Movies from the 1940s available on 4K Blu-ray, ranked by transfer quality.
dir. Michael Curtiz
S-Tier Warner Bros. 4K. The black-and-white transfer is clean and the film grain is well resolved.
Warner Bros. · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Orson Welles
S-Tier Warner Bros. 4K. Someone made a custom Criterion-style cover for it and the post blew up. Toland's deep focus photography finally has the resolution to show what he was actually doing with depth of field.
dir. Billy Wilder
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Billy Wilder's noir. The black-and-white photography and shadow work look great at this resolution.
Criterion Collection · 4K Ultra HD
dir. Howard Hawks
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Hawks' screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. The rapid-fire delivery is the reason this still works.
Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Powell and Pressburger's Scottish romance from 1945. Some debate about whether the grain structure is excessive on the UK Criterion disc, though most people think it looks fine for a film this old.
dir. Jacques Tourneur
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur's voodoo horror from 1943. The shadow work and suggestion are the whole point of this film, and the 4K brings that out better than any previous release.
dir. Robert Hamer
S-Tier StudioCanal 4K. Alec Guinness playing eight members of the same family. The StudioCanal 70th anniversary set is the one to get if you're region-free, with better packaging than the Kino release.
StudioCanal · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Part of the Hitchcock Classics Collection Volume 3, which has been discounted as low as $18 USD with coupons. Collectors consistently say the set is worth it for Rope and Frenzy alone. The biggest collector request is Dial M for Murder in 4K, followed by North By Northwest. The single-take technique makes this one interesting to revisit on a better display.
Universal Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
Part of Universal's Hitchcock 4K rollout alongside Shadow of a Doubt and Rope. The black and white photography is preserved in its original 4:3 ratio. Underrated even among Hitchcock fans, with reviewers calling it vastly overlooked. The Statue of Liberty climax is the sequence everyone remembers.
Part of Universal's 2022 Hitchcock 4K expansion alongside Saboteur and Rope. One of Hitchcock's best and consistently called underrated even by his own fans. The Wrong Man in 4K is the next Hitchcock request that keeps surfacing. Thin standalone discussion since most collectors buy it inside the Universal set.
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Sony Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.
dir. Mark Robson
After young Mary Gibson discovers that her older sister Jacqueline has disappeared, she leaves her boarding school and heads to New York City to track down her sibling. But Mary gets drawn deeper into the mystery.
dir. George Stevens
Hilarity ensues when a falsely accused fugitive from justice hides at the house of his childhood friend, which she has recently rented to a high-principled law teacher.
dir. George Waggner
After his brother's death, Larry Talbot returns home to his father and the family estate. Events soon take a turn for the worse when Larry is bitten by a werewolf.
dir. Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton
An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.
dir. Ben Sharpsteen, Jack Kinney
Dumbo is a baby elephant born with over-sized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy Timothy the Mouse, the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles.
dir. Frank Capra
A-Tier Paramount 4K. The steelbook drops to $9.96 USD on Amazon pretty regularly, which makes it an easy December pickup. The 4K disc is black and white, and the included Blu-ray is the colorized version. Black and white films actually benefit a lot from HDR because you get more shades of gray and better contrast. The UK steelbook has two B&W discs while the US version splits color and B&W across formats.
Paramount Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
A-Tier Criterion 4K. Joan Crawford's noir from Michael Curtiz. Thin collector discussion. The UK Criterion sale had a limited 4K selection compared to the B&N sale in the US.
dir. Vittorio De Sica
Criterion's 4K restoration had people celebrating one of the best films ever finally getting proper treatment. The Film Foundation screening built anticipation. Collectors immediately started requesting Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. as the next De Sica 4K candidates. The transfer impressed for an 80-year-old film.
dir. John Huston
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
dir. Carol Reed
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
C-Tier Criterion 4K. Val Lewton's horror classic. The transfer is middling for a Criterion release.
Criterion Collection · Blu-ray
A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.
dir. Charles Vidor
A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.
Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray Special Edition
dir. Arthur Lubin
Two bumbling service station attendants are left as the sole beneficiaries in a gangster's will. Their trip to claim their fortune is sidetracked when they are stranded in a haunted house along with several other strangers.
Kino Lorber · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Akira Kurosawa
A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.
dir. Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
