Ob Com
Active Member
This is one of my favorite movies. A gem of 1970's American film making imo. Whilst it may not be up with the heavy weights of that era, many people who discover this film seem to develop a great deal of fondness for it, flaws and all.
Whilst it has many individual strengths, there is just something about the experience of watching it that is so pleasurable, its somehow more than the sum of its parts.
Anyway, I already had the Paramount U.S. Blu Ray, but being something of a fanatic about this movie, decided to get the Studio Canal Collection Blu Ray also, after reading about it on the SCC thread here.
I know the film very well, having owned it on laser disc and dvd previously, but I am not super-qualified to undertake a technically minded review nor unfortunately do I have the ability to take screen shots for comparison. So its just my impressions.
Image Quality.
I found the Paramount blu ray to be apparantly sharper overall than the SCC version, which has a much lower bit rate.
There was more fine grain visible on the Paramount version.
However I found the SCC version to have better contrast. It was also a generally darker image, much closer to how I had previously recalled the film.
Indeed when I first got the Paramount blu ray, I was slightly taken a-back by how bright it was. Having seen the SCC, which is closer to previous dvd and LD versions, I do prefer the darker image and the Paramount appears overbrightened to my taste, looking almost a tad overexposed in some scenes.
Going back to the question of sharpness:- whilst the Paramount disc is sharper and shows more fine grain, I found myself noticing more detail in the SCC disc, despite it appearing noticably "softer" overall.
I dont think the Paramount disc has been oversharpened, so I'm puzzled by this.
Colours on the Paramount disc are drabber than the SCC version. It appears quite desaturated compared to the SCC version.
This combination of slight overbrightness (to my taste), lower contrast and drabber colours in the Paramount version makes, imo, for a less "filmic" look, despite the higher bit rate.
Indeed some of the interior shots, for example the ground floor interior shots of the American Literary Historical Society have an almost 1970's TV look to them, which I had not seen on previous DVD versions.
In the SCC version they look like film again.
There is some black crush in the Paramount disc, whereas the SCC blacks are better handled to my eyes.
Skin tones are also better in the SCC version. Much more natural. In the Paramount version Redford looks like he has lipstick on in some scenes.
I could see no evidence of excessive DNR on either blu ray and no EE on the SCC. Perhaps there might be some minor EE on the Paramount Disc.
BTW the rendering of out of focus background areas when the DP was shooting with long lenses (the final scene especially) were much more beautifully rendered on the SCC disc for some reason.
In terms of IQ, I prefer the SCC blu ray, despite its lower bit rate, primarily because the darker image, better contrast, more natural skin tones and less desaturated colours looks more film like and also more how I remember the movie always having previously looked. I wish it had all of those characteristics, plus the impressive sharpness of the Paramount disc,
- it would then be truly outstanding.
It is initially less "impressive" as a blu ray than the Paramount disc, which seems much sharper and has a nice layer of fine film grain and would appear to be undoubtedly a newly minted HD transfer. I dont know if SCC are using a new HD transfer- it certainly seems a much smaller file.
However I prefer the way the SCC disc looks compared with the way Paramount have rendered the film.
Audio Quality
Here the positions are reversed.
The SCC disc is DTS HD MA against Dolby True HD for Paramount.
The SCC disc is much louder than the Paramount disc. It also sounds over-cooked to me and I wonder if it has been overcompressed.
Aside from that the Paramount audio track just sounds clearer. Dialogue is clean and crisp, where as on the SCC disc the sound is slightly coloured, dialogue a bit boxy, and I wonder whether it would have benifited from a clean up.
Extras
The Paramount blu ray only has the trailer.
The SCC disc is much richer.
It has the extras from the previous two disc Dutch DVD special edition, which are a very interesting documentary about the late Sydney Pollack shot in about 2003, focusing particularly on his many collaborations with Redford, and also a piece with him and Redord discussing 3 days of the condor.
These are quite in depth and will be a pleasure to view for any fans of either Redford or Pollack.
It also has a documentary about the CIA which I havent watched yet. Its in French but has english subs available.
(BTW there are NO burnt in subs as was the case with the HD DVD Disc of 3DOTC)
I was particuarly pleased to see that there is a commentary track for the movie by Pollack.
I think this was only previously available on the German DVD so its nice to see it added here.
I liked Pollack, both as an actor and director, so I hoped it would be more detailed and engaging. Unfortunatley he doesnt speak much on the commentary and there are quite a few very long silences where you forget you are listening to the commentary track and become engaged in watching the film again, only to be surprised when the director interrupts
Packaging
The SCC is the winner here imo- really nice to have the cardboard book-style case and some artwork on the cover that more accurately reflects the original promo imagery for the film.
The booklet is OK- nothing particularly special. It contains an essay, which is in English (I got the Dutch blu ray as there is no UK release scheduled for this title). The essay slightly lets itself down by refering to the Higgins character mistakenly as "Atwood".
Conclusion
I prefered the SCC video and the Paramont Audio, so a compromise is in order.
I suspect I will use the SCC version in future, because it looks more faithful to the movie as I've always known it.
Whether it is a better blu ray or not than the Paramount version, is, I suspect a different matter.
Other people may be disapointed with the video quality of the SCC disc, which looks much better than DVD but not as good as many remastered classic films can on blu ray imo.
