ADDITION: (August 2010) Studio Canal Collection - Region FREE - Blu-ray: Firstly, this is the region FREE  Blu-ray edition of Nichols' film. It will be the exact same disc (transfer, menus, extras) used in the UK (Optimum), Germany (Kinowelt) and in France (Studio Canal) under the umbrella of The Studio Canal Collection. Packaging will differ due to the country language it is sold in September 2010 but all digital features will be the same. Accordingly Lions Gate should release this in North America although I have no scheduled release date yet.

Firstly, this is a second kick at the can for this film in 1080P - on both sides of the pond (Universal Studio Canal Video in France released their 1080P edition in June 2009). The disc asks you immediately to choose; a country of which the United Kingdom defaulted for me. Then the menus are in the appropriate language.

I have a suspicion that there is a European source for The Graduate that Studio Canal have utilized here - it looks closer to the UK DVD than any of the US transfers - in terms of color and the marginal cropping. I can't speak with any authority on the palette variance - or even if there was a theatrical difference (color-wise and framing) from Europe to North America. I can however state that the AVC encoded Studio Canal edition looks much more impressive in terms of detail, depth, smoothness in-motion and less artifacts/noise benefiting with the higher bitrate. You can plainly see in reference to color that the European Blu-ray is much brighter (yellow/green/brown/beige - this heightens details in the frame in many instances - see Mrs. Robinson's dress in the captures below the subtitled DVD image) and skin tones seems truer. I have to throw up my hands as to this aspect of the appearance - I never saw The Graduate theatrically - what tends to be more important is consistency and not radically deviating from an established color scheme. It's amazing how quickly your visions gets used to image quality. Strangely, certain scenes of the Studio Canal exhibit VERY robust colors - like Benjamin's red convertible and the grass of Mrs. Robinson's lawn:

I also can't speak to the cropping (notably on the bottom edge) but we will leave the captures below for you to make your own decisions on which is more correct but certainly in-motion it is hands down for the European Blu-ray. Previously while I may have preferred the richer contrast of the MGM - overall on my system the Studio Canal looks exceptionally superior. 

Audio-wise - while the Studio Canal Blu-ray has a stereo 2.0 channel lossless track for original English and French, and Spanish DUBs as well as a German 5.1 DTS-HD track. Now, technically the English HD is not as dynamic as the 5.1 MGM Blu-ray  (3279 kbps vs. 1007 kbps) but I prefer the stereo sound. The Simon + Garfunkel / Dave Grusin songs still sound wonderfully clean and crisp. The European disc appears to be their world-wide release with many subtitle options and, to my surprise, my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc (I didn't verify region 'C'!) playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Supplements are quite strong with a new (new to me anyway) audio commentary by professor Dr. Thomas Koebner - this is excellent - it is in German with optional subtitles. There are some short featurettes found on the Anniversary DVD - The Graduate at 25 (22:21) and The Graduate: Looking back (12:57) - Hoffman relating the story of Pauline Kael - there is also a 20 minute good interview with the author of the book Charles Webb (under Meet the Author) and two more German language scholastic pieces (both in HD) - a 12-minute analysis of the seduction sequence by Dr. Koebner and 8-minutes on The Role of Music in the Film by Professor Helga de la Motte (University of Berlin) who finds it curious that the songs were written prior to the film. There is an original trailer in HD and a Song Selection feature where you can choose immediate access to four songs from the film - Mrs. Robinson, The Sound of Silence, April Come She Will + Scarborough Fair / Canticle. Ohhh... while I remember - all these extras played fine on my Region 'A'-locked Oppo player.

This is a good edition and I hope we hear from others in regards to the colors. I was very impressed with the appearance on my system.

****

ADDITION: MGM - Region 'A' Blu-ray - May 09': Well, it's better in terms of color and a bit in the detail but overall this is a shabby way to treat such a classic. This single-layered Blu-ray is MPEG-2 transferred and suffers from that lesser encode's compression. There is not an abundance of grain. Perhaps superior to the image is the DTS-HD audio at over 3000 Kpbs. The Simon + Garfunkel / Dave Grusin songs sounds wonderfully clean and crisp.

Extras on the Blu-ray consist of a trailer for the film and 3 others (Pink Panther, Hoosiers, Rocky) but included is the first disc of the Anniversary DVD (with 2007 VOB files) with all of those extras including the commentaries and featurettes.

The new 40th Anniversary DVD is finally coming to an anamorphic transfer for region 1 (what a delay!) and it looks quite strong. Anything would have been an improvement over the widescreen letterboxed and heavy green color of the old MGM from 1999. The new NTSC version appears to have the most faithful image. NOTE: Studio Canal logos are all over this DVD and we suspect this is from the same transfer possibly used on the French HD DVD (forced French subs) that was scheduled - where did it go? Anyway - wherever it came from it looks strong - FINALLY!

The Momentum always looked boosted to me with awkward manipulated colors (overly bright and also red skin tones).

Bottom line on the image is that the new version is quite acceptable and it shows a lot more in the frame (both edges). Audio gives us the original mono - a 5.1 bump and another untested DTS track (no reason for this MGM!). There is also a French mono DUB. Audio is supported by optional French, English or Spanish subtitles.

There is a second disc - a CD - with 4 songs from the film; The Sound of Silence, Mrs. Robinson, Scarborough Fair/ Canticle and April Come She Will.

Bottom line is that this is an amazing deal at less than $17. One we strongly recommend for a timeless classic comedy film that delivers on many levels.

- Gary W. Tooze