Man, this just boggles. This is a film that inspired so many of Hollywood's creative talent to get into the business in the first place, something that shows up near the top of every "Greatest Films" list and is mentioned in interviews by people in every form of media all the time. And yet ORCA: THE KILLER WHALE has a better edition available for purchase than THE GRADUATE.

Way to piss on your legacy, MGM. Doing something special with the title would be a guaranteed catalog seller, a film that any collection would need to have to be considered "complete," and would return on your investment without question. But no. Instead I have to hold on to my Criterion LD.

Decisions like this are the kind of thing Warren Buffet tells people to dump stock over.

Does anyone know of an edition in another region with a better (anamorphic) transfer -- and all of the extras in the Region 1 edition?

They are only hurting themselves... fortunately, we have options.

I went region-free this past year, and "The Graduate" was near the top of the list for upgrade. The only thing that stayed my hand was the possibility that MGM would finally release a decent version in North America. When this, ahem, "new release" was announced on the Digital Bits last Fall, I traded away my original "blue cover" Polygram R1 DVD (the very first release of this film to the format, and one of the earliest DVDs I owned... it is the same transfer that MGM recycled for their release) because I'd either be purchasing this disc or one of the other-region versions.

As must be clear to all -- and once we confirm with finality that this "new release" is the same ol' shitty transfer -- I'll be making a purchase of one of two other-region versions. Unless, of course, someone can recommend another, better option.

The two discs I'm looking at are the R2/PAL UK Momentum release and the R2/PAL German Kinowelt release. As I understand it, both have an anamorphic transfer with far superior color timing to the Polygram/MGM version. However, I believe that neither disc includes the original mono track... I think this is unfortunate, but as I happen to prefer the stereo track (essentially mono with stereo S&G tunes), this is not a problem. It's possible that the Dustin Hoffman interview is also truncated on both discs, but I'm not certain about this.

Despite these drawbacks, the transfer on both discs looks to be bounds better than the Polygram/MGM. I think it's very possible that they may be sourced from the same transfer, in which case I suspect importing the UK disc will be the less expensive option (I've found importing discs from Germany to be uber-expensive).

So, I'm just waiting on confirmation that MGM's (ahem) "new release" is as rotten as we've suspected -- and also whether there are other "Graduate" DVD options out there -- and I'll be making a purchase. Finally... to see this film in a decent transfer! I've been waiting so long, and thanks to MGM I've had to wait a little longer. But I know it'll be worth it.

I don't know about you,but I think if I do pick up the movie on dvd. I will search for the first Polygram release from 1998 instead.

It has something the MGM release(s) do not. The original mono mix

just want to confirm what ViewAskewbian has already stated. I also recieved a copy of the new dvd today, and it is just as he descirbed...i sold off my old copy, and now I'm pissed. It is now OOP, so grab it if you see it....better than nothing.

Hi Cameron -- when you say "just as he described", you mean that (1) it's the same ol' crappy transfer, and (2) none of the extra features?

Julie, I traded away my Polygram disc last fall (about the time I got the widescreen TV), and I'm surprised to hear it's the only release with the original mono track (that is, that the subsequent MGM releases dropped it).

But I'm not certain it's worth tracking down, at least not for the mono mix (the extra features can be found on the previous MGM disc, which I suspect is still very available at B&Ms). Though I'm very often a purist on these matters, I didn't find the stereo track to have the usual hollow, processed sound that most of the rejiggered stereo (usually 5.1) remixes have. In fact, as I recall, it's really just a mono track except for the long S&G interludes in stereo. Now that it's likely gone for good so far as my collection is concerned, I wish I'd done a recent, more careful comparison... but I suspect I'd have the same opinion.

After doing a few searches (DVD Beaver and elsewhere), it seems clear that both the UK and German discs have exceptionally better transfers. All the screengrabs on the Beaver seem to bear this out, with the exception of the shot of Ben floating in the pool... which, by comparing it to the other screengrabs, may well be misidentified (that is, the Momentum transfer is identified as the MGM and vice-versa). But those who reviewed both discs are uniformly in favor of the non-MGMs as being very notably superior.

I'll be purchasing the Momentum R2/PAL UK release. (I'd have been enjoying it months ago had MGM not dangled this bullshit "new release" before me, and likely misinforming the Digital Bits about its contents.)

Here's the link to the DVD Beaver comparison: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/graduate.htm

If you want to purchase the UK disc, please use the Beaver portal to Amazon.co.uk (as I'm sure many of you all-region folk know, the Beav is an invaluable resource). Here also is a link to a review of this disc over at DVD Times (another top-notch site): http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=4818

"The Graduate" R2/PAL UK disc lists for £5.97 at Amazon, and rings up at £5.08 for North American customers (plus about £3.00 for delivery).

