After a number of
archival film elements were scanned at 4K resolution at Warner Bros.» in - house Motion Picture Imaging lab in Burbank, the original camera negative of the film came to light, providing the basis for the majority of the restoration — that is, until the negative's inferior final reel necessitated dipping into another archive altogether.
Kino's earlier DVD release features both versions but the Blu - ray includes only the longer, original German - language, newly restored from
archival 35 mm
film elements by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung, with optional English subtitles.