The Graduate Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

The Graduate Blu-ray Movie Review

Shout Select has re-released Mike Nichols's The Graduate (1967) as part of the boutique label's eight-disc box set, The Anne Bancroft Collection. We've covered no less than four editions of The Graduate. Greg Maltz reviewed MGM's Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in 2009 and Dr. Svet Atanasov examined three subsequent releases: the StudioCanal Collection UK DigiBook from a decade ago, the Criterion Collection four years ago, and StudioCanal's UK 50th Anniversary Edition in 2017. For critiques of those discs, please consult the linked reviews.

Following Elaine around.

The Graduate Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout's disc is a direct port of the Criterion edition with the same menu. The movie appears in an aspect ratio of about 2.37:1 which closely mirrors its original theatrical exhibition of 2.35:1. I've posted fifteen additional screenshots from the 4K restored print that are different from Svet's frame grabs. The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer sports an average video bitrate of 30420 kbps, which tops the bitrates of the three others: only 19696 kbps on the MGM (which uses MPEG-2), 23998 kbps on the SC '10 DB, and 23462 kbps on the SC 50th.

Criterion/Shout provides fourteen chapters, two more than the Studio Canals. MGM includes twenty-four scene selections on its BD-25.

The Graduate Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Criterion supplies the original monaural in a LPCM Dual Mono mix (1152 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround remix (3407 kbps, 24-bit). The first SC carries a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1007 kbps, 16-bit) and language dubs in German, French, and Spanish. SC's re-release contains a LPCM Dual Mono track (2304 kbps, 24-bit) and also an almost identical remix: an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3413 kbps kbps, 24-bit). There is a German dub (DTS-HD MA 5.1) and a French dub on that disc.

Criterion provides optional English SDH for the main feature.

The Graduate Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

I own four editions of The Graduate on home video and each has unique and overlapping extras. The 1987 Criterion/Voyager LaserDisc first had the commentary track with Howard Suber, which Criterion brought back for its BD-50. However, it eliminated a nice essay by Suber that was printed on the back of the jacket. It also dropped The Graduate Scrapbook, which you could read and watch on side 4 of the LD's CAV. The only feature retained from that program are the screen tests. Missing are text screens containing pieces of the producer's original notebook, a comparison of Charles Webb's novel and the movie, interviews, articles and reviews about the film as well as production photos, publicity stills, and costume tests. Additionally, Ilene Segalove delivers A Video Story on that same disc. The LD has been out of print for decades but it's well worth picking up on the collector's market.

The UK releases incorporate an exclusive audio commentary by professor Thomas Koebner, who speaks in German (optional English subs are included). Further, there are two German featurettes about the seduction scene and musical score subtitled in English. Both also include interviews with Charles Webb, Dustin Hoffman, and Lawrence Turman. The 50th added the nearly hour-long doc, Mike Nichols: An American Master. All versions have "The Graduate" at 25, which Image Entertainment produced for its 25th Anniversary Special Limited Edition on LD. Absent from the Criterion and SCs is a different featurette on the seduction scene that's on the DVD of the MGM package Greg reviewed in '09. (There's also an exclusive leaflet on MGM's 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD.)

Something I should point out about the packaging between the two Studio Canals is that the booklets differ. The DigiPack has a personal essay by filmmaker Marc Webb about how his father cherished The Graduate and how son Marc later appreciated it more. The text is accompanied by movie stills (all in color) over eighteen pages. SC didn't reprint Webb's essay for its 50th. It published a new piece by an uncredited writer along with Bob Willoughby's black-and-white photos from The Graduate's shoot. Mine also came with a slipcover and five postcards.

Criterion recorded its own interviews and also licensed vintage TV segments. For descriptions and comments on those bonus features, please refer to Svet's review.

• Audio Commentary from 1987 Featuring Film Scholar Howard Suber

• Audio commentary from 2007 Featuring Director Mike Nichols in Conversation with Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh

• Interview with Actor Dustin Hoffman (37:50, 1080p)

• Conversation between Producer Lawrence Turman and Screenwriter Buck Henry (24:56, 1080p)

• Interview with Film Writer and Historian Bobbie O'Steen about Editor Sam O'Steen's Work on THE GRADUATE (26:13, 1080p)

• Students of "The Graduate," a Short Documentary from 2007 on the Film's Influence (25:58, upconverted to 1080i)

• "The Graduate" at 25, a 1992 Featurette on the Making of the Film (25:58, upconverted to 1080i)

• Interview with Nichols by Barbara Walters, from a 1966 Episode of NBC's Today Show (15:34, 1080p)

• Excerpt from a 1970 Appearance by Singer-songwriter Paul Simon on The Dick Cavett Show (5:29, upconverted to 1080i)

• Screen Tests (13:18, 1080p)

• Trailer (3:46, 1080p)

The Graduate Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Shout's inclusion of the Criterion disc into The Anne Bancroft Collection is a real deal-breaker for me. If you just bought the individual release of the Criterion, you'd be spending 42 percent of the current retail market value of the actress' eight-film box set. The only item not included in the Shout is an essay by journalist and critic Frank Rich. (That package doesn't encompass one of Criterion's "meaty booklets.") So if you enjoy at least some of the other Bancroft movies, then this set is definitely worth your investment. True fans will also want to have Studio Canal's 50th Anniversary Edition. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.