>Hmm, there are some thorny ethical questions here

Why would this be an ethical issue?  Whoever owns the rights authorized
this so it's completely legit; even if the original is altered or not
preserved that's more a historical question.  Even the European concept of
moral rights is despite the name a legal issue not ethical.

Also, if the discussion was about the Criterion Hitchcock films then the
soundtrack was not rerecorded:  These have the original soundtrack which
has been digitally restored/remastered.  An example of partial soundtrack
re-recording would be the restoration (or maybe "restoration") of
"Vertigo" which had newly recorded sound effects.

==============

whatever the "legal" issues, the question of whether one has the "right"
to
alter or "improve" a historical document is surely an ethical one, no
matter
how one chooses to answer it

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite