The Best and Worst DVD's of Classic Films

There are many great films that have been made into great-looking DVD's. Here (in alphabetical order) are 10 of the worthiest:

CASABLANCA (Warner) Rick's place hasn't looked this clear or 3-D vivid since the film classic's release 60 years ago. John Lowry's computers crunched the digits for five and a half weeks to clean it up this thoroughly, and left the natural film grain intact. Two-Disc Special Edition, only.

CITIZEN KANE (Warner) Yes, it's been cleaned up too much — the grain is gone — but this is nitpicking. The disc is a revelation, bringing out long-obscured details and depth.

GRAND ILLUSION (Criterion Collection) The original camera-negative, long thought destroyed by the Nazis, turned up in southern France recently, and this DVD — mastered from it directly — is a sumptuous version of Jean Renoir's stirring tale about the artificial boundaries of war and class.

GROUNDHOG DAY (Columbia) An underrated comedy about a man who finds himself locked in time until he learns what's important in life. Bill Murray first showed his powers as a subtle actor here. The DVD's colors are lifelike.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Criterion Collection) Wong Kar-wai's story of global displacement and truncated love in early 60's Hong Kong is beautifully made, and the colors are as vivid as any on DVD.

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Columbia) David Lean's desert epic finally receives the digital treatment it deserves. Get the new, two-disc "SuperBit" version only.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Warner) Hitchcock's wittiest thriller looks Technicolor gorgeous.

NOTORIOUS (Criterion Collection) Hitchcock's dashing thriller looks more beautiful than you might have thought possible from black and white.

THE THIRD MAN (Criterion Collection) Carol Reed's stylish portrait of an American innocent in corrupt postwar Vienna, with the best Ferris wheel scene ever, receives Criterion's standard restoration treatment — and it looks breathtaking.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Warner) Stanley Kubrick's outer-space effects, created 35 years ago with no computer graphics, look startlingly real. Get the box that says "Stanley Kubrick Collection" on the front and "New 2000 Digital Master Restored" on the back. Try to watch it on a very big screen.

And then there are films whose DVD's need help. While the DVD's of "The Last Emperor" and "The Godfather" are getting makeovers next year, here (in alphabetical order) are a few more classics that ought to join them:

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (Warner ) Grainy, fuzzy.

ANNIE HALL (MGM) Ditto.

BONNIE AND CLYDE (Warner) The videotape looks better.

CHINATOWN (Paramount) Dark, soft-focused, monochromatic. The negative needs a restoration.

FEARLESS (Warner) Obviously taken from a VHS master.

HIGH NOON (Republic) Recently redone; still awesomely bad. Some scenes are completely washed-out; in others, the outlines of images look Etch-a-Sketched.

JULES AND JIM (Fox Lorber) Specks and grime.

MOBY DICK (MGM) John Huston's widescreen wonder chopped down to pan-and-scan, with dirt and faded colors, to boot.

THE WILD BUNCH (Warner) Detail hazy, shadows too dark.

YI YI (Fox Lorber). The best movie of 2000, the worst DVD of 2001. Wrong colors, often out of focus, wavy lines everywhere. Unwatchable.

Fred Kaplan is a columnist for Slate.com and a film critic for The Perfect Vision.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company