Region 4 Winners and Losers

    I have the US Region 1 release which comes from the Criterion company. This release is superior to the Region 4 in terms of video quality and extras. Aside from being a native NTSC transfer, it has better contrast, none of the aliasing or ghosting problems of the Region 4 and is more detailed. The same film artefacts appear in both releases, indicating that the same original material was used. The Region 4 is probably just a conversion of Toho's NTSC master, which is probably the same NTSC master provided to Criterion. A credit for Toho is shown on the Region 4 case, but not for Criterion or Janus Films. A Janus Films logo appears on screen before the feature on the Region 1 but not on the Region 4.

    The running time of both is nearly the same, with the Region 4 being a few seconds longer. The Region 1 is in an aspect ratio of 2.30:1 and has two extras that the Region 4 does not, being:

• Audio commentary with Stephen Prince 
• Booklet with essay by Donald Richie

    The Region 1 misses out on nothing.

    There is a UK Region 2 edition from the BFI. This has non-removable electronic subtitles in yellow. It has a video introduction by Alex Cox, director and star biographies and a stills slideshow. From screen caps I have seen the Criterion seems to be slightly cropped on the left hand side when compared to the Region 2, but the latter is slightly cropped at the bottom of the frame. The aspect ratio is 2.42:1.

    An All Regions disc from Hong Kong company Mei Ah looks pretty poor and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The Region 2 Japanese release from Toho has a making of documentary but no English subtitles.

    When all is said and done the Criterion is the best version available.