The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 24, 2023

Barry Forshaw offers some interesting insight into the adaptive process with regard to The Bride Wore Black, offering some reasons for cinematic "surgery" (as Forshaw terms it) on an original written tale for the film version, and he makes a rather intelligent comparison between original novelist Cornell Woolrich's sleight of hand and some literary subterfuge engaged in by Ira Levin. Forshaw doesn't actually specify a Levin work to draw a firm analog to, but my hunch is he has to be referring to A Kiss Before Dying, a lesser remembered Levin piece that had a bit of artifice in its written form that quite simply couldn't be replicated in the film version (if you've read Levin's book and seen the film, you'll know exactly what I'm referring to). But even given the seeming inability to artfully deal with at least some elements of an original source novel, The Bride Wore Black has been a somewhat problematic film for some within the overall François Truffaut oeuvre and perhaps especially given a perceived (if not necessarily completely accurate) connection to the works of Truffaut's admitted idol, Alfred Hitchcock.

The Bride Wore Black received a long ago release in Region A, and those interested in my thoughts on the film may want to read my The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray review. That review is also a good source for screenshot comparisons and a list of supplements. Rather recently, Kino Lorber has also released another Region A Blu-ray, and Svet has contributed a The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray review of that version, which can provide even more of an opportunity for screenshot comparisons as well.

The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Bride Wore Black is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Radiance sent only a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any information that may be imparted in an insert booklet, but their website offers a generic "digital restoration" as the sole technical data point that I could see. I don't have the actual Kino Lorber disc in hand and so this is based solely on looking at screenshots, but it looks to me like the Kino Lorber release and this release from Radiance are both somewhat darker than that now ancient release from Twilight Time. I actually prefer the darker overall appearance, as it tends to lend itself to a more robust saturation for some of the tones like the bright red sweater seen in screenshot 2. Detail levels are on a pretty similar and maybe identical par to the Twilight Time release even given a somewhat darker overall appearance. Grain resolves naturally throughout. For what it's worth, this shows some of the very same and pretty minor signs of age related wear and tear that the Twilight Time release did, which may argue for the same element if not master having been utilized. My score is 3.75.

The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Bride Wore Black features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in the original French, and to my ears there was no real discernable difference between the sonics on this track and the one on the Twilight Time disc. The track offers a good representation of what if I might be allowed to unexpectedly paraphrase Wallace Stevens might be termed the "nothing that is not there and the nothing that is", in that this film has rather long stretches without a bunch of dialogue, with only bursts of Bernard Herrmann's kind of slightly manic score or ambient environmental noises dotting the sound design. Dialogue itself is always presented cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• François Truffaut (HD; 11:37) is culled from a 1968 interview on the French television show A Vous de Juger. Subtitled in English.


• Jeanne Moreau (HD; 4:41) is another television interview, this one from the 1969 French show L'Invite du Dimanche. Subtitled in English.


• Kent Jones (HD; 15:31) is one of two newly produced pieces by Radiance, this one offering Jones' take on the film.


• Barry Forshaw (HD; 8:51) is the second of the newly produced items, and features Forshaw discussing Cornell Woolrich.


• Les Surmenes (HD; 24:37) is a 1958 short by Jacques Doniol-Valcroze that was co-written by Truffaut. Subtitled in English.

Radiance only sent a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I can't comment authoritatively on packaging or an insert booklet, but their website lists the typical accoutrement of items in that regard.

The Bride Wore Black Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Truffaut himself had some well publicized if eventually discarded qualms about this film, and some have argued about everything from Jeanne Moreau to Bernard Herrmann, and so those unacquainted with this feature had probably come with expectations suitably tethered. Those who have seen this odd and frankly kind of wacky film should appreciate the overall technical merits and supplements of this release. Recommended.