ADDITION: Universal (Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection) - Region FREE Blu-ray - October 12': The Universal (Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection) is the same transfer as the 2009 Warner Blu-ray - same encode; VC-1, same bitrate, Dolby TrueHD, same extras, same subtitles and DUBs, and starts with the Warner logo.

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ADDITION: Warner - Region FREE Blu-ray - October 09: The Press Release for this Blu-ray Edition states: "The arrival of North by Northwest on Blu-ray is a landmark event in home video history, as it marks the very first of the famed director’s films to become available on this state-of-the-art format. Accordingly, the film has received a meticulous restoration and remastering especially for this occasion with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging scanning the original VistaVision production elements in 8K resolution. The resulting presentation reveals a depth of field and clarity never before possible, only serving to heighten every thrill-packed moment of this beloved classic." It is not quite the first Hitchcock film on Blu-ray as ITV in the UK nipped them in the bud with The 39 Steps released mid-October of 2009 HERE.

Like most Warner Blu-rays this is region FREE and the film starts immediately upon putting the disc in the player.

While colors are more intense on the new 1080P edition - the overall image is quite a bit darker. Blue seems far more predominant than on the previous snapper -cased DVD editions. Never having seen this theatrically I'll have to let the experts debate the correctness of the bolder color scheme.  The DVDBeaver ListServ says:

"If memory serves me right .... (which at my age it doesn't always do) ... the colour on the Blu looks a lot like the colour I saw in cinemas. The earlier DVD releases seemed to sport more "natural" colour than I remembered."
(Thanks BR!)

"Yes, Bill I think that's pretty close to theatrical presentations. They seem to have rebalanced the red down the dial to normal - certainly blues look cleaner. My only fear is that it could go too far into the dark range like Warner's awful HD/BD version of Rio Bravo (which is muddy and brown.) But given it's from an 8K pass it should be pretty amazing!"
(Thanks DH!)

"I can anecdotally confirm that the Blu-ray images are accurate (or much more so than the DVD images). I saw the film when it was released, several times when shown in art house cinemas in the 80s, and, most recently, when I saw it in a theater about ten years ago."
(Thanks RB!)

Noise still exists - but to a far lesser degree - and there is not as much grain to report as I had anticipated. Black levels are piercing and I felt I could appreciate the darker film look rendered by Warner with VC-1 with the 2 hour feature filling almost 35 Gig of the dual-layered disc. The bitrate can fluctuate quite dramatically but lies in and around the mid 20's (Mbps). As Henrik states about the aspect ratio: "There are several different framings of “North by Northwest”. The MGM laserdisc had the AR of 1.66:1, the Criterion had 1.75:1, the DVD (and Blu-ray) is in 1.78:1. “North by Northwest” was shot in VistaVision, basic aspect ratio of 1.66:1, but it was the property of MGM, who framed their widescreen releases into 1.75:1. This was before 1.85:1 became a standard widescreen format and when each studio had their own unique widescreen format. One can thus think of the 1.66:1 VistaVision ratio as open matte, while the MGM ratio of 1.75:1 was the Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio. It remains to be said, that during the 60s, re-releases of “North by Northwest” was reformatted into 1.85:1, as this format became the standard. Please note, that this is my guess, in order to answer for the various aspect ratios."

Audio: Firstly, the Bernard Herrmann score sounds wonderfully crisp in TrueHD and you can isolate it in standard 5.1 as well. The 5.1 lossless track is transferred at 1326 kbps and I have no complaints at all. It may not be as robust as a modern mix but it just sounds so good with an intense bass depth as Herrmann's score comes pounding through in some of the more iconic sequences. There are a host of foreign language DUBs and subtitle options signifying this region FREE Blu-ray, aside from the packaging, as the only, and international, release of the film in 1080P.

Extras: We get the same competent Ernest Lehman Audio Commentary and 40-minute "Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest" but there are three new, featurettes - two of which are quite lengthy. "The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style" is a new 2009 documentary by Gary Leva. It runs almost an hour. It has input from William Friedkin, Curtis Hanson, Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro discussing The Master's filmic style. It's quite interesting. "North by Northwest: One for the Ages" is another new Gary Leva documentary from 2009 running 30 minutes. "Cary Grant: A Class Apart" is Robert Trachtenberg's 2004 documentary running almost 1.5 hours. It covers a ton of the enigmatic actor's life on and away from the screen with sound bytes from Jeanine Basinger, Peter Bogdanovich, past wives Barbara Harris and Betsy Drake plus many others. One can access the aforementioned 'Music Only' Audio track and there is a Stills gallery some Theatrical trailers, a guided tour with Alfred Hitchcock, and TV Spot. The case is a Digi-book with 44-pages of beautiful colors photos, essays and bio information. It's is really quite special - one of the best of these I have seen.

I expect we will be making further comments but I'd like to 'live' with this, much anticipated, Blu-ray for a while before making more judgments. Personally, I apprdciated the darker appearance, the audio and the extensive supplements. I was unsure of what I was expecting but this surely equals my wide-eyed anticipation. I'm sure most Hitch fans will be absolutely thrilled with the presentation, extras and packaging.

Gary Tooze

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