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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

directed by David Lynch
U.S. 1986

Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, writer-director David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their person of interest, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini)—and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, Blue Velvet is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the past few decades.

***

Beneath the surface of small-town serenity lies a dark domain where innocence dare not tread and unpredictability is the norm. It is the haunting realm of BLUE VELVET. In this “shocking, deeply disturbing, startling mixture of the heartfelt and the horrific” (Newsweek), clean-cut Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan, “Twin Peaks”) realizes his Mayberry-like hometown is not-so-normal when he discovers a human ear in a field. His investigation catapults him into an alluring, erotic murder mystery involving a disturbed nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini, Death Becomes Her) and a drug-addicted sadist (Dennis Hopper, Speed). Soon, Jeffrey is led deeper into their depraved existence past the point of no return.

***

Jeffrey (MacLachlan) is the contemporary knight in slightly tarnished armour, a shy and adolescent inhabitant of Lumberton, USA. After discovering a severed ear in an overgrown backlot, he embarks upon an investigation that leads him into a hellish netherworld, where he observes - and comes to participate in - a terrifying sado-masochistic relationship between damsel-in-distress Dorothy (Rossellini) and mad mobster Frank Booth (Hopper). Grafting on to this story his own idiosyncratic preoccupations, Lynch creates a visually stunning, convincingly coherent portrait of a nightmarish substratum to conventional, respectable society. The seamless blending of beauty and horror is remarkable - although many will be profoundly disturbed by Lynch's vision of male-female relationships, centered as it is on Dorothy's psychopathic hunger for violence - the terror very real, and the sheer wealth of imagination virtually unequalled in recent cinema.

 Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release Date: 19 September, 1986

Reviews                                                                          More Reviews                                                                      DVD Reviews

 

Comparison:

MGM (SE) - Region 2,4 - PAL vs. MGM SE- Region 1 - NTSC vs. Castle Home Video - Region 2 - PAL vs. MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

  Thanks to Enrique B Chamorro and Vincent Bouche for the DVD screen caps!

1) MGM SE - R2 - PAL  LEFT

2) MGM SE - R1 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Castle Home Video - R2 - PAL - THIRD

4) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - FOURTH

5) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

 

Box Covers

 

 

Distribution

MGM SE

Region 2/4  - PAL

MGM SE

Region 1  - NTSC

Castle Home Video 
Region 2 - PAL

MGM

Region FREE  - Blu-ray

Criterion - Spine #977

Region 'A'  - Blu-ray

Runtime 1:55:36 (4% PAL speedup) 2:00:20 1:55:16 (4% PAL Speedup) 2:00:32.683 2:00:31.390
Video

2.35 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 4.84 mb/s

PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

2.35 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 4.84 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.10:1 cropped 16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 4.70
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,973,892,272 bytes

Feature: 32,505,636,864 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 27.18 Mbps

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 49,975,456,591 bytes

Feature: 28,933,036,032 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 24.93 Mbps

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes

Bitrate:

MGM- SE (NTSC)

UNAVAILABLE

Bitrate:

MGM- SE (NTSC)

.

Bitrate:

 

Castle Home

Video

Bitrate:

 

MGM Blu-ray

Bitrate:

 

Criterion Blu-ray

Audio English and French DD5.1 English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUBS: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)

English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2990 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2990 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB)
DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB
DTS Audio German 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB
DTS Audio Italian 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB
DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Portuguese 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB / Dolby Surround
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3097 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3097 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio English 2071 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2071 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles French, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Hungarian, Czech and None English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and none English, Spanish, French and none English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, none English (SDH), none
Features Release Information:
Studio: MGM/UA Video
 

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:

New Digital Anamorphic Transfer Supervised by David Lynch
• Mysteries of Love
• Deleted Scenes Montage
• Siskel & Ebert : At the Movies
• Theatrical Trailer
• 2x TV Spots
• Photo Galleries

 

DVD Release Date: 18 September 2002
Keep Case

Chapters 32

 

Release Information:
Studio: MGM/UA Video
 

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:

• New Digital Anamorphic Transfer Supervised by David Lynch
"Mysteries of Love" Documentary Featuring New Interviews with Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan and Other Cast and Crew
• Archieve Interview With David Lynch
"Are You A Pervert? Deleted Scenes Montage
• Siskel and Ebert Critical Review
• Photo Gallery
• Widescreen anamorphic format

• 4 page insert "booklet"

 

DVD Release Date: June 4, 2002
Keep Case

Chapters 29

Release Information:
Studio: Castle Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic   - 2.20:1

Edition Details:

