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Explanatory Notes
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Title Best
Magnificent Obsession (Directors Suite)=

    Magnificent Obsession has been released on DVD in various transfers and with various extras, both as single releases and in DVD Collection Box Sets.

    The Region 1 Criterion Collection release uses a 2:1 widescreen transfer. The main feature uses 6.12 gb of space with an average bitrate of 7.75 m/b per sec. It includes an audio commentary by Thomas Doherty, video interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow and the original theatrical trailer. The second disc of this release includes the 1935 version of the film and a 82-minute documentary: From UFA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers by German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt.

    The Region 2 United Kingdom version also uses the 2:1 widescreen transfer on a 4.1 gb single-layered DVD. It is also available on the 7-disc Directed By Douglas Sirk Box Set which includes Has Anyone Seen My Gal?, All I Desire, Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written On The Wind, The Tarnished Angels and Imitation Of Life. This release has no extras.

    The Region 2 French Carlotta release uses the 1:33:1 full-frame transfer, not 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions. The transfer is 6.6 gb in size with an average bitrate of 8.15 m/b per sec. This release comes as part of an excellent 8-disc Douglas Sirk Collection, Vol. 1 Box Set including the four films Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, A Time to Love and a Time to Die and Imitation of Life. This Box Set includes the original John Stahl versions of Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life, interviews with Jean-Loup Bourget and Philippe le Guay on Magnificent Obsession, reflections on Imitation of Life by Christophe Honore and Sam Staggs, an analytical discussion on the melodrama of Sirk and Stahl by Jean-Loup Bourget, discussions on All That Heaven Allows by Todd Haynes, William Reynolds and Rainer Werner Fassbinder (in textual form) and an audio commentary by François Ozon, a documentary on Imitation of Life, an interview with Wesley Strick and voiceover analysis of Imitation of Life from Douglas Sirk and Jean-Luc Godard.

    The Region 4 Madman Directors Suite release is available as a 2-disc standalone version or in the 9-disc Douglas Sirk King of Hollywood Melodrama Box Set. Both releases use the 2:1 widescreen transfer with an average bitrate of 8.68 m/b per sec. The 2-disc release includes the 1935 version of the film on the second disc. The 9-disc Box Set includes the films No Room for the Groom, All I Desire, Magnificent Obsession, Taza, Son of Cochise, All That Heaven Allows, There's Always Tomorrow, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, The Tarnished Angels and Imitation of Life. This includes an interview with Tony Curtis on No Room for the Groom, a 60-minute documentary featuring interviews with Douglas Sirk from 1982 entitled Days of Sirk, an interview with actors Pat Crowley and Gigi Perreau and an interview with director Allison Anders on There's Always Tomorrow, a discussion with Wesley Strick on A Time to Love and a Time to Die and audio commentaries by Therese Davies on All I Desire, Mark Nicholls on Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows, John Flaus and Adrian Martin on There's Always Tomorrow, Ross Gibson on A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Adrian Martin on Tarnished Angels and Angela Ndalianis on Imitation of Life.

    The Region 2 Carlotta and Region 4 Madman Box Sets are wonderful releases, with the Region 4 the pick for English-speaking fans of Sirk's work. The Region 1 Criterion Collection release of Magnificent Obsession is the best standalone DVD release currently available, despite the 2:1 widescreen transfer.