The Warner Home Vidéo appears to be the least digitally manipulated of the three, but it also seems to be the most worn, damaged and faded. The Criterion has done the most boosting, in both lights and darks giving certain scenes an excessive luminance and overly red skin tones in others. It is stated that the Criterion transfers was supervised by cinematographer Jack Cardiff and Maria Palazzola. Telecine colorist were: Pete Makosz/The Machine Room, London and Skip Kimball/varitel Video, L.A. The Carlton appears to have some contrast boosting as well.

So what this comes down to is personal preference in regards to the image. I still prefer the Carlton as I tend to be quite sensitive to manipulations - but I also enjoy a clean print and feel the Warner Home Vidéo has too many weaknesses although I am glad I own it for the additional extras and appreciate that they are all 'English friendly'. The Warner package is, as the others in the 'Collection Institut Lumiere' , beautifully presented. Although the Carlton packaging (cardboard box with plastic insert and photos visible behind) is no longer offered it remains the best I have ever seen. I am glad I own all three, but if I was to watch the film again tonight, I'd be playing the Carlton disc.

*****

Firstly, I better state that BOTH of these editions are wonderful despite there differences. But being picky (which I guess is what we do here) I see some overly red skin tones in the Criterion version (capture#1). Actually I see a reddish tinge in comparison to the Carlton disc which has a greenish tinge in certain scenes. My guess is that one is more accurate than the other, but I have no way of telling. The Criterion looks "thin" in comparison to the Carlton which looks very rich and deep. Presently, I am leaning toward the Carlton being the most accurate in the color area. The Criterion is sharper, but has much more dirt and speckles than the Carlton. This is the deciding factor in swinging me to the Carlton as having the better image. The extras go to Criterion, but it should be noted that the Carlton region 2 has some strong additional features as well. Both discs sounded very strong to me. I like the Carlton menus much more. Bottom line is you won't go far wrong owning either edition, but I am recommending the Carlton which comes on the best packaging I have ever seen (cardboard box with plastic insert and photos visible behind) and is one of the best looking discs I own. True fans of this masterpiece should own both. 

NOTE: Just a quick note to let you know that the Carlton release of The Red Shoes now ships in a regular clear Amaray case. I never saw the packaging mentioned, but their first run of Hitchcock's 39 Steps was packaged as you describe in your Red Shoes review, and I agree that the presentation was stunning. (Thanks Brian!)