Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray Movie Review

Loving has attracted considerable attention, and several award nominations (including an Oscar nod for actress Ruth Negga), for its recounting of one of the more shameful chapters from our nation’s past, when marriage between the races wasn’t just frowned up, it was against the law. It’s interesting to contrast the “real” history (as fictionalized as it may be) in Loving with Stanley Kramer’s “kinder, gentler” approach toward interracial relationships in the now slightly quaint feeling Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? from 1967. The film had a previous Blu-ray release from Twilight Time not even two years ago, but Sony has brought it out again in a DigiBook that includes what looks to my eyes as the same transfer as before, though with different audio options and slightly different supplementary material, all at a substantially reduced price from what the original fetched (it’s evidently been discounted by some retailers, probably with a realization that the Sony release would provide competition).

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For my thoughts on the video presentation, please see our original Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray review.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kind of interestingly, the major difference in the technical presentation on this disc is audio, with both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 tracks offered in the place of the Twilight Time's DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track (the IMDb lists the film as having had a theatrical exhibition with mono sound). I frankly can't claim there's a huge difference in either of the audio options on this disc from the previous audio presentation, if only because so much of the film is relegated to one set and consists of dialogue scenes that often have only two participants. There's some modest uptick in the presence of Frank De Vol's score, as well as occasional discrete placement of ambient environmental sounds when the film ventures out of doors or away from the primary setting, but neither the 5.1 nor the 3.0 track offer huge immersive elements. That said, both sound fine and there are no age related issues to report.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release includes most of the supplements detailed in our original Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray review. Missing on this release are the commentary, isolated score track and the teaser. This release offers a Photo Gallery (1080i; 4:10), while also adding in text and pictures included in the DigiBook. (The timings of the supplements shared between the releases can vary by a second or two, but the content is identical.)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? continues to be unashamedly charming as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, even if some may claim the film isn't nearly provocative enough or that it's almost relentlessly old fashioned at times. Technical merits are on a par with the previous Blu-ray release, so while double dipping is probably not necessary, those interested can compare the two releases and see which set of supplements and which price point are more to their liking. Highly recommended.