Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Ring Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 13, 2025

Note: This version of this film is available as part of the Hitchcock: The Beginning set from Studio Canal.

1934 seems to be some kind of invisible dividing line between Alfred Hitchcock's more recognized output and some of his arguably lesser remembered earlier films. The first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much was released that year, and was followed in relatively short order by at least a couple of Hitch's best remembered British productions like The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, but aside from those titles and maybe one or two others (i.e., The Lodger), even diehard film fans may be relatively unacquainted with other early (or at least earlier) films of one of the most celebrated directors in the annals of cinema. Studio Canal is helping to rectify that lack of renown with an appealing collection that aggregates ten early Hitchcock films, including one that has often been cited (rightly or wrongly) as the first British feature length sound production.

No, there isn't a haunted videotape and virtually no straggly haired Japanese ghosts in this effort, despite its now famous title, but Hitchcock's The Ring might instead be more saliently compared, at least fitfully, to other "boxing dramas" ranging from Golden Boy to Raging Bull. This early silent effort from Hitchcock was released the same year as his better remembered "homage" to Jack the Ripper, the aforementioned The Lodger, and frankly seems like something of an outlier in Hitch's output, though many of his earliest films can feel that way since he was still a "hired gun", assigned to various projects by British International Pictures, even if he didn't feel any particular kinship with the material.

The Ring is essentially a story built around a ménage à trois involving two boxers both competing for the same woman. Jack Sander (Carl Brisson) is becoming more and more renowned for taking out his opponents in one round, until he is offered a little boxing comeuppance (or downance, as the case may be) from Bob Corby (Ian Hunter), who turns out to be an international champion. Jack is hired to be Bob's sparring partner, but despite a romance with and actual marriage to Mabel (Lillian Hall-Davis), Jack is distressed to see a spark of interest between Mabel and Bob. This is a somewhat tawdry story that combines melodrama with some perhaps unexpected comedic flair, but which still shows early, nascent signs of Hitch's increasingly confident style. Some of the boxing scenes are very well handled, and the film has become somewhat famous in technical circles for some subterfuge employed to suggest a climactic scene was filmed in the Royal Albert Hall with thousands in attendance.

The Ring Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Ring is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. While Studio Canal sent only check discs for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any additional information that might be offered in an insert booklet, this bears a BFI masthead and assumedly was part of BFI's restoration project involving Hitchcock silents that were undertaken a few years ago. I did find the following information online, which may be from Studio Canal's booklet:

The restoration process has worked hard to minimise the effects of shrinkage through a combination of careful grading and much manual restoration work. A French print, made of alternative takes so it couldn't be used as a source, was nevertheless used as a reference to confirm important stylistic features of the film's narration. New title cards were remade using a new hand-crafted font.

A restoration by the BFI National Archive in association with Studio Canal. Principal restoration funding provided by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation. Additional funding provided by Deluxe 142 and The Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation.

The element utilized certainly has manifest signs of age related wear and tear throughout, but on the whole anyone who has familiarity with the silent era and its representations in high definition will probably be generally well satisfied with the look of this transfer. Yes, there are scratches and fairly wide variability in clarity and detail levels, but in closer framings fine detail on things like some of the costumes in particular can be quite pleasing. The film has both traditional opticals and (as mentioned above) some "special effects" in the climax, both of which can affect grain levels. While fairly heavy at times, grain encounters no real resolution issues.

The Ring Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kind of oddly, while this disc features composer Neil Brand in a supplement (Brand will recur on other discs in this set), here actually talking about a small jazz ensemble score he wrote for this film, that score is not what's on tap here. Instead, there's a perfectly acceptable solo piano outing by Antonio Coppola, which is well rendered via the disc's LPCM 2.0 track. Optional German subtitles are available.

The Ring Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Knockout Score: Neil Brand on The Ring (HD; 14:14) offers the composer discussing his history of first playing piano to accompany silents and then being asked to score them. Weirdly, this disc does not contain a score he did for this film, as he mentions kind of cheekily toward the end.


• Hitchcock / Truffaut: Archival Audio Interview (HD; 5:33) plays to stills.


• Introduction by Director / Film Historian Noël Simsolo (HD; 3:32) is subtitled in English.


• Stills Gallery (HD)

The Ring Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the things Hitchcock fans only better acquainted with his, say, post World War II output will have to deal with is how "uncharacteristic" at least some of the early films in this Studio Canal set can seem. If you can (no marriage problem pun intended) divorce The Ring from being an ostensible "Hitchcock film", there's some definite narrative and technical energy to enjoy. The video side of things can show some recurrent damage, but is certainly watchable, while the stereo solo piano score sounds fine. The relatively minimal supplemental material is also very enjoyable. Recommended.