My point really was that with newer formats and UHD blu ray in particular, we are getting the closest yet to how film should look, with a wider, more accurate colour gamut, increased resolution closer to the true resolvable detail levels of 35mm film and much better fine grain resolution.
Films on VHS looked terrible and nothing like film at all, even if we were happy to have them at the time. Have you seen a 35mm print of this film? If not I'm curious as to what you are using as a benchmark as to how this film should look. One thing I do know is that this release is the best and most faithful to the look of 35mm film so far, showing up just how poor and inaccurate the previous VHS/DVD/blu ray releases were.