Tuesday, February 20, 2024

THE WHITE WARRIOR: which is the correct one?

This comparison is not the usual I make here at the blog. It's to show how different the versions I have and which one is the correct one. I recently got an HD print of THE WHITE WARRIOR (1959) and I was surprised how different it looked with some other copies I have. Since then I figured out that the app VLC makes movies look much darker, which was one of my complaints. I won't discuss about that now. I'll just make a side by side comparison. I didn't take the following screenshots with VLC. I didn't retouch any of the images.

Just to note, the cinematographer is Mario Bava, who, as we all know, loved playing with colours. He might toned down his style for this film directed by Riccardo Freda but it's odd how different some of the colours are.



HD


The recent HD version. It's dark and brownish.


DVD 

 

The French DVD. Basically the same as the HD version since both were released by the same company, SNC.


DVD - VCI USA

 

The VCI DVD, which I had for a long time. Totally different than the HD - DVD versions above. Cool colours with an emphasis on blueish tones.


Italian TV broadcast



This copy from an Italian TV broadcast is not as dark and brownish as the HD - DVD prints and it also has some blueish tints in it.


French VHS

 

This VHS print is nowhere near as dark as the HD - DVD versions and even though it does have a blueish tint it's not as pronounced as the VCI version.

So, which is the correct version? The VCI is wildly different than the recent versions that I wonder what's going on? The VCI version is more colourful, a la Bava, but the colours on these new versions are darker and muted.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The HD version more clearly shows:
- the reflection of light from the eyes of Steve Reeves
- the actual thickness and texture of his bandages

Some of the images show a reflection coming off Scilla Gabel's earring, while others do not.

Anonymous said...

Are you able to adjust the brightness and colour of the HD image to your satisfaction?
I find I'm always adjusting picture settings depending on the film, the image quality and my preferences.