ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - (October 2011) - On many films - especially very old ones - you cannot improve sharpness beyond the production levels established at the onset. BUT the beauty of rendering vintage cinema to 1080P is in the appreciation of the grain. This is the biggest visual difference between the best of the SD transfers and Criterion's new Blu-ray version. Higher resolution can tends to exemplify the light damage marks - but I didn't find this a distraction. You can more plainly see the thick grain via the additional captures at the bottom of the review. It can look like a film being shown on a plush shag rug. Accepting this appearance as the most film-like is tantamount to appreciating the HD visuals - which, I am sure, are the most authentic this masterpiece can look through this 1080P digital medium.

Criterion remain consistent using a linear PCM mono in the original French at 1152 kbps. I would say the weaknesses, inherent in the source, are still there - but the lossless tends to smooth them out allowing the dialogue to sound a shade more even. The uncompressed is superior but I wouldn't say it is a highly notable improvement. There are optional English subtitles on the region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc. 

The Criterion Blu-ray contains the supplements of the 2004 DVD - including the 6.5 minute Introduction to the film by director Jean Renoir and the 1989 audio commentary written by film scholar Alexander Sesonske, author of Jean Renoir: The French Films, 1924-1939, and read by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. Jean Renoir's original version of The Rules of the Game ran ninety-four minutes. When the film opened to wildly negative reactions, though, he reduced it to eighty-one minutes. Subsequently, during WWII, the original cut of the film was destroyed when the GM Film Labs were bombed. It wasn't until 1959 that the film was reconstructed with Renoir's approval, from the surviving elements, to create the longer, 106-minute version that most know today. Criterion provide a version comparison from Renoir historian Chris Faulkner who, for about 13-minutes, looks at the different endings of the longest and shortest versions of the film. Presented also is the ending of Renoir's 1939 short version in its entirety - running 8.5 minutes. Faulkner also provides a selected-scene analysis by lasting about 5.5 minutes. Included is excerpts from Jean Renoir, le patron: La Règle et l’exception (1966), a French television program by filmmaker Jacques Rivette which aired February 8th, 1967. In it Renoir discusses The Rules of the Game with Rivette and Producer Andre Labarthe. It runs over 1/2 an hour. Film critic David Thompson's two-part two-part 1993 BBC documentary, entitled Jean Renoir, aired in 1955. Presented as an extra is part-one "From Belle Époque to World War II" which covers Renoir's upbringing and his career through Rules of the Game. Chris Faulkner narrates a video essay on the film's inception, production, and original release, as well as its 1959 reconstruction. In a second piece - lasting 27-minutes critic Olivier Curchod expands that discussion. In a third, a 1965 interview from an episode of the French television series Les écrans de la ville - Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand - who were responsible for the reconstruction - discuss their roles in the film's history. There are also interviews with set designer Max Douy, Renoir’s son, Alain - who worked as an assistant cameraman and actress Mila Parély (Genevieve de Marras). There is a liner notes booklet featuring an essay by Sesonske; writings by Jean Renoir, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bertrand Tavernier, and François Truffaut; and tributes to the film by J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, and others.

With the inclusion of the extensive supplements this is an overwhelming package and now to have it in 1080P resolution? It is so gratifying to see Renoir's The Rules of the Game - debatably the greatest film ever made - treated with such respect and made available for your Home Theater appreciation. I envy those who can see it for the first time through this Blu-ray. This is digital library essential and 100% recommended!

***

ADDITION: Korean and BFI editions (Nov -04) - All 4 DVDs are the longer un-cut version of the film restored by film historians Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand. The Montparnasse and BFI have PAL speedup.

We can't find the Korean edition online anymore, and e strongly suspect it as a boot leg of the Criterion. The image is identical. The BFI looks like the hazier Montparnasse but with ingrained English subtitles. The Criterion extras are overwhelming. We again, strongly recommend the Criterion.

NOTE: the Montparnasse is Out of Print.

***

ON THE CRITERION DVD: The Criterion is sharper - less grain and dirt - and shows the Montparnasse version to be slightly cropped on the left and right edges. The Criterion is a bit brighter than the PAL release. The Montparnasse has some good Extras but how could they compete with the Criterions staggering supplements. I cannot compare the audio - but guesses would lean towards Criterion. the Criterion contrast level is softer, but the subtle palette of grays still show with clarity. Go for the Criterion...   

 - Gary W. Tooze