Region 4 Winners and Losers

    Hans Christian Andersen has been released twice in Region 1, first by HBO on September 29, 1998, and second by MGM/UA on March 6, 2001, and once in Region 2 by MGM on 14th March 2005. All of these versions have packed the film onto a single layer, whereas ours is spread over two layers, and they seemed to have used the same print and transfer. However, there are subtle differences in language and subtitle choices.

    The Region 2 version seems to be the same package as ours, right down to the soundtrack and subtitle options. It also uses the same generic symbols instead of labels on the menus.

    I'm not sure about the HBO version, but I was able to directly compare the local release with the MGM/UA Region 1 disc. It comes with two English soundtracks, a Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kb/s) track and the original Dolby Digital 1.0 (192 kb/s) track, plus a French and a Spanish track, both Dolby Digital 1.0 (192 kb/s). It has French and Spanish subtitles, but strangely no English subtitles. The background pictures for the menus use the same pictures as the local disc, but all the menus are conveniently labelled in English, and do not use the symbols found on the Region 2 and 4. This disc also comes with a theatrical trailer which runs for 2:42. The runtime is 112:15 which is the same as the Region 2 and 4 if you take into account the 4% speed up.

    Although the MGM/UA Region 1 disc is from the same source print as the local disc, clearly observable by the identical film artefacts, it is seriously compromised by a much higher compression to squeeze it onto a single layer. It is not very sharp and suffers from very noticeably posterization, as well as low level noise. Reviews of both the Region 1 and 2 discs mention the problem of shimmering colour. The original mono track is a nice inclusion on this Region 1 disc, as is the trailer, but not at the expense of a superior transfer; the new Region 4 disc is an easy winner.