1952 on 4K UHD

8 movies from 1952 on 4K Blu-ray, ranked S to D by transfer quality. 2 S-Tier picks including Singin' in the Rain.

Singin' in the Rain(1952)

dir. Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen

Warner's S-Tier 4K in Technicolor is the draw. Best Buy had the steelbook, which appears to have gone OOP since neither the standard nor steelbook are easy to find online now. Minimal collector discussion beyond the purchase announcement, which usually means people bought it without needing to debate it. The Technicolor presentation in HDR is what makes this disc worth owning over streaming.

Warner Home Video · 4K + Blu-ray

The African Queen(1952)

7.4/10

dir. John Huston

S-Tier

At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.

StudioCanal · 4K + Blu-ray (United Kingdom)

High Noon(1952)

7.7/10

dir. Fred Zinnemann

A-Tier

A-Tier Eureka Entertainment 4K. Gary Cooper in the classic western. The Eureka disc is the Region B option.

Eureka Entertainment · Limited Edition

Casque d'Or(1952)

7.6/10

dir. Jacques Becker

B-Tier

At the end of the 19th century, during a ball in Joinville, on the outskirts of Paris, Georges, a former delinquent working as a carpenter, meets Marie, a young woman connected to a criminal gang.

Ikiru(1952)

8.3/10

dir. Akira Kurosawa

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Toho · 4K Ultra HD

Stolen Face(1952)

6.0/10

dir. Terence Fisher

Another Terence Fisher Hammer pre-horror restoration from their in-house 4K program, a 72-minute noir with Paul Henreid and Lizabeth Scott in a Pygmalion-twist plastic surgery plot. The Limited Collector's Edition ships with both UK and US cuts across two discs plus five European subtitle tracks. Region ABC on both, rare for a Hammer direct release.

Hammer Films · Limited Edition

The Gentle Gunman(1952)

6.4/10

dir. Basil Dearden

The relationship between brothers Terry and Matt, both active in the IRA, comes under strain when Terry begins to question the use of violence.

Powerhouse Films · 4K Ultra HD

Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard(1952)

6.3/10

dir. Francis Searle

In this contemporary update of Frank H. Spearman's Western hero, Whispering Smith is now a sleuth who arrives in London on holiday, but is soon called in to solve the case of a suicide which the father of the deceased woman thinks was murder.