ADDITION: Artificial Eye - Region 'B' Blu-ray - July 2014: Yes, quite nice. The screen captures indicate the advancement in the visuals via Artificial Eye's 1080P transfer.  Superior contrast, frequent depth , deeper black levels and notably sharper - still maintaining textures and  there is no digital manipulation.  No noise. I think it looks quite strong - better than I was anticipating.

Audio comes via a linear PCM 2.0 channel stereo track at 1536 kbps in the original French. It is predictably flat but has some tightness not present on the SDs. Georges Delerue (Jules et Jim, The Woman Next Door, The Last Metro, Day For Night) did the score and it also benefits from the uncompressed rendering. There are optional English subtitles (they are optional!) on the Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray disc.

Supplements replicate some of what was on the mk2 DVD with the commentary track by Raoul Coutard - with English subtitles (see sample), a brief introduction by Serge Toubiana, 3-minutes of screen tests of Marie Dubois and a trailer.

I had not seen this in almost a decade. I loved it - the improved a/v bolstered my appreciation. I can't wait to see more upcoming Truffaut on Blu-ray. This absolutely gets our endorsement! 

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ADDITION: - Criterion - NTSC - November 2005: The first huge difference in these edition is the extensive cropping on the MK2 release - mostly on the two sides but on the top as well. The Criterion is much brighter and we can only surmise that the transfer, supervised by director of photography Raoul Coutard, is the most accurate in terms of intended appearance. The MK2 has both brightness boosting and de-saturation that leaves the image very thin. This makes the Criterion appear a little softer alongside. There are some visible artifacts in the MK2 that are more apparent also next to the Criterion. 

Frankly this is all quite contrary to what we have seen from Criterion in some of their past releases. As opposed to their usual slight de-saturation and darkness (often reds and/or blacks) boosting to bring up detail, they have gone the opposite route and allowed the image to have a softer glow... which is possibly more accurate. Also Criterion have been caught a number of times with cropping issues in the past, but since the use of their new quantization matrix (1st seen in PickPocket) this no longer seems to be an issue, but we will keep attentive in any case. This is actually very good news as it shows that Criterion appear to be improving - raising the bar another notch. In this DVD comparison the Criterion gives a far more film-like presentation.

Although the MK2 has some decent extras - those supplements do not have English subtitles. There are some cross-over's with the Maria Dubois screen test (example) - I particularly got a lot out of the Kent Jones essay booklet that includes and interview with Truffaut. It is beautifully bound and a nice keepsake. Criterion's 2nd disc has some real value. We, of course, recommend the Criterion.   

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The new wave took the cameras out from the studio to real location. This is shot in Dyaliscope, with big cameras. Because of that I believe that the original material in this film varies in quality a lot. Some scenes seems soft, and the outdoor scenes has very little light. Some of the film stock is very grainy also, but I believe this is quite a good reproduction from the original elements. As the main title is quite sharp, it's believable that the out of focus scenes are also so in the original film negative.

The film makes a little left to right movement, but not so that it annoys you. Looking on screen cap no 4, makes me believe the DVD is cropped on the both edges a little.

Unfortunately the huge amount of extra-material is not subtitled in English on this DVD.

 - Per-Olof Strandberg