8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When a man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, her venal fiancé persuades her to con him out of some of the fortune she thinks he has.
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Rosalind IvanFilm-Noir | 100% |
Drama | 63% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Fritz Lang's "Scarlet Street" (1945) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Imogen Sara Smith and archival audio commentary by critic David Kalat. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
You are a painter, right? Paint my toenails.
Kino Lorber's release of Scarlet Street is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".
Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.
Screencaptures #1-22 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #25-38 are from the 4K Blu-ray.
The native 4K presentation of Scarlet Street can be viewed with HDR and Dolby Vision grades. I viewed it with Dolby Vision and then tested different areas of the 1080p presentation. I also did some comparisons with this release of Scarlet Street from 2012.
I have to immediately mention that I prefer how Scarlet Street looks in native 4K, though it is not fully, or perhaps it is better to write properly, restored in 4K. For example, on the native 4K presentation, various areas with density fluctuations that affect highlights and shadow definition look better. Not by a lot, but enough to make these areas look better balanced and convey more convincing lighter and darker nuances. In fact, from time to time, in select close-ups improvements in the gamma levels leave the impression that the discrepancy in quality is much, much bigger, or at least this was the case on my system, where many darker close-ups looked unquestionably superior. In 1080p, without the Dolby Vision grade, many of the same areas look a bit rougher and less convincing. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. However, the density fluctuations that I mentioned earlier produce plenty of loose grain. Clarity and sharpness are pleasing. The surface of the visuals is not immaculate. There are several large damage marks, various specks, and blemishes. They are never distracting, but a proper 4K restoration would have eliminated these imperfections.
There is only one standard audio track on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The dialog is easy to follow. However, in several areas the audio has noticeable unevenness that is not inherited. It is not distracting, but there is definitely room for various meaningful stabilization enhancements. Dynamic intensity is quite modest, which is to be expected from a film that was shot in the 1940s. There are no audio dropouts, distortions, or other similar encoding anomalies to report.
4K BLU-RAY DISC
It is perhaps a bit unfair to profile Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street only as a film noir because its final fifteen or so minutes transition into a territory that many characters from the great German expressionist films liked to visit. I think that this is entirely by design because it is where Lang felt at home, too. While I like Scarlet Street a lot as it is, I have often wondered whether spending more time there would have made it a superior film. This 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack offers the best technical presentation of Scarlet Street that I have seen to date. However, the 4K master that was used to produce it could have been cleaned up better. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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4K Restoration
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Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
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