8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.9 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.6 |
Before settling down to a respectable life, career criminal Johnny Clay teams with a group of pitiful two-bit crooks to pull off one final, elaborate heist at a racetrack.
Drama | 100% |
Film-Noir | 26% |
Crime | 22% |
Mystery | 17% |
Heist | 4% |
Thriller | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956) and "Killer's Kiss" (1955) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include theatrical trailers; exclusive video interview with producer James B. Harris; excerpts from two episodes of the French program Cinema cinemas featuring actor Sterling Hayden; video interview with poet and author Robert Polito; and video interview with critic Geoffrey O'Brien. The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by film historian Haden Guest and a reprinted interview with Marie Windsor. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the two films. Region-A "locked".
Let's roll!
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Stanley Kubrick's The Killing arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Scanity film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
Telecine supervisor: Lee Kline.
Telecine colorist: Sheri Eisenberg/Colorworks, Los Angeles."
The high-definition transfer Criterion have used for this Blu-ray release is simply beautiful. Fine object detail, for instance, is excellent even during the darker sequences from the race track building. Where there is plenty of light, the image is striking. Clarity is also dramatically improved. Where many scenes from the old DVD of The Killing look soft and hazy, here they convey outstanding depth and fluidity (see screencapture #6). The close-ups are also incredibly well detailed. Edge-enhancement and macroblocking are never a serious issue of concern. I also did not see any traces of overzealous sharpening and filtering. Naturally, there is a prominent layer of healthy, well resolved grain throughout the entire film. The color reproduction is also impressive -- the blacks are rich and well saturated, while the variety of grays and whites have very pleasant organic qualities. Last but not least, there are no large damage marks, debris, scratches, or specks. The only possible issue here is the presence of light chroma noise during certain scenes. However, I was only able to spot its presence after I took the screencaptures for our review, not while viewing the film.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Killer's Kiss also looks mighty impressive - perhaps a notch below The Killing, but fine object detail and especially clarity are indeed dramatically improved. Again, I did not see any traces of overzealous sharpening, though partial noise corrections have been applied. Film grain is mostly evenly distributed throughout the film, but is not as well resolved as it is on The Killing. Naturally, selected scenes have a tendency to look slightly softer than others. Lastly, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review, but I did notice a couple of tiny flecks popping up here and there. All in all, the presentation is convincing, easily up to Criterion's high standards.
(Note 1: Please note that screencaptures #1-14 are from The Killing, while screencaptures #15-19 are from Killer's Kiss).
(Note 2: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 1.0 for The Killing and English Dolby Digital 1.0 for Killer's Kiss. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for both films.
The English LPCM 1.0 track boasts a fuller, better rounded and generally better balanced sound. The shootouts, in particular, are crisper than they are on the DVD release of The Killing, while the dialog is stable and clean. Gerald Fried's score gets a decent boost as well. For the record, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissing (which is notably reduced here), or dropouts.
The English Dolby Digital 1.0 track delivers a slightly softer and less condensed sound -- dynamic progressions are not as effective as they are on the English LPCM 1.0 track. The dialog is also not as crisp, but this is not to say that it is in any way disappointing. There are no annoying pops and cracks, but some background hiss is present.
Criterion have put together a very strong package for director Stanley Kubrick's The Killing and Killer's Kiss. The two films look great on Blu-ray, the best they ever have. Clearly, this is an excellent companion piece for Criterion's equally impressive Paths of Glory release. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Du rififi chez les hommes
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2011
Collector's Edition
2007
Encore Edition | Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
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Limited Edition to 3000
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