Title | Best |
Red Shoes, The (Roadshow) | R1 |
I have had high hopes for all of the Carlton/Roadshow releases of these classic films. On the whole they have done a great job in comparison with many other older film releases, but they generally take a second place to the more expensive Criterion R1 versions, and The Red Shoes is no exception. Even with the higher resolution of PAL, the quality does not match Criterion's detail, clarity and restoration of tones and colour. So how do the different releases compare? The Region 4 Roadshow release/Region 2 Carlton version of this disc miss out on;
The keen of eye may have noticed that the R1 Criterion has an extra titled "The Red Shoes Sketches", however the R2/R4 version actually does have this extra and it goes by the name of 'The Ballet of the Red Shoes Featurette". The content is more-or-less identical except that the Criterion version has a multi-angle feature comparing the sketches with the actual scene as it appears in the movie. Whilst the documentary on the R2/R4 version is very good, its value is outweighed by the commentary, extensive stills gallery and superior image quality of the Criterion R1 release. Whilst completists may want both versions, if one had to choose a single superior version, the R1 Criterion is the clear winner. |