Comes in the Val Lewton Horror Collection (Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark) :

Warner

Region 1 - NTSC

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Filmmaker William Friedkin commentary
• Theatrical trailer

DVD Release Date: Oct. 4, 2005
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Chapters 22

NOTE: The Shout! Factory Blu-ray of The Leopard Man is compared to the DVD HERE.

The transfer: A seriously flawed transfer from Warner’s, which is a shame given that this is the only real fault in otherwise stupendous boxset (think of Criterion’s Renoir box and the tragedy that is The Golden Coach transfer). Lots of dirt and scratches are prevalent throughout the film, and considering how much of Tourneur’s work depends upon his play between light and shadows, you may find these print blemishes more noticeable than usual. The major flaw is the appearance of an obtrusive black line on the right hand side of the frame that rears its ugly face at about the 20-minute mark and continues to appear off and on for the remainder of the film. Whether this ‘black line’ is the result of a botched transfer or was present on the original filmic elements I cannot say, but I suspect that once others have taken a look at the disc, we will be able to report back to you with more details.

The transfer on The Ghost Ship fairs much better fortunately (see below). Present here, are Warner’s usual standards of high quality, sharp progressively scanned image, relatively dirt free and glistening with a life that we associate with only the best transfers of 1940’s black and white films on DVD.

The audio: Each transfer sounds relatively the same, and depending if you are listening to these through your TV set or through a home sound system, your impressions might vary. Each film is presented with a mono audio track. Played through your set this audio can sound a little flat and muted, but played through a sound system (which I assume it was optimized for) the audio is clear. A picky observation perhaps, but something for you to keep in mind before viewing.

Extras: Keeping the trend of The Leopard Man transfer, the William Friedkin commentary track is also a disappointment. Friedkin offers none of the meaty observations you’d suspect a filmmaker to offer up, and instead you get hour-long snooze fest where the filmmaker simply dictates the events that happen onscreen. I recommend skipping over this one and devoting your time to one of the Film historian commentaries on the other discs, preferably Tom Weaver’s on Bedlam.

 - Adam Lemke