Twilight Time's but sounds much the same to my ears.

Don't Bother to Knock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Isolated Score - a music-only track encoded as a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix (1689 kbps, 24-bit).

• Theatrical Trailer (2:41, upscaled to 1080i) - the same trailer to appear on TT's LE.

Don't Bother to Knock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have several issues with the way Shout has transferred Don't Bother to Knock to Blu-ray, especially the added ringing and moiré effects that aren't present on Twilight Time's image. Unfortunately, Shout didn't license the A&E specials on Monroe and Widmark. This is a mediocre disc and its inclusion in the Bancroft Collection is because it's a legendary actress' first film. The transfer is no means terrible but looks considerably better on the TT LE, which I encourage you to purchase.