1954 on 4K UHD

dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Reference quality transfer that people keep calling a system showcase. The courtyard detail jumps in 4K, and longtime fans say it feels like meeting old neighbors for the first time. Universal's Hitchcock 4K set is the way most people get it, and Gruv regularly discounts it to around $45 USD. Comments consistently call this one worth $50 USD on its own.

Universal Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Akira Kurosawa

The BFI vs. Criterion debate dominated every thread. BFI has HDR and what people call the best authoring house in the world (Fidelity in Motion), while Criterion has the deeper extras catalog. Most people who already own the Criterion Blu-ray went BFI for the encode quality bump. The BFI hardbox at $35 USD from OrbitDVD was considered a steal compared to the typical $42-60 USD range for rigid box editions. Criterion's 4K is SDR, which stung given BFI was offering HDR of the same restoration. Seeing it in theaters during the 4K restoration tour was almost too sharp for some viewers, with bald cap seams visible for the first time.

Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Jack Arnold

S-Tier Universal 4K. The original 3D creature feature. Universal's Monsters catalog keeps delivering.

Universal Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Ishirō Honda

The 1954 original. Criterion's S-Tier 4K preserves the grain of the black-and-white negative and the restoration gives Honda's creature feature the clarity its early special effects deserve.

Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Elia Kazan

A-Tier Sony 4K with a perfect 5.0 score, part of the Columbia Classics Vol. 5 alongside Little Women and Age of Innocence. The Criterion Blu-ray was already pricy because of the extras, and people are debating whether to wait for a standalone 4K. The restoration was already done in 4K, so the disc should look good.

Sony Pictures · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Billy Wilder

Kino Lorber's announcement got immediate pre-orders. People were eyeing the Blu-ray when the 4K dropped, and the relief in the comments was palpable. The slipcover artwork is beautiful and the special features are loaded, with two commentary tracks and multiple featurettes. Paramount loosening their licensing policy is part of why this exists. Breakfast at Tiffany's in 4K is the next Hepburn title everyone keeps requesting.

Kino Lorber · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Val Guest

Hammer's first color feature, a 1954 Robin Hood Eastmancolor swashbuckler from Val Guest, restored in 4K from the original negatives. The Limited Collector's Edition pairs it with a 4K restoration of Wolfshead, the 1969 unaired Robin Hood TV pilot Hammer bought as a second feature. A-Tier on avforums at 8/10, Region ABC.

Hammer Films · Limited Edition

dir. Michael Curtiz

Two talented song-and-dance men team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. In time they befriend and become romantically involved with the beautiful Haynes sisters who comprise a sister act.

Paramount Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Guy Hamilton

An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?

StudioCanal · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Victor Saville

Soon after thumbing a ride from a truck driver, Johnny McBride is badly burned and suffers from complete amnesia when the vehicle he’s riding in blows a tire and goes over an embankment in a fiery blaze. McBride later receives a tip from an acquaintance that a photo of him was placed prominently in the window of a photography studio in a town called Lyncastle, so Johnny immediately leaves for the burg in the hopes that something there will jog his memory.

dir. Gordon Douglas

As a result of nuclear testing, gigantic, ferocious mutant ants appear in the American desert southwest, and a father-daughter team of entomologists join forces with the state police officer who first discovers their existence, an FBI agent and, eventually, the US Army to eradicate the menace, before it spreads across the continent — and the world.

Warner Bros. · 4K Ultra HD