On viewing of the new MGM release I can say that I do not see a difference at all from the old transfer of the last release. The green tint is still present. The Graduate is my favorite film and I still have my old VHS version, thankfully holding on to it after finding the transfer of the MGM release unsatisfactory. This new release with none of the extras, no transfer and no booklet is an insult to fans of this amazing piece of cinema. I recommend that nobody purchase this bargin bin release.

High Richard...just to clarify. It had the new cover with the studio canal logo on the back. It list it as widescreen, theatrical presentation, but makes no mention of anamorphic or 16x9. It list no special features, and of course has dropped the SE banner from the last mgm release.

so yes, it is the same transfer and none of the special features...i looked up the old disc (which i got rid of) in my stores computer and it list as OOP now. I also checked at best buy and they were out of it as well. I don't think it will be hard to find in the coming months, its just a pain to rebuy the same old transfer.

The UK disc has a wonderful image transfer. Blew me away. Those screen grabs don't give it full justice. I'd seen a few versions of this before and I almost wept when I saw the Embassy logo's quality which was followed with one of the best transfers I have on DVD. 10/10 for me.

Another 2 reviews here and here

UK buyers can get it for £5.99 @ Play.com

US$12.95 shipped from CDWow

..or Amazon UK where they take the tax off for North Americans.

Well it looks like it is a no brainer to get the region 2 release if you want a better transfer since MGM is unwilling to give us one here in the United States. I don't feel quite as bad about getting rid of my copy even though I would prefer a better region 1 version.

So the transfer appears to be the same. Just to be clear then, this is NOT enhanced for widescreen TV's (non-anamorphic)? I understand the package does not mention anamorphic but can anyone who has watched the new disc confirm that this is just a letterbox presentation like the previous "Special Edition"??

I'll pick up the SE, if this can still be found, for the bonus materials and booklet if this is the case.

Thanks everyone for the added opinions... my Momentum R2/PAL is ordered!

One more thing about that release: the 64-page booklet was limited to the first pressing or whatever, so don't be surprised when yours doesn't have one. Perhaps there are still a few floating about, perhaps in some UK B&Ms and maybe on eBay...

It appears the region 2 release has the same bonus materials from the reviews. Why even bother with the inferior region 1 version since the transfer is not as good. If you don't have a region free player, then maybe you should consider investing in one since they are not very expensive. It is even possible your current DVD player could be hacked into region free.

I purchased the Region 2 DVD last year, but had a hard time watching it. The picture quality is much improved, but I found the 4% PAL speedup on the Simon & Garfunkel songs to be very annoying... only PAL disc I have where the speed-up was that noticeable to me.

Sorry it took me so long to respond.

I listed the features on the dvd I just purchased. I copied it off the back of the case. Yes, it is a white case.
I have only this one edition so I cannot compare it to another edition.
Canal+Image release

Does this help?

Nearly the same.

It may not be a huge deal to most people, but the R1 edition has 20+ minutes of unedited interview footage with Hoffman. The R2 edition cuts that same footage down to under 5 minutes.

Again, not a huge deal... and something that I don't mind losing for the apparent radical improvement in picture quality.

So far I never noticed the speed up on any PAL discs that I currently own. Interesting to know if others with the R2 disc feel the same way about the effects of the speed up on the Simon and Garfunkel music.

Still sounds like you have the OOP special edtion. Here is the image of the back cover from DVDEmpire.

Thanks, wasn't aware the interview was edited. However if given a choice I would still prefer the better image quality over the complete interview. Now the only thing I'm concerned about is the speed up issue on the music before purchasing the R2 disc.

Yeah I guess you are right,and that is good to know. For some reason I was under the impression the MGM release was 5.1 only(I could have sworn I saw some packages that stated that).

But if the new mix sounds natural as possible and not annoying. Then it's not a problem with myself.

I first became aware of PAL speed-up with the Reg 2 Buffies. Started season 4 up and noticed that Willow sounded like one of the Chipmunks from the 50s. So I have a feeling I too will be annoyed by S&G speedups.

I wonder why there's no easy-to-use transcoding application out there to remove this problem? I wonder if such a speed-down application would have noticable, undesirable effects. (I suspect so.)

In any event. phooy on MGM for taking the initiative to re-release this but not bothering to do it right. This is a major classic and we are left with no good alternatives.

Thanks for the info. As this is one of my favorite films of all time, I'll be ordering the R2.

WinDVD has a TruePAL playback function. I think this will fix the 4% speed-up.

this HAS to be typo!

Why release this again? Canal+ did a anamorphic transfer of this, which I got rid of! (forced Korean subs- NTSC, R0)
several places DO lists it as 16x9

please let it be a typo

nope...had it in hand...not a typo, just a bad idea