Region 4 Winners and Losers

    This new Region 4 release appears to be identical to the US Region 1 40th Anniversary Edition.

    There have been two previous releases in Region 4, both of which were also released in Region 2. The first such release in the early days of DVD had variable aspect ratio as per the Criterion laserdisc, with a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack. Extras included a trailer, filmographies, photo and poster galleries. The transfer was not 16x9 enhanced, but otherwise the video quality appears to be about the same as the new release.

    A second release had the film in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 but not 16x9 enhanced. Instead of a black cover with a photo of Sellers in Strangelove mode, it had a white cover with poster artwork. It also contained The Art of Stanley Kubrick, Inside the Making of and split-screen interviews extras included on the new edition.

    Despite the absence of the original mono soundtrack and the variable aspect ratios as intended by the director, the new edition seems to be the best.