First, let's compare the two R2 (reminds me of R2D2 ;-)) editions, because - well - they're virtually identical in terms of picture quality. This one seems to be marginally brighter, shows a smidgen more information on the right & at the bottom, and that's it! It's strange then, that the cue blip in frame 140886 is not present in the older Czech release (frame 140636 - note, however, it's sort of "jagged" (see e.g. the lamp shade in the upper-left corner) - possibly a side-effect of the cue blip "removal").

Now, let's see what Criterion's got to offer - the transfer, while heavily cropped at the top & especially on the left, shows a little more picture on the other two sides. Fortunately, the "infamous" cropping is the DVD's only disadvantage. The fact that (according to the cover) "the transfer was created from a 35 mm fine-grain composite master positive made from the original negative" (as opposed to the who-knows-which-generation positive copy utilised for the PAL discs) makes a huge difference! The level of detail we see here is simply extraordinary - where Bonton / Intermedio display just uniform areas in the shades of grey, Criterion shows depth & texture, with perhaps the best example being Mrs. Lautmann's shirt in frame 116254 - terrific!

(And again - the cue blip in frame 176917; it's strange that while undertaking such a tremendous restoration job, Criterion let the blemish pass unmitigated...)

As a side-note, in the interview on Bonton's DVD, Elmar Kloss (the son, spelled with an extra "s") recalls an amusing story about how his father, Ján Kadár, Jozef Kroner & Ida Kamińská - none of them speaking English - improvised when accepting the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1966. It's a pity the footage of that event didn't make it to any of the three discs - it'd have been a great extra, I think...

"The Shop on Main Street" has recently been restored in 4K, but as of writing my review this version is only available on a bare-bones BD-R as a "perk" for the supporters of Bijáky.cz, a.k.a. The Czech Film Foundation.

The older [not restored] Second Run edition - while a big improvement over the then state-of-the-art Criterion DVD - is clearly inferior to even the bit-starved MPEG-2 rendition of Bijáky's new master.
     My only complaint against the latter would be that it's too perfect - too clean & sterile, but I guess that's down to the poor encode which just can't resolve the fine grain one catches glimpses of in the few places where it's not been completely obliterated. Fingers crossed for a proper Blu-ray release, ideally in time for Christmas! ;-)