NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the discs.

ADDITION Blu-ray (August 2020): Criterion have transferred David Lynch's The Elephant Man to Blu-ray. It is cited as being a "New 4K digital restoration". The 2009 Studio Canal Blu-ray edition was very poor and this is more evident by direct comparison to Criterion's new 1080P. The Criterion HD presentation is excellent, but cannot equal the Studio Canal 4K UHD simply in terms of resolution, contrast and grain support. However, the Criterion Blu-ray is very appealing for both audio and video in its own right. The image quality seems flawless if not at the heights of 3840 X 2160. Those with the 2009 Studio Canal Blu-ray will see a dramatic improvement. 

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a linear PCM stereo track (24-bit) in the original English language. The score by John Morris (Ironweed, The Woman in Red, The In-Laws, Table for Five, Young Frankenstein, Clue) with Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" (used more heavily in Oliver Stone's Platoon) sounds flawless in the uncompressed stereo transfer. It doesn't quite carry the intense bass impact of the Studio Canal 4K UHD but the subtitles of the music cues are seamless. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

NOTE: In accordance with Lynch's preference this Criterion Blu-ray does have only one chapter stop.

Many of the Criterion extras have surfaced on previous release including the 4K UHD , but they do have a unique supplement with director David Lynch and critic Kristine McKenna reading from Room to Dream, a 2018 book they coauthored. The San Francisco Chronicle describes the book as “This is the best book by and about a movie director since Elia Kazan’s A Life (1988) and Michael Powell’s A Life in Movies (1986). But Room to Dream is more enchanting or appealing than those classics. . . . What makes this book endearing is its chatty, calm account of how genius in America can be a matter-of-fact defiance of reality that won’t alarm your dog or save mankind. It’s the only way to dream in so disturbed a country.” Included are the older archival interviews with Lynch (Mike Figgis from 2006), actor John Hurt (Clapperboard and Chris Tucker Skintricks video pieces), producers Mel Brooks and Jonathan Sanger, director of photography Freddie Francis, stills photographer Frank Connor, and makeup artist Christopher Tucker running over 1.5 hours in total. Very interesting is a 50-minute audio recording from 1981 of an interview and Q&A with Lynch at the American Film Institute. The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed from a 2001 and John Morrison's 2005 Joseph Merrick The Real Elephant Man documentaries, both found on Studio Canal's 4K UHD are also here. There is a 20-minute 2009 A Conversation with David Lynch, a trailer and 3 radio spots plus the package has a liner notes booklet featuring excerpts from an interview with Lynch from the 2005 edition of filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley’s book Lynch on Lynch, and an 1886 letter to the editor of the London Times concerning Joseph Merrick, the “elephant man,” by Francis Culling Carr Gomm, chairman of the London Hospital at the time.

For those who have not adopted the 4K UHD format, it's great to have Criterion's stacked and impressive Blu-ray available. It blows away the older Studio Canal BD and should be considered a must-own for those reluctant to indulge in 4K UHD. The Elephant Man remains one of the most impacting films of the last 50-years. It is a timeless story that never fails to touch the audience. An absolute masterpiece that every cinephile should own in its best quality in relation to their home theatre system's capabilities.   

***

ADDITION: Studio Canal 4K UHD (April 2020): Studio Canal (UK) have transferred David Lynch's The Elephant Man to 4K UHD. There are differences from the previous Blu-ray(s), with the UK, French and German BDs being the same. The new 4K UHD has HDR applied and the resulting image shows a darker image in the darker scenes and a brighter image in the better lit scenes. The transfer, unusually shows more information on the left side of the frame and slightly less on the right side. The Elephant Man 4K UHD can look horizontally compressed beside the 1080P but I actually think the 2009 Blu-ray may have been slightly vertically compressed (thinner faces). In-motion neither of these are noticeable or consequential, imo, since the presentations are consistent. The contrast on the 4K UHD of The Elephant Man is... brilliant. The grain is so rich and textured and detail jumps demonstratively. The 4K UHD has over 3X the bitrate of the Blu-ray. The new 2160 visuals have frequent depth, not a speckle anywhere and the film looks like it was shot yesterday - not at all showing its 40-year age. DoP Freddie Francis' cinematography looks stunning with beautiful shadow and light play.

NOTE: 56 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures for Patrons are available HERE.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Wizard of Oz,(software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot  (software uniformly simulated HDR),,  Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR),  A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR),  2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).  

Studio Canal's 4K UHD audio, while not elevating to Dolby Atmos or Dolby TrueHD 7.1 levels, has another bump over the Blu-ray with a 24-bit (as opposed to 16-bit) transfer in 2.0 channel DTS-HD Master, in the original English language with similarly encoded DUBs for French or German. Some effects can export a scary intensity (the hospital bell, clock tower, nurse screams or furnace operations sequences) through this lossless audio. The score is by John Morris (Ironweed, The Woman in Red, The In-Laws, Table for Five, Young Frankenstein, Clue) with Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" (used more heavily in Oliver Stone's Platoon) sounding sublime in that beautiful scene supporting the film deftly via the DTS-HD Master transfer. Subtitles include options for English, French and German and as with all 4K UHD discs, this is Region 'Free' playable worldwide. 

