7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Famous detective Hercule Poirot is on the Orient Express, but the train is caught in the snow. When one of the passengers is discovered murdered, Poirot immediately starts investigating.
Starring: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline BissetPeriod | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Sidney Lumet's "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson; archival program with producer Richard Goodwin; documentary film; vintage trailer; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Kino Lorber's release of Murder on the Orient Express is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray disc is Region-A "locked".
Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear 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, including the actual color values of this content.
Screencaptures #1-29 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #32-38 are from the 4K Blu-ray.
We have reviews of several Blu-ray releases of Murder of the Orient Express, all of which I still have in my library. The weakest one is this Region-B release, which StudioCanal produced a decade ago, so I am not going to reference it all. Next is this Region-B release, which was sourced from a recent remaster and again produced by StudioCanal. The last is this release, which Paramount produced just a few years ago. Kino Lorber's combo pack introduces a new 4K restoration of Murder of the Orient Express sourced from the original camera negative. In native 4K, the 4K makeover can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with Dolby Vision and later spend time with the 1080p presentation.
Until now, I preferred how Murder on the Orient Express looked after it was remastered by StudioCanal for two big reasons -- the remaster gave it a nice balanced appearance and plenty of visuals with superior detail and depth. The previous release from Paramount was sourced from an older master with plenty of fluctuations that impacted the strength of its visuals in different ways. In some areas, the visuals became too noisy, while elsewhere there were obvious inconsistencies in the highlights and select darker shadow nuances. Also, there were inconsistencies in the area of color reproduction that impacted color temperature.
The 4K makeover is the most convincing presentation of the film that I have seen to date. It produces the freshest and most attractive visuals with the most convincing color scheme. To be honest, I felt that it borrows all of the major strengths of the previous two releases while enhancing the organic appearance of the visuals as best as possible. For example, the native 4K and 1080p presentations have the sharpest visuals, so there is plenty of material that simply looks better now. Also, the 4K makeover has the best color balance, which is combines what I thought was right on the previous two releases. For example, if you compare this screencapture from Paramount's previous release and this screencapture from the 4K makeover, you will see how the latter eliminates the unnatural pinkish hue that aging has introduced. Also, if you compare this screencapture from StudioCanal's remaster and this screencapture from the 4K makeover, you will see how the latter further improves balance and delineation. How does the Dolby Vision grade handle darker material? Even though light is managed in some quite delicate ways, I thought that darker material look very good. In fact, the light black crushing that I observed on the StudioCanal remaster is missing, so there is a bit more to see now. (For what it's worth, this is also true on the 1080p presentation). Fluidity is excellent. There are no stability issues. The entire film looks immaculate as well. Finally, I thought that small encoding optimizations could have been done to strengthen a couple of the darkest sequences, but you should not worry about distracting anomalies. My score is 4.75/5.00.
There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
Previous releases of Murder on the Orient Express have offered 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, too. While purists would obviously prefer the restored Mono track, I tend to like the 5.1 track a little bit better. It is very nicely done and creates a lot of memorable dynamic contrasts that fit the film's period atmosphere very well. The dialog is clean, clear, and always easy to follow.
4K BLU-RAY DISC
While certainly quite attractive at times, Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express is not a particularly convincing cinematic adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic novel. A lot of its troubles begin with Albert Finney's transformation into the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but you will not have to look too long and too hard to find plenty of other issues as well. On the other hand, I would not trade Lumet's adaptation for Kenneth Branagh's modern take on the same material, which does not even get the period atmosphere right.
Kino Lorber's combo pack introduces a new 4K restoration of Murder on the Orient Express completed by Paramount. It is the best all-around presentation of the film that I have seen to date. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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