ADDITION: Carlotta - Region 'B' Blu-ray (November 11'):  Carlotta in France have now released the Powell and Pressburger masterpiece The Red Shoes via a Blu-ray package. The box itself is beautiful - a slim three-tiered digi-pak inside a custom slipcase. Technically the image transfer and bitrate roses above the ITV and shy of the Criterion - but from the same restoration - it looks equally as impressive. I can't see any significant differences with the Region 'A' and suspect only a very discerning eye would be able to. I think the Carlotta seems far closer to the Criterion than the ITV - in terms of color balance. If given the opportunity to see segments of all three - without knowing the Blu-ray production - I might only be able to ring-fence the ITV with some color discrepancy (see David Hare's comments below) - the Criterion and Carlotta are that close, visually.

Like the other two Blu-rays, Carlotta have opted for a linear PCM audio track. They stick with the original mono and also offer a lossless French DUB. I can identify no anomalies or weaknesses in the sound rendering. Depth might be a notch below but I didn't do direct samples to categorically state this as a certainty. It offers optional French subtitles and although the menu does not give the option of ordinal English and no subtitles - they can be removed with the remote button.

Supplements (non-English have French subtitles) have the same restoration discussion presented by Martin Scorsese which is an option before playing the feature as well as selectable via the extras menu. There is the 24-minute piece - "A Profile of The Red Shoes" documentary - found on the ITV Blu-ray - with collaborators close to The Archers production remembering the release of " The Red Shoes" and its international success. "Meet with Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell" runs only 7-minutes with the widow of Michael Powell as she talks about the fascination that still exists with the film to this very day. "The Blazing Ballet" runs over 1/2 an hour and follows a voyage, via slides ballet, with a principal dancer with The National Opera of Paris and Mathias Auclair (Chief preservationist with the Library-Museum of The Opera). There is also a trailer and Gallery Photographs. It doesn't have the Ian Christie commentary (Criterion) but it is nice to see some viable supplements.

So... this is a great Blu-ray release. It has technical advantages over the ITV - and is French-friendly (if required) - plus some decent supplements and wonderful packaging. Actually for region 'B'ers this usurps the ITV 1080P release. Personally, it was such a pleasure to see The Red Shoes yet again. Great job Carlotta!

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (June 10'):  We all knew about the, digital, restoration - Scorsese - Cannes - and anticipated the Criterion re-release of The Red Shoes ... but in the new 1080P Blu-ray format. ITV in the UK beat them to the punch in an excellent region 'B'-locked edition but it would be almost a full year later that a Criterion package would become available to those region-locked to 'A', and the army of fans of both the distributor and the filmmaking team of Powell and Pressburger. It's here, and expectantly,... it is gorgeous.

ADDITION: ITV DVD Blu-ray July 09': Just to clarify a few things first - this Blu-ray is indeed region 'B'-locked as verified by my Momitsu.

I've watched it once and will get onto the extras this evening although quite a few seem duplicated from the Carlton DVD including - "A Profile of The Red Shoes" documentary (24:14) + "The Ballet of The Red Shoes" featurette (15:23) but there is some new stuff that I will comment on at a later date. I will refer to an opinion I greatly respect, David Hare from our DVDBeaver ListServ:

"On that subject I've been watching the ITV Red Shoes Blu-ray - the photochemical restoration of this is a glory and a testamentary labor of love by all involved. There are details that catch your eye that I don't remember seeing since 35mm screenings decades ago - one such is the scene of Vicki in Princess gown and turquoise tiara proceeding up the overgrown star is at Monte Carlo to go to the production meeting with Lermontov, in which Powell and Cardiff have obviously used a huge reflector panel behind the camera to cast a spot (within the actual daylight shooting conditions) just above Vicki's head to "guide" her up these mysterious stairs to her destiny. Details like this abound. The color blue in particular is extremely vibrant now and the transfer conveys something like real IB inky blacks and a huge tonal range of whites and grays. The three strip scanning has been meticulous and there is no trace of Technicolor (uneven YCM strip) "pulsing", and the image overall is spotless with not a visible scratch, tear, rip, speck. A couple of shots - which both follow complicated opticals look "soft" but return to sharpness with the next clean edit.

The ITV package, if you can call it that, is less than brilliant. Far too few chapter stops for instance, and the ballet is only heralded by the Titles Booklet, without a further chapter at the opening curtain. And the disc itself begins with an atrocious "trailer" reel for some VERY unrestored minor titles which would be of zero interest to Powell and Pressburger fans. But the movie's the thing..."

I would tend to agree, in general, with most of what David has said at this point, but will give further comments when I have 'lived' with the Blu-ray disc for a while (at least 1 more viewing).

From Steve in email: "Your correspondent, David Hare refers to this latest restoration as a photochemical restoration. They did try that, but it didn't work. That's why it took so long and cost so much. They finally decided to do it digitally. Digitising the original Technicolor negatives and the soundtrack at a very high level of accuracy (bit rate), much higher than that used by any Blu-ray or other HD system.

Thelma Schoonmaker has done a series of stills and short clips to show the damage to the original negatives. There was mould growing on them!
They had also become mis-aligned as some of the three strips shrank at a different rate in different parts. There were scratches and other physical damage. The soundtrack has also developed a few hisses, crackles and pops. One of Thelma's examples shows one of the best prints that was previously available and then does a screen wipe to show the same scene after the restoration.

I saw it when Martin Scorsese premièred it at Cannes and I've just seen it again at the Bath Film Festival. It really is stunning. But I do agree with what David says about the light from the reflectors now being visible. I noticed it at Bath and it's not a thing I had ever noticed before despite having seen the film many times. I have even seen the nitrate print (shown with firemen standing by). But this new restoration is far better than any of those."

NOTE: I can concur with David in that the Dolby Digital 2 track audio is very slightly out of synch although the PCM track appears to be fine.