NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: (August 2019) Indicator Region 'B' - Blu-ray: This is another early film in Indicator's Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (Limited Edition) Blu-ray that has Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, and The Devil Is a Woman. We have compared all of them to the corresponding Criterion Blu-rays.

Most of the other transfers on this boxset contain a very similar 1080P image quality as compared to the Criterion - if not totally indiscernible from each other and this would be such an example. I did not find any difference here in this transfer, like we found in 'Morocco'. In fact, this Indicator Blu-ray has the same maxed-out bitrate and around the same file size taking up room on the dual-layered Blu-ray. This means that the comments below (on the Criterion) hold for the image here. Also of note, that same jumpcut happens around the 39:58 minute-mark, just before the line "Why does he wear that uniform?"

As for the audio, well that is also exactly the same, at least to my ears. So my comments below for the Criterion release also apply here. Indicator also have an uncompressed linear PCM 1.0 mono track in 24-bit. Though uncredited, the scorer is by W. Franke Harling. There are optional English subtitles on this Region 'B' Blu-ray from Indicator.

There is a commentary by film historian David Thompson (he humorously opens the track by stating that "for the sake of clarity I would like to say that I am not the David Thompson without a 'p' the surname, the wonderful writer that gave us the biographical dictionary of film, nor am I the producer David M. Thompson who gave us 'Billy Elliot'." He goes on to describe his own credentials as a writer, "occasional critic" and maker of arts documentaries, including the 1994 BBC film on Josef von Sternberg. So this particular 'David Thompson' has nothing to be ashamed of, as he proves to be extremely well-fit for the job of guiding us through the film. Before watching the film, there is the option of another brief introduction to the film (as they appear on each disc) with the son of Josef von Sternberg here saying that the things that really stand out to him in this film are the elaborate sets. On top of this he states that his father "had a certain affinity for Asian-Americans" because "he had Japanese servants at his house in Chatsworth" (okay...) and "he also traveled to the far east" (hmm...). "Trouble in Hollywood" is a very revealing look into the life and career of actor Anna May Wong. Over 24-minutes, writer and filmmaker Jasper Sharp discusses Wong, who had a fascinating life (to say the least). An image gallery rounds out the Blu-ray disc. This Blu-ray box set from Indicator also features a limited edition exclusive 120-page book with a new essay by Pamela Hutchinson, archival interviews and articles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, film credits and more.

Considering that this is the same A/V transfer that appeared on the fabulous Criterion Blu-ray boxset, one would think that either set would be fine, but Indicator have once again one-upped Criterion by adding a fabulous commentary with David Thompson, an intriguing piece on actor Anna May Wong, and much more. The Indicator has best the, already-fabulous, Criterion Blu-ray set. It will be mentioned significantly in our year-end poll.

Colin Zavitz