• "Dennis Hopper in conversation with Tony Watts, talks about his career in the movies as an actor and as a director." 44 min 46 sec, 10 chapters

• 8 page insert "booklet" with photos and an essay by Alan Robinson, August 2000

DVD Release Date: 18 September, 2000
Keep Case

Chapters 19

Release Information:
Studio: MGM
 

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,973,892,272 bytes

Feature: 32,505,636,864 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 27.18 Mbps



Edition Details:
"Mysteries of Love" 8-part Documentary Featuring New Interviews with Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan and Other Cast and Crew (1:10:45 in 480i)
• TV Spots / Trailers
• Siskel and Ebert Critical Review (1:31)
• 4 Vignettes (I Like Coffee Shops, The Chicken Walk, The Robin, Sita)
Over 50 minutes of never-before-seen lost footage (51:42 in 1080P)
• "A Few" Outtakes (1:34)

 

Blu-ray Release Date: November 5th, 2011
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 28

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion
 

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 49,975,456,591 bytes

Feature: 28,933,036,032 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 24.93 Mbps



Edition Details:
• The Lost Footage, fifty-three minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes assembled by Lynch (53:16)
• “Blue Velvet” Revisited, a feature-length meditation on the making of the movie by Peter Braatz, filmed on-set during the production (1:28:54)
• Mysteries of Love, a seventy-minute documentary from 2002 on the making of the film (1:10:49)
• Interview from 2017 with composer Angelo Badalamenti (15:41)
• It’s a Strange World: The Filming of “Blue Velvet,” a 2019 documentary featuring interviews with crew members and visits to the shooting locations (15:57)
• Lynch reading from Room to Dream, a 2018 book he coauthored with Kristine McKenna (18:17)
• Test Chart (1:16)
• Cover by Fred Davis

 

Blu-ray Release Date: May 28th, 2019
Transparent Blu-ray Case

Chapters 1

 

 

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - (April 2019)  Criterion's release of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" arrives on a dual-layered Blu-ray, with an all new 4K digital restoration, supervised by the director. The 2.35:1 1080P image has a modest bitrate. Most significant, is that Criterion's presentation shows a little more information on the top and bottom of the frame, with even more revealed on the left, while the right side of the frame stays the same. It is likely that the MGM Blu-ray was slightly distorted, given such movement in the frame. This 4K transfer shows a generally brighter image, with occasionally darker moments. There are still strong blacks, revealing detail in the shadows while keeping a healthy contrast. As the below screen captures can attest, colors have slightly shifted from the MGM disc, in some cases they're warmer, in others they are colder. The grass surrounding the ear, for example, goes from a forest-green to a more yellow hue. Yet in the sixth cap with Isabella Rossellini looking towards the camera, her dress now appears to be a more subdued purple, as opposed to the brighter MGM's red. I tend to prefer the darker MGM image, though the new Criterion Blu-ray has a visible and consistent grain texture and some may prefer the brighter look.

Criterion edges out the old MGM by including the film's original 2.0 in 24-bit DTS-HD Master audio. The 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master audio has also been supervised by Lynch, though it sounds similar if not identical to the previous 5.1 release on the MGM. Angelo Badalamenti's (
David Lynch films including Twin Peaks- Fire Walk With MeLost HighwayWild at Heart Mulholland Drive, and The Straight Story among others. He's also done the score for Schrader's Auto-Focusand other films like 44 Inch ChestThe Edge of Love,The Comfort of Strangers etc.) score and all the strange musical performances - Bobby Vinton + Isabella Rossellini's "Blue Velvet" crooning of the film's theme song and Ketty Lester's hauntingly beautiful Love Letters. Let's not forget Roy Orbison's "In Dreams". - sound superb on the original 2.0 track, even without the 5.1 tinkering. There are optional English SDH subtitles on this Region 'A'
Blu-ray.

"It’s a Strange World: The Filming of Blue Velvet" is a brand new 16-minute documentary featuring interviews with crew members and visits to the shooting locations. Also here is a 16-minute 2017 interview with frequent Lynch composer Angelo Badalamenti. "Room to Dream" is 18-minutes of an audio recording with Lynch reading from the book he coauthored with Kristine McKenna. "The Lost Footage" has appeared before. Next up is "Blue Velvet Revisited". In 1985, German filmmaker Peter Braatz was invited by director David Lynch to Wilmington, North Carolina, to document the shooting of Blue Velvet on Super 8, in photographs, and in audio recordings. The result is this eighty-nine-minute unconventional "meditation" on the film, with music by Cult with No Name, Tuxedomoon, and John Foxx. "Mysteries of Love", which has previously appeared as an extra on other discs is a seventy-minute documentary from 2002 on the making of the film. Criterion have included a brief extra, the minute-long "Test Chart" features footage from the production of the film, for grayscale balance.

