Fritz Lang on DVD/Blu-ray

[bugsy_pal]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt from the Warner Archive looks good, but somewhat soft. The gray scale looks pretty good to me. It's a pity they couldn't get a sharper transfer, but I think it's fine and probably the best we'll be seeing for a while.

[Der Spieler]

But it's mighty expensive and they won't deliver outside the US, not even to Canada.

[Frankinho007]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt from Exposure Cinema is available for pre-order at Amazon.co.uk. Release date is July 18. Beyond will be open matte again. According to Exposure's new homepage they're also working on Secret Beyond the Door.

[TMDaines]

Fantastic news. Will be buying both of them to go alongside While The City Sleeps.

[Frankinho007]

Comparison of While the City Sleeps between the Exposure Cinema disc and the Remastered Warner Archive disc: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_revi ... sleeps.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bugsy_pal]

Comparison of While the City Sleeps between the Exposure Cinema disc and the Remastered Warner Archive disc: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_revi ... sleeps.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the Exposure disc and had considered also getting the Warner Archive version for its wide screen ratio. However, I'm surprised at how poor the quality of the Warner disc is when compared to the Exposure version. As Beaver says, the Warner looks contrast-boosted and soft. I am amazed that they couldn't have delivered a version that didn't look like it had been heavily processed. And I actually prefer the framing of the open-matte version - the wide screen version just doesn't look right to me. I imagine Lang may have framed his scenes with both ratios in mind, because it doesn't look like a film that was composed exclusively for the wide screen.

I will definitely be getting hold of Exposure's version of "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt".

[TMDaines]

How anyone can support the various DVD-R archives is beyond me. You're simply becoming a mark if you're buying these. An inflated price for such a greatly inferior product. It's such an atrocious deal

[Der Spieler]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt from Exposure Cinema is available for pre-order at Amazon.co.uk. Release date is July 18. Beyond will be open matte again. According to Exposure's new homepage they're also working on Secret Beyond the Door.

Great news! Will be buying both. Exposure sure treat Lang fans very well.

Updated checklist:

So...

Der müde Tod (1921) - Image
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) - MoC
Die Nibelungen (1924) - Kino (upcoming MoC and Kino Blu-rays)
Metropolis (1927) - MoC or Kino Blu-rays
Spione (1928) - MoC though Kino is not far behind
Woman in the Moon (1929) - MoC
M (1931) - Criterion and MoC Blu-rays
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) - Criterion and MoC tie
Liliom (1934) - Extra on "Carousel" DVD
Fury (1936) - Warner
You Only Live Once (1937) - Cinema Club
You and Me (1938) - Koch Media
The Return of Frank James (1940) - Fox
Western Union (1941) - Optimum
Man Hunt (1941) - Fox
(Moontide) (1942) - Fox
Hangmen Also Die (1943) - e-m-s
Ministry of Fear (1944) - Optimum and Carlotta tie
The Woman in the Window (1945) - MGM
Scarlet Street (1945) - Kino and Odeon (same transfer, but the former is not progressive while the latter is)
Cloak and Dagger (1946) - Republic
Secret Beyond the Door... (1948) - Wild Side (upcoming Exposure)
House by the River (1950) - Wild Side though Kino is acceptable
Rancho Notorious (1952) - Warner Archives
Clash by Night (1952) - Warner
The Blue Gardenia (1953) - Arthaus R2 or the cheaper, acceptable Image R1
The Big Heat (1953) - Sony
Human Desire (1954) - Sony
Moonfleet (1955) - Warner France
While the City Sleeps (1956) - Exposure
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) - Warner Archives
The Indian Epic (1959) - MoC
1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) - MoC

[matrixschmatrix]

I haven't gotten to see it, but I would assume the Italian blu of You Only Live Once would eclipse the Cinema Club version.

[videozor]

Updated checklist:

Great list! Thanks, Der Spieler, for compiling and updating it!
But can we expect a better edition of Mude Tod in the nearest fiuture, for example, from MoC that did such a great job with other Lang silents (and talkies)?

[perkizitore]

Regarding M, the Universum blu-ray is the definitive edition.

[BillWatkins]

There's no edition anywhere in the world of American Guerrilla in the Philippines?

[domino harvey]

Fox released it in Spain just last fall

[bugsy_pal]

I haven't gotten to see it, but I would assume the Italian blu of You Only Live Once would eclipse the Cinema Club version.

The screengrabs on DVD Beaver for the Italian blu of this film look pretty nice, but the apparent vertical compression of the picture is a deal-breaker for me. I hope that we'll see another blu release that corrects this issue.

[Der Spieler]

My copy of Exposure's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt shipped yesterday. I haven't even seen any reviews online. Hope it's good.

[Frankinho007]

My copy of Exposure's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt shipped yesterday. I haven't even seen any reviews online. Hope it's good.

No delays? How boring!

[Der Spieler]

Am I the only guy on Earth who bought it? The lack of reviews worries me.

[Frankinho007]

Am I the only guy on Earth who bought it? The lack of reviews worries me.

Pre-ordered the disc as well but Amazon won't ship before Monday, so I'll probably get the disc on Wednesday or Thursday.

[Der Spieler]

The lack of checkdiscs being reviewed makes me fear it will be sub-par.

[bugsy_pal]

The lack of checkdiscs being reviewed makes me fear it will be sub-par.

Have faith man! Their "While the City Sleeps" was pretty good. I assume their "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" will be better than the Warner Archive version, which is quite soft (I have it). I'm hoping Exposure's is a full frame or open matte version. I think the Archive versions of these two films in wide screen don't work that well - Lang's compositions are much better suited to the full frame ratio.

Usually I try to get region 1 NTSC versions over PAL to get around the 4% speedup, but in cases such as this, it's a trivial compromise to get the superior version (see, I'm being optimistic here...)

[matrixschmatrix]

Didn't Exposure screw up their checkdiscs for While the City Sleeps, leading people to believe the release looked like shit? Maybe they're just leery of making the same mistake twice.

[Frankinho007]

Received the disc today. upon my first impression the transfer is (a bit) weaker than their While the City Sleeps disc. One can see sparkles, scratches and white dots and some damages throughout the movie. Compared to the Beaver review, the Exposure transfer is brighter than the Spanish one and sharper. The brightness is on par with the Warner disc but the Exposure disc is sharper, too. But I think the Exposure disc is interlaced.
Haven't had time to check the disc on my TV but on my computer it looks ok.

[Murdoch]

When's the release for Secret Beyond the Door?

[Der Spieler]

Also received the disc today. It doesn't look that good to be honest. It does the job on my computer but I imagine it won't look very pretty upscaled.

[jbaart]

Has anyone checked out the Optimum Woman in the Window? The MGM one is out of of print, so if it's the same transfer I'd rather get that one.

Looks good, as far as I recall. The cover has the MGM logo, so I assume it's the same transfer.

Can anyone confirm this? Also, am I right in assuming the MGM has subtitles but the Optimum hasn't?