The Studio Canal 4K UHD disc itself has two new featurettes. We get a 25-minute interview with Stills Photographer Frank Connor, who has quite the resume working on The French Lieutenant's Woman, Gandhi, A Passage to India and many more including what he considers his big break - 1977's A Bridge Too Far. It was nice to hear his evolution into that career, his dyslexia and recollections on The Elephant Man including his interview with uncredited executive producer Mel Brooks. There is also a 24-minute BFI Q&A with Jonathan Sanger and his debut as a producer with The Elephant Man, how the script came to him (his babysitter's boyfriend), meeting with Lynch and much more. 

The package includes a newly remastered Blu-ray which has (repeated from below) almost 100 minutes worth of 5 video pieces including two highly interesting interviews with a frank David Lynch, another with John Hurt where he discusses his portrayal of Merrick, the extensive make-up and working with some of the great-name actors in the film. John Derrick - The Real Elephant Man has Jonathan Evans, Archivist and Curator of the Royal London Hospital Museum giving a decent overview of the history of Merrick with some keen vintage photos. I enjoyed this a lot and wished it was more in-depth (longer). The Air is On Fire is 15-minutes including Michel Chion, Professor at La Fémis and Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle). He meets Lynch while viewing an exhibition of his paintings at the Cartier Foundation circa 2007. A pretty decent bunch of supplements in lieu of a commentary

I was blown away by The Elephant Man the first time I saw it and my appreciation has only grown with my recent 4K UHD viewing. It remains one of the most impactful and fascinating biographical dramas ever made. A stunningly beautiful transfer of a masterpiece. Our highest recommendation to those who have adopted this new format.

Gary Tooze

***

ON THE Blu-ray (2009): Again, I have both the Optimum and the Kinowelt Blu-ray editions and I can't find much difference so far aside from packaging and liner notes language. They have the same subtitle and audio options - and the same video transfer size. Both are coded for regions A + B - as we presume the more recently released French Studio Canal editions are. Each stem from the 'Studio Canal Collection' and are now sold via Blu-ray with the legal rights - released by Kinowelt in Germany, Optimum in the UK, and Studio Canal in France. The discs initially allow you to choose from a list of countries.

The Elephant Man appears very strong if, on closer inspection, seeming a shade soft at times. Contrast is the notable feature with inky blacks and bright whites (maybe too bright?) and visible fine grain is appreciated. Grayscale and shadow detail are often superb. I kept thinking black levels had been boosted but there was no concrete evidence of edge-enhancement and moiring never fully surfaced to obviousness. Overall, I can't see anyone offering excessive complaints - it's so much better than the DVDs that the visuals can often make you gasp (from their brilliance - not from Hurt's Merrick). It's a chocked-full dual-layered disc with the feature filling almost 34 Gig and the video bitrate supports respectability. There are some surprising infrequent speckles and a scratch or two, with more artistic close-ups showing deep grain, but aside from that niggling the presentation is a positive one for sure.

We have a DTS-HD Master 5.1 English track and 4 different foreign language DUBs in 2.0 channel - all around 1500 kbps. Bass response is quite notable at times and separation very subtle to practically non-existent for most of the film. When it does come into play - it kind of sticks out like an elephant's penis. I'm not complaining - although we still strain to hear Merrick's first dialogues - as I assume we are supposed to. There are plenty of subtitle options and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region A + B disc playable on Blu-ray machines in those two vast areas of the globe.

Quite a lot - all in SD. Almost 100 minutes worth 5 piece including two highly interesting interviews with a frank David Lynch, another with John Hurt where he discusses his portrayal of Merrick, the extensive make-up and working with some of the great-name actors in the film. John Derrick - The Real Elephant Man has Jonathan Evans, Archivist and Curator of the Royal London Hospital Museum giving a decent overview of the history of Merrick with some keen vintage photos. I enjoyed this a lot and wished it was more in-depth (longer). The Air is On Fire is 15-minutes including Michel Chion, Professor at La Fémis and Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle). He meets Lynch while viewing an exhibition of his paintings at the Cartier Foundation circa 2007. A pretty decent bunch of supplements in lieu of a commentary.

Aside from Hurt's defining role we have great performances from Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, and notables Wendy Hiller, Anne Bancroft as well as others. This is a highly interesting film in 1080P - worthy of multiple viewings where it only seems to get better. The Blu-ray is not quite perfect but it is still mesmerizing at times via the complexity of its black and white visual splendor. We certainly recommend. Yes.