Page 1 of Spartacus - Criteron Edition quality

Hi,
I`ve recently purchased the R1 Spartacus - Criteron Edition and there seems to be a problem with the quality of the playback. At first I thought it was due to the film being transferred from old celluloid, however I have read some reviews and none of them have stated the problems I am experiencing with it. On certain scenes there is some fading at the top, almost as if the film has been worn down. The colour seems washed out. It is mostly noticible when the in dark scenes (Spartacus meets Verinia in his cell for the first time, for example). Has anyone else got this movie, and if so, have they experienced the same problem? I`m starting to get concerned that it is a bad DVD.

I haven`t got Spartacus yet, but I do have Criterion`s marvellous region one release of Peeping Tom, which has uniformly excellent picture quality. I`d be very much surprised if the Spartacus print is anything less than the best available. Why don`t you ask Criterion themselves? Their web site is www.criterionco.com and I`m sure they`d welcome your comments.