Notorious (1946) Blu-ray Review (Criterion Collection)

Dammit. Another compulsory purchase. I'm running out of ways to smuggle into the house these double-dips!

Great review Josh, thanks!

Thanks for the great review, Josh. I bought this sight unseen, my second Notorious purchase on BD, but now I'm really glad I did.

Steve Y said:

Thanks for the great review, Josh. I bought this sight unseen, my second Notorious purchase on BD, but now I'm really glad I did.

Click to expand...

It's a pretty significant upgrade. One of the best looking B&W films I own on Blu.

Josh, when jotting down "exquisite" on your note pad,
were you responding to Ingrid Bergman or Criterion's transfer?

No doubts on this one, "Notorious" is a front-burner purchase.
Thanks for a most confirming review.

The two Swedes, Garbo and Bergman, gave us the most luminous, exquisite close-ups ever. Bergman, however, irradiated more warmth and humanity than Garbo; but Garbo was...divine.

bujaki said:

The two Swedes, Garbo and Bergman, gave us the most luminous, exquisite close-ups ever. Bergman, however, irradiated more warmth and humanity than Garbo; but Garbo was...divine.

Click to expand...

As I always say, Liv and let Liv.

Great review Josh. I’m really looking forward to watching this disc. I’m still in the 1930’s in my Hitchcock viewing project. But have this disc waiting as I get to it.

Nelson Au said:

Great review Josh. I’m really looking forward to watching this disc. I’m still in the 1930’s in my Hitchcock viewing project. But have this disc waiting as I get to it.

Click to expand...

I look forward to reading your thoughts when you get to it. And I’ve been enjoying your Hitchcock project - I’m glad you took it on!

Terrific review, Josh... or should I say “exquisite”?

We watched my copy a few weeks ago, and I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said. It’s great to have such a fine package of one of Hitchcock’s best film on the shelf.

I thought I was completely satisfied with the MGM/Fox disc until I saw this. I’ve always liked Notorious but felt that I didn’t love it as much as I was “supposed” to. Seeing this new restoration really felt for me as if I was watching it for the first time, and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed the movie as much as I did this time.

Josh Steinberg said:

I thought I was completely satisfied with the MGM/Fox disc until I saw this. I’ve always liked Notorious but felt that I didn’t love it as much as I was “supposed” to. Seeing this new restoration really felt for me as if I was watching it for the first time, and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed the movie as much as I did this time.

Click to expand...

In the past, I've had the same reaction to Notorious, Josh. Looking forward to the Blu-ray and "watching it for the first time."

My copy went into the post from Amazon yesterday .. should arrive in about 10 days. To save postage, I pre-ordered 'Swingtime' as well .. Amazon charges just one postage cost (about $8) but ship separately. Every dollar saved, when ordering in US dollars, given the parlous state of the Australian dollar.

I gotta ask, what’s it take to get 5 out of 5 for special features? On the surface, this release should be awarded 5 points.

Johnny Angell said:

I gotta ask, what’s it take to get 5 out of 5 for special features? On the surface, this release should be awarded 5 points.

Click to expand...

I always wrestle with the numerical ratings. In this case, I decided not to give it a perfect score for bonus features because there were significant bonus features from the MGM-Fox release that did not carry over. The MGM-Fox disc included two different audio commentaries, an isolated music track, a half hour documentary, two other featurettes, and two audio interviews.

(Typically, this type of bonus material is available for license, or is included in the licensing for the film itself. For instance, Shout Factory's new version of "City Slickers" includes all of the bonus material from MGM-Fox's previous disc.)

And that's why I felt I couldn't give it a perfect score on bonus features; what's there is great, but it's also missing previously produced material. This means that collectors will need to hold on to both editions in order to retain all of the bonus content, which I find less than ideal. On the other hand, I didn't want to leave the impression that it was a poor quality effort, which is why the score is almost perfect.

Josh Steinberg said:

The MGM-Fox disc included two different audio commentaries, an isolated music track, a half hour documentary, two other featurettes, and two audio interviews.

Click to expand...

Doesn’t the Criterion have the same two commentaries?

To answer my own question, each versions has two commentaries but all 4 are unique. I know that because the first user review (when sorted by top reviews) has a detailed explanation of the differences in the releases.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JVF7M7...olid=3399ER5R6AD9I&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I re-watched this disc last night. Never gets old! And I just re-read your review.

I mentioned in another thread how re-viewing the film last night, it reminded me of the very first time I watched Notorious. I was at my favorite laserdisc shop, the Laserdisc Exchange in the 1990’s and I happen to be there to see someone sell his copy of the Criterion laserdisc of Notorious to the owner of the store. I said to him that I’ll buy that disc right now! The store owner did not even have a chance to put it into inventory! The disc looked brand new and the previous owner must not have watched it more then once. I still own that disc! Watching that disc was the first time I’d seen the film! The wine cellar scene was quite memorable! It was quite cool to see Hitchcock set up the suspense as Devlin knocks the bottle over and has to quickly cover his tracks.

Yesterday I finally listened to the Lux Radio Theater play that’s on this disc while cooking. I haven’t heard it before, it had Joseph Cotten as Devlin and Bergmann as Alicia. . It was very interesting as it follows the movies dialogue more or less. But they severely edited scenes out amd I guess for time and probably some scenes were harder to translate to radio. What kind of surprised me was Ingrid Bergman’s performance, it sounded so much like it was exactly the same as in the film. I thought there might be differences in line delivery nuances. Made me wonder if they just lifted her dialogue from the film’s sound track. But after the show was a interview with her and Joseph Cotten. So maybe it was really a live performance in front of an audience. I realize these were done live back in the day. It was neat they left in all the Lux ads and the side bits in the show.

it just wasn’t the same with Cotton in the role of Devlin, but it wasn’t bad!