Attached is a photograph of my various versions of the film for the enjoyment of anyone as fanatical about this movie as I am
Whilst it has many individual strengths, there is just something about the experience of watching it that is so pleasurable, its somehow more than the sum of its parts.
Anyway, I already had the Paramount U.S. Blu Ray, but being something of a fanatic about this movie, decided to get the Studio Canal Collection Blu Ray also, after reading about it on the SCC thread here.
I know the film very well, having owned it on laser disc and dvd previously, but I am not super-qualified to undertake a technically minded review nor unfortunately do I have the ability to take screen shots for comparison. So its just my impressions.
Image Quality.
I found the Paramount blu ray to be apparantly sharper overall than the SCC version, which has a much lower bit rate.
There was more fine grain visible on the Paramount version.
However I found the SCC version to have better contrast. It was also a generally darker image, much closer to how I had previously recalled the film.
Indeed when I first got the Paramount blu ray, I was slightly taken a-back by how bright it was. Having seen the SCC, which is closer to previous dvd and LD versions, I do prefer the darker image and the Paramount appears overbrightened to my taste, looking almost a tad overexposed in some scenes.
Going back to the question of sharpness:- whilst the Paramount disc is sharper and shows more fine grain, I found myself noticing more detail in the SCC disc, despite it appearing noticably "softer" overall.
I dont think the Paramount disc has been oversharpened, so I'm puzzled by this.
Colours on the Paramount disc are drabber than the SCC version. It appears quite desaturated compared to the SCC version.
This combination of slight overbrightness (to my taste), lower contrast and drabber colours in the Paramount version makes, imo, for a less "filmic" look, despite the higher bit rate.
Indeed some of the interior shots, for example the ground floor interior shots of the American Literary Historical Society have an almost 1970's TV look to them, which I had not seen on previous DVD versions.
In the SCC version they look like film again.
There is some black crush in the Paramount disc, whereas the SCC blacks are better handled to my eyes.
Skin tones are also better in the SCC version. Much more natural. In the Paramount version Redford looks like he has lipstick on in some scenes.
I could see no evidence of excessive DNR on either blu ray and no EE on the SCC. Perhaps there might be some minor EE on the Paramount Disc.
BTW the rendering of out of focus background areas when the DP was shooting with long lenses (the final scene especially) were much more beautifully rendered on the SCC disc for some reason.
In terms of IQ, I prefer the SCC blu ray, despite its lower bit rate, primarily because the darker image, better contrast, more natural skin tones and less desaturated colours looks more film like and also more how I remember the movie always having previously looked. I wish it had all of those characteristics, plus the impressive sharpness of the Paramount disc,
- it would then be truly outstanding.
It is initially less "impressive" as a blu ray than the Paramount disc, which seems much sharper and has a nice layer of fine film grain and would appear to be undoubtedly a newly minted HD transfer. I dont know if SCC are using a new HD transfer- it certainly seems a much smaller file.
However I prefer the way the SCC disc looks compared with the way Paramount have rendered the film.
Audio Quality
Here the positions are reversed.
The SCC disc is DTS HD MA against Dolby True HD for Paramount.
The SCC disc is much louder than the Paramount disc. It also sounds over-cooked to me and I wonder if it has been overcompressed.
Aside from that the Paramount audio track just sounds clearer. Dialogue is clean and crisp, where as on the SCC disc the sound is slightly coloured, dialogue a bit boxy, and I wonder whether it would have benifited from a clean up.
Extras
The Paramount blu ray only has the trailer.
The SCC disc is much richer.
It has the extras from the previous two disc Dutch DVD special edition, which are a very interesting documentary about the late Sydney Pollack shot in about 2003, focusing particularly on his many collaborations with Redford, and also a piece with him and Redord discussing 3 days of the condor.
These are quite in depth and will be a pleasure to view for any fans of either Redford or Pollack.
It also has a documentary about the CIA which I havent watched yet. Its in French but has english subs available.
(BTW there are NO burnt in subs as was the case with the HD DVD Disc of 3DOTC)
I was particuarly pleased to see that there is a commentary track for the movie by Pollack.
I think this was only previously available on the German DVD so its nice to see it added here.
I liked Pollack, both as an actor and director, so I hoped it would be more detailed and engaging. Unfortunatley he doesnt speak much on the commentary and there are quite a few very long silences where you forget you are listening to the commentary track and become engaged in watching the film again, only to be surprised when the director interrupts
Packaging
The SCC is the winner here imo- really nice to have the cardboard book-style case and some artwork on the cover that more accurately reflects the original promo imagery for the film.
The booklet is OK- nothing particularly special. It contains an essay, which is in English (I got the Dutch blu ray as there is no UK release scheduled for this title). The essay slightly lets itself down by refering to the Higgins character mistakenly as "Atwood".
Conclusion
I prefered the SCC video and the Paramont Audio, so a compromise is in order.
I suspect I will use the SCC version in future, because it looks more faithful to the movie as I've always known it.
Whether it is a better blu ray or not than the Paramount version, is, I suspect a different matter.
Other people may be disapointed with the video quality of the SCC disc, which looks much better than DVD but not as good as many remastered classic films can on blu ray imo.
Attached is a photograph of my various versions of the film for the enjoyment of anyone as fanatical about this movie as I am
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