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Licensor Information
River Road Productions
Joel and Ethan Coen’s career-long darkly comic road trip through misfit America began with this razor-sharp, hard-boiled neonoir set somewhere in Texas, where a sleazy bar owner sets off a torrent of violence with one murderous thought. Actor M. Emmet Walsh looms over the proceedings as a slippery private eye with a yellow suit, a cowboy hat, and no moral compass, and Frances McDormand’s cunning debut performance set her on the road to stardom. The tight scripting and inventive style that have marked the Coens’ work for decades are all here in their first film, in which cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld abandons the black-and-white chiaroscuro of classic noir for neon signs and jukebox colors that combine with Carter Burwell’s haunting score to lurid and thrilling effect. Blending elements from pulp fiction and low-budget horror flicks, Blood Simple reinvented the film noir for a new generation, marking the arrival of a filmmaking ensemble that would transform the American independent cinema scene.
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Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Discs:
DVD-9 (2 Discs)
Total: 2 Discs
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85:1
Audio Options:
English Dolby Digital Surround 5.1
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Interview, Theatrical Trailer, Insert
- New conversation between Barry Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the film’s look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations
- New conversation between author Dave Eggars and the Coens about the film’s production, from inception to release
- New interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound mixer Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh
- Trailers
- Insert featuring an essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich
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Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Producer: Kim Hendrickson
Artwork: Michael Boland
Restoration Information
Blood Simple
Restoration by:
The Criterion Collection
Year: 2016
Scanned at: 4K Digital
Restored at: 4K Digital
Sources:
35mm Original camera negative
Release Notes on Restoration
Blood Simple
Blood Simple is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this format. This new digital transfer was created in 4K 16-bit on a Scannity film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film’s DRS, while Image System’s Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
The 5.1 surround audio mix was supervised by sound editor Skip Livesay. Additional restoration was performed by the Criterion Collection using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.
The 5.1 surround audio mix was supervised by sound editor Skip Livesay. Additional restoration was performed by the Criterion Collection using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.