ADDITION: 20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray (November 2013): Firstly, take a look at how much additional information we get on the right side of the frame on Fox's new Blu-ray. Although the squished Asian bootleg still has more on the left edge! (see Marshall's comments below). The new HD transfer is exactly 2.35:1. The new 1080P is characterized by its very blue-teal hue. It appears to even affect the pastels (clothing) although the colors are quite tight. Detail doesn't crisp-up the amount I would have anticipated but the overall image is superior in-motion if you can forget the heavy blue - but it is interesting to see how far it deviates from the two SD releases. Most will find this quite extensive.

NOTE: BK says to us in email: "I don't know when it became fashionable to overuse the term "teal" in terms of Blu-ray transfers and to apply that term as a negative, when Desk Set finally looks exactly as it should - it has no teal/blue leaning to it at all - it's just right for the first time - the middle shots are green - you can't think the film ever looked like that - and the color on this Blu-ray is a perfect replication of what this film looks like in dye transfer Technicolor - I owned a print of it and it's exactly the same. And the same goes for The Black Swan, which also replicates perfectly now what it should have always looked like." (Thanks BK!)

Fox stick with the original mono again via a DTS-HD Master at 1066 kbps. Cyril J. Mockridge's (The Ox-Bow Incident, The Dark Corner, My Darling Clementine, Nightmare Alley) uncompressed music sounds very supportive for the light romance/comedy. There is a simple Dolby French DUB and subtitle options on the region FREE Blu-ray disc.

Fox add nothing new to the supplements - with the Dina Merrill and John Lee commentary still here and a Fox Movietone News tidbit: "Designer Inspired for New Creations in Desk Set" plus a theatrical trailer.

Desk Set film is a lot of fun. The Tracy/Hepburn chemistry is at its zenith. The pace is a bit plodding at times but it remains a delightful movie. Those sensitive to the heavy-teal, we have seen in occasional Blu-rays, may find this too distracting - most should enjoy. 

***

I haven't seen the film, but unless director Walter Lang did a lot of fast zooming in, then I suspect that Vincent's captures are showing a real deviation in the 2 prints used. 

NOTE: Don't fret over the mismatched frames: the purpose of this DVD comparison is to show that the Fox has been cropped on the sides, most extensively on the left edge.

 - Gary W. Tooze