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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (October 2019): Kino have transferred Jean Renoir's La Marseillaise  to Blu-ray. It appears to be from the same source as the 2007 DVD (same marks). The DVD Renoir set (fully reviewed by Gregory HERE) included a 30-minute documentary hosted by Martin Scorsese referencing the 7 films in this collection - 5 features and 2 shorts. So the 1080P has more than 6X the bitrate of the DVD. It improves generally in film grain support. There is still some flickering contrast and frame-specific damage (see last capture.) The detail advances so that you can see the make-up, wig costuming which becomes more transparent. In-motion the HD towers over the SD looking smoother devoid of compression artifacts that could be visible on the DVD.

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono track (24-bit) in the original French language. It is another advancement in the film's audio and score credited to iconic (137 score credits up to 1970) composer Joseph Kosma (as Kosma) and one-timer Henry Sauveplane (as Sauveplane). There is also music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach as well as Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle's La Marseillaise. It has the weakness in the higher end - a function of the production but is another advancement in depth over the lossy DVD audio. Kino offer optional English subtitles (see sample below) on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray sports an audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton who is filled with knowledge about the Revolution and historical aspects of the film, the director, his brother, Pierre, who plays Le Roi de France Louis XVI in La Marseillaise. It's pretty high-brow stuff (idealistic realism and the spirit of the revolution) but I thought Pinkerton made it accessible throughout the film's 2 1/4 hour running time. There is also a 6-minute archival interview with Jean Renoir and the package contains a liner notes booklet with an essay by film scholar Dudley Andrew.

La Marseillaise is an epic from Jean Renoir and it is a homage to those non-aristocrats and non-royals with important stories to tell about an vital time in France's history. Many consider it one of the best films ever made on the French Revolution. Kino have done it justice on their Blu-ray with a vastly improved a/v presentation and an educational commentary. For fans of the director, historical and French cinema - this amounts to a 'must-own'.

Gary Tooze