DVD Compareison - Coen Brother's " O Brother Where Art Thou " Touchstone - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Momentum (Special Edition) - Region 2

(aka "To the White Sea" )

directed by Joel Coen
UK/France/USA 2000

In Joel and Ethan Coen's joyous musical comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the endless parlor game of "Name That Allusion" starts with the title, a reference to Preston Sturges' 1942 classic Sullivan's Travels. In that film, a popular director of escapist Hollywood fare announces his plans to make an earnest American epic, "a true canvas of the suffering of humanity." To research the project, he dresses up like a hobo and tries to blend in with the great unwashed, finding about as much success as yuppie Albert Brooks does "touching Indians" in Lost In America. Sturges' potent satire mocks the folly of artists who pretend to understand how the other half lives but can't truly know their experience, a lesson the Coens have clearly taken to heart. Had the Coens attempted any kind of verisimilitude in their depiction of the Depression-era South, O Brother would have been as authentic and meaningful as Barton Fink's crying fishmongers. Instead, they've crafted something far richer and more entertaining: a loving homage to '30s Americana assembled from popular icons and artifacts, and told with the intoxicating energy of a Warner Brothers cartoon. Swimming with references to literature, movies, and especially the evocative bluegrass and country music of the period—superbly arranged by T-Bone Burnett—the film cross-pollinates Clark Gable, Robert Johnson, Busby Berkeley, The Wizard Of Oz, and the KKK. And that's just in one bravura sequence. To add another layer to the mix, the story is based in part on Homer's The Odyssey, casting George Clooney as an escaped Mississippi convict whose long journey home to his wife (Holly Hunter) includes run-ins with a blind soothsayer, a trio of sirens, and a Cyclops (John Goodman).

Excerpt from Scott Tobias' review at The Onion A.V. Club located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 13th May 2000 (Cannes)

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DVD Comparison:

Touchstone - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Momentum (2-disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Henrik Sylow and Will Kelly for the Screen Caps!

(Touchstone - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Momentum (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Touchstone Region 1 - NTSC	Momentum Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:47:05	1:42:45 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.88 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.32 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Touchstone
Bitrate: Momentum (Special Edition)
Audio	5.1 Dolby Digital English, DTS English	5.1 Dolby Digital English, 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital English
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None	English HoH, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Touchstone Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Storyboad to scene comparison: The Flood (6:54) • Storyboad to scene comparison: The Klan (6:19) • Production featurette (8:39) • Painting with pixels (9:01) • 'I am a man of constant sorry' music video (3:28) • Trailer (2:32) DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003 Amaray Chapters 25	Release Information: Studio: Momentum Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Cast And Crew Interviews: • - George Clooney (3:12) - John Turturro (4:19) - Tim Blake Nelson (3:58) • - Holly Hunter (2:16) - Michael Badalucco (1:27) - Chris Thomas King (1:52) • - Joel And Ethan Coen (3:18) • Storyboad to scene comparison: The Flood (6:50) • Storyboad to scene comparison: The Klan (6:15) • Music Video - Soggy Bottom Boys - • Theatrical Trailer (2:18) • 4 TV Spots (1:00) DVD Release Date: November 5, 2001 2-Disc Amaray Chapters 18

Comments

We have another example of a large Hollywood production being slightly superior in the NTSC standard. Everything is just a little bit clearer in the Touchstone DVD and the audio is also superior with an added DTS track. I do notice that the Region 1 is minutely cropped on all 4 sides. I dislike the Touchstone subtitles (gawdy yellow) and the Momentum has the far better extras being a 2-disc Special Edition. I also like the Momentum menus. Strange I don't see a 2-disc SE in NTSC-ville, but perhaps it will be forthcoming. I like the Touchstone, but if I was a true-bluer I'd snag the Momentum for the extras.

Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

(Touchstone - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Momentum (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Touchstone - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Momentum (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
subtitle sample (English only)
NTSC captures resized to 800px from 960px native resolution