Region 4 Winners and Losers

    The Region 1 DVD was released in 2003 and while very good when judged in its own right, it has a digital edginess when compared to the ‘film-like’ appearance of our Region 4 release. The image has been brightened and the colours boosted compared to the way the film was shown theatrically which caused some controversy upon its release. By comparison our version is much darker and the colour palette is much more muted. Despite this colours still seem accurate and appropriate. While our version is darker in appearance the actual contrast range exhibited in the Region 4 release is much greater than the Region 1 which appears a bit flat when compared to the Region 4 disc. The Region 1 transfer also features more prominent edge enhancement than the Region 4 transfer.

    In terms of picture quality I feel the Region 4 is without question the version of choice. In terms of soundtrack our Region 4 is more dynamic and marginally superior in overall quality. The most controversial aspect is the use of the original soundtrack featuring music by the Eurythmics in our release. Director Michael Radford was unhappy with this soundtrack that was apparently forced upon him by the studio that used it as a marketing tool for the film. The Region 1 release features a more traditional orchestral score favoured by the director. As I mentioned in my review I actually found the soundtrack by the Eurythmics to be nicely done and felt that it better heightened the emotion of the scenes when compared to the director's preferred orchestral score.

    In terms of extras they are both identical, featuring only a theatrical trailer.

    The final thing working in the favour of our Region 4 release is the fact that the Region 1 version appears to be out of print now and thus hard to find. Given the superior transfer that matches the theatrical presentation and the superior audio, I’m going to give this one to Region 4, however those wishing to have an English soundtrack with the director preferred orchestral soundtrack will need to buy the Region 1.

    This film has also been released in Region 2. Only one review makes specific mention of the soundtrack and indicates that it contains the Director preferred orchestral score. The reviewer, however, appears to be under the false impression that the original soundtrack featured actual Eurythmics pop songs which is incorrect. I may well have made the same assumptions had I not directly compared the soundtrack on the Region 4 DVD with that on the Region 1. IMDB.com also indicates that the UK Region 2 disc contains the original Eurythmics soundtrack. Given that the other soundtrack and subtitle options on the Region 2 are identical to our DVD, and given that our DVD is dual encoded for Region 2 and Region 4, I have good reason to believe that the Region 2 is in fact identical to our Region 4 release.