I’ve never felt so completely burned by a Bluray as I was last week when Kino Lorber’s The Paradine Case arrived. Large sections of it are speckled to death. I’m not talking about a Criterion-style swampy mosquito grainstorm, but a baffling suggestion of micro-sized digital sleet — a literal attack upon the film by billions of icy snowstorm specks.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Kino Lorber is a highly respected outfit, and I’ve been delighted with scores of their Bluray releases over the years. It just doesn’t figure that they would release a classic 1940s film looking as badly as this. (And a Hitchcock yet!) I toughed it out until the end, but what a ripoff.
