Hell's Angels 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Hell's Angels 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 25, 2025

Howard Hughes's "Hell's Angels" (1930) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include new program with visual effects supervisor Robert Legato; outtakes presented with commentary by author and critic David Stenn; and new program with critic Farran Smith Nehme. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

We've been hit!

It shows that Hell’s Angels was a massive passion project. Howard Hughes spent a small fortune on it, and it is very easy to tell that not a single penny was wasted. The final act alone, which features a breathtaking air battle, would have been enough to declare that, at the time of its release, Hell’s Angels was in a category of its own. But there is so much more. Giving Jean Harlow a major part was a gamble, without a doubt, but, evidently, only because no one else could recognize her potential as Hughes did. Harlow not only looks fantastic, but her confidence in front of the camera is borderline intimidating. There is a crucial sequence where Harlow must evolve into a shameless seductress and, in just a few minutes, she does, spectacularly, leaving her male partner looking genuinely defeated. Then there is the effortless mixture of sound, at the time a brand new cinematic feature, and intertitles, which unquestionably must have made Hell’s Angels appear very modern to mainstream audiences.

The narrative is broken into multiple parts, each introducing and overlapping various interesting, often contrasting themes. In Germany, local bachelor Karl (John Darrow) and British siblings Roy (James Hall) and Monte (Ben Lyon), all attending Oxford University but currently on break, are having the time of their lives. However, when WWI breaks out, Karl puts on a German military uniform, while Roy and Monte enlist in the Royal Flying Corps. In the weeks and months ahead, Roy sees his relationship with Helen (Harlow), who claims to be in love with him, seriously deteriorate, and Monte relentlessly questions the politics of those who appear to have irreversibly redirected his life. Then, as the war intensifies, Roy and Monte are dispatched on a most tricky mission that could cost them their lives.

Hughes was a bold, visionary man, and Hell’s Angels is exactly the type of film someone like him would have directed. It is a grand spectacle, producing visuals that are impossible not to admire, but also a macho film whose politics are right on target. For example, in one of the most striking sequences, several British planes come too close to a massive German zeppelin that has attempted to destroy the heart of London, and to get away from them, its terrified captain asks most of his men to jump to their deaths. For a few seconds, the men are treated like heroes, but the sequence exposes them as delusional fools. In multiple areas of Hell’s Angels, Hughes also repeatedly demonstrates how easily men, regardless of whether they are seen as good or bad, are manipulated by women.

Hell’s Angels did not meet expectations. However, it is easy to speculate now that it was most likely because it was too big, too bold, and too advanced a film. This is not to imply that it is a perfectly polished, flawless film that could not have been improved in any meaningful ways. Small portions of Hell’s Angels could have been edited better, and the impact that Hughes’s obsession with planes has on the narrative becomes slightly overpowering. However, considering when Hell’s Angels was shot, how and with what equipment, it is impossible not to describe it as a remarkable film, truly one of the best of its time.

*Criterion's combo pack release introduces a new 4K restoration of the Magnascope road-show version of Hell's Angels, completed on behalf of Universal Pictures. This 4K restoration is also a reconstruction job that presents the film in 1.37:1 and 1.54:1 ratios.

Hell's Angels 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of Hell's Angels is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

Screencaptures #1-30 are taken from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #33-40 are taken from the 4K Blu-ray.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:

"Hell's Angels is presented in the aspect ratios of 1.37:1 and 1.54:1. Undertaken by Universal Pictures, this new 4K restoration of the Magnascope road-show version of the film was created from a 35mm duplicate negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Elements were provided by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Restoration: NBCUniversal StudioPost"

Even though the quality of the presentation, which is a reconstruction job, is very difficult to critique because a lot of content was shot under less-than-optimal conditions with early equipment, and the 4K master was sourced from the best available elements, I would say that Hell's Angels looks quite remarkable in high-definition. I prefer its appearance on the Blu-ray because the native 4K presentation makes some of the already pretty substantial density fluctuations even bigger, and the increased resolution exposes more of the surface limitations of select visuals. Also, the native 4K presentation is not graded with HDR, which was the right decision, and in some darker areas, small gamma shifts and inherited softness are slightly exacerbated, too. The entire film has been carefully cleaned up with digital tools. However, I did not see any distracting anomalies. Grain exposure is inconsistent, but not because of the poor digital work. Image stability is very good. The grayscale reveals small fluctuations, the most noticeable ones emerging during the big air battle, but it is very nicely managed.

Hell's Angels 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: English LPCM 1.0 (with small portions of German). English SDH subtitles are provided. English intertitles are present throughout the film as well.

Sound equipment was very basic when Hell's Angels was shot, and the overall quality of the lossless track is difficult to praise, or at least when compared to lossless tracks of other films finalized several decades later. Indeed, most exchanges sound very thin, dynamic contrasts are poor, and there is even some light background hiss. However, the important detail to remember here is that the lossless track accurately replicates the native qualities of the original audio, which is what it is supposed to do. I did not encounter any audio dropouts or similar encoding anomalies to report.

Hell's Angels 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Bonus Features - there are no bonus features on the disc.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Robert Legato - in this new program, Robert Legato, visual effects supervisor on The Aviator, discusses some of the research he did on Howard Hughes's work in Hell's Angels and explains why it is a remarkable visual stunner. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Outtakes - presented here are several outtakes in which Howard Hughes is seen working on Hell's Angels. The outtakes are accompanied by commentary recorded by David Stenn, author of Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow. In English, not subtitled. (5 min).

• Farran Smith Nehme - in this new program, critic Farran Smith Nehme discusses Jean Harlow's career. In English, not subtitled. (28 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Fred Kaplan's essay "The Sky is the Limit" and technical credits.

Hell's Angels 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Multiple people lost their lives while filming some of the crazy action footage that Howard Hughes put in Hell's Angels. It is unfortunate, and it should not have happened. However, it is this dangerous element in the work that was done and Hughes's genuine desire to outdo everyone else that have forever placed Hell's Angels in a category of its own. Criterion's combo pack introduces a very good new 4K restoration and reconstruction of the Magnascope road-show version of Hell's Angels, prepared at Universal Pictures, which is also made available on a separate Blu-ray release. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.