That's what confused me - thanks for clearing that up. On another forum, someone believed that the UK set Buster Keaton Chronicles also has the lesser-known cut. I had that (mostly awful) set only briefly, but I recall that used a Rohauer version which ties in with the "Keaton Estate" rather than Killiam. I've probably seen it myself, without realising, in 35mm and/or on Channel 4 which used to show Rohauer prints.nsps wrote:I'm curious as to why Kino decided to declare the most commonly seen version, which is superior in the case of every notable divergence, to be the "alternative" version (even if they do make an effort in the video essay to declare neither to be definitive). Was it based entirely on print quality?
I'm puzzled by the contrast issue. Matt Paprocki writes that it's "so blown out, it can be nearly blinding" and even Gary Tooze's more positive review mentions "occasionally whites may be excessively bright. Black levels are generally very strong". But the actual framegrabs on Beaver mostly look too low in contrast (grey and flat), as an e-mail comment now added to Gary's review also suggests. I'm assuming Beaver's grabs and comments pertain to the "Keaton Estate" version too. I can't offer any opinion as I don't have the disc.