Fans can rest assured that Criterion's release of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" is worth the wait. Though some may prefer the darker look of the MGM release (myself included) it is hard not to appreciate how lovely this 4k transfer looks, with beautiful grain and detail. Though Lynch apparently does not approve of audio commentaries, the extras on this disc are worth a look. Picking up this
Blu-ray should be a no-brainer.

Colin Zavitz

***

ADDITION: MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - (October 2011) - Looks to be taken from the same source as the SE DVD - but the image shows all the basic improvements of the new format. It is notably more detailed - has slightly even more information in the frame, colors are solid and tighten up and contrast is substantially superior. The two-hour film is housed on a dual-layered disc with a healthy bitrate (more than 6X that of any of the SD transfer). This 1080P gave me an impressive presentation. I could detect no digital manipulation nor flagrant flaws of any kind. Thumbs up on the visuals.

Audio goes lossless with a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround at 2990 kbps. All the Lynch-esque music sounds wonderful in HD sounding classic, nostalgic and crisp - there are some subtle separations piercing their way to the rear speakers - and dialogue is always clear and consistent. Depth is more seething than overt. The disc is rife with foreign language DUBs and subtitles marking it as a region FREE Blu-ray - also available in Europe (Germany).

Supplements were highly anticipated by Lynch's loyal fans and they don't disappoint. We get the previously seen "Mysteries of Love" - an 8-part, 1 hour 10-minute, documentary featuring interviews with Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan and cast and crew - still in 480i. But the big news is over 50 minutes of never-before-seen lost footage (in 1080P). There are some surprises and suspense - fans who can't get enough of the film will definitely want to indulge. There is also "A Few" Outtakes - listed as 'new'. The short Siskel and Ebert critical review, 4 Vignettes (I Like Coffee Shops, The Chicken Walk, The Robin, Sita) and TV Spots / Trailers exist. Everything but a commentary but it's so nice to see some new stuff.

For the price this is one of the easiest purchases of the year - I saw Blue Velvet theatrically but while my memory fades I am confident that this is the best representation available for home theater consumption. This masterpiece remains timeless and the Blu-ray is strongly recommended!   

***

ADDITION: (Region 2/4 MGM PAL edition - Sept -04) - THE MGM PAL version is slightly cropped on both sides and the bottom and although the colors appears accurate (if less vibrant), it is a bit hazier than its NTSC counterpart. It has most of the same extras of the Region 1 release, and loses a Spanish DUB but has more subtitle options. We still say stick to the Region 1 MGM in all departments.

***

The UK version is more than slightly cropped as you can tell by the captures below (2.10:1 from 2.35:1). It is also quite hazy in direct comparison to the Region 1 SE version. I note a shade of edge enhancement in the SE Region 1 (look at the roses) . I think that the Region 1 SE has also had some contrast boosting and it has manipulated the colors ( look at the ear ). The Region 1 is better for many reasons, but it is far from a perfect DVD. Lots of extras on the Region 1 and a nice long Dennis Hopper interview on the UK edition. A shame, I doubt a better version will come out for a while, so the Region 1 and its flaws are the one to buy.

- Gary W. Tooze


Menus

(MGM SE - R2 - PAL  LEFT vs. MGM SE - R1 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs.  - RIGHT)


 

Castle Home Video - R2 - PAL

 

 

MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 

 

 

Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 

 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Subtitle Sample - Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 

 

1) MGM SE - R2 - PAL  TOP

2) MGM SE - R1 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Castle Home Video - R2 - PAL - THIRD

4) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - FOURTH

5) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 


1) MGM SE - R2 - PAL  TOP

2) MGM SE - R1 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Castle Home Video - R2 - PAL - THIRD

4) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - FOURTH

5) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 


1) MGM SE - R2 - PAL  TOP

2) MGM SE - R1 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Castle Home Video - R2 - PAL - THIRD

4) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - FOURTH

5) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 


1) MGM SE - R2 - PAL  TOP

2) MGM SE - R1 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Castle Home Video - R2 - PAL - THIRD

4) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - FOURTH

5) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

More Blu-ray Captures

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 


Hit Counter


 

DVD Box Covers

 

 

Distribution

MGM SE

Region 2/4  - PAL

MGM SE

Region 1  - NTSC

Castle Home Video 
Region 2 - PAL

MGM

Region FREE  - Blu-ray

Criterion - Spine #977

Region 'A'  - Blu-ray

 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Gary Tooze

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