OUT TODAY! The Complete Kubrick [4K UHD] - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Malcolm McDowell, Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Duvall @Criterion US: link.amazon/B06ryq1id CAN: link.amazon/B0cMELQ8O OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Killer’s Kiss (1955) / The Killing (1956) / Paths of Glory (1957) / Spartacus (1960) / Lolita (1962) / Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) / 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) / A Clockwork Orange (1971) / Barry Lyndon (1975) / The Shining (1980) / Full Metal Jacket (1987) / Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Criterion The Masters: All features are presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs and in SDR on the Blu-rays. Criterion’s “About the Masters” notes show that nearly every title was restored from its original camera negative, though the restorations come from a mix of sources. Some are Criterion’s own, some are carried over from studio restorations of recent years, and some were done by partner archives. The three independently produced early features had their 4K debuts on Kino Lorber UHDs, but here they are presented in masters made for Criterion by Duplitech. Killer’s Kiss (1.37:1) comes from the 35mm original camera negative, with a composite fine-grain used for some sections. The Killing and Paths of Glory (both 1.66:1) are also drawn from their camera negatives. The Paths of Glory mono was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm magnetic track. Fear and Desire (1.37:1) is the exception: it is Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration, made from the camera negative and a Library of Congress fine-grain. The three shorts are new Criterion 4K restorations from Library of Congress elements. These were 35mm prints and a duplicate negative for Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, and the 16mm original reversal for The Seafarers. The studio-era films largely use existing restorations. Spartacus (2.20:1) is Universal’s 4K restoration from a 6K scan of the original Technirama elements, with Robert A. Harris consulting, and its 7.1 track was remastered from the 70mm six-track printmaster. Dr. Strangelove (1.66:1) is Sony’s 4K restoration, supervised by Grover Crisp and assembled from a fine-grain master, a duplicate negative and a 35mm print. 2001: A Space Odyssey (2.20:1) is Warner’s 4K from an 8K scan of the 65mm camera negative, supervised by Ned Price and Leon Vitali with input from Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema. Its original 70mm six-track 5.1 mix is joined by the 35mm general-release mono, which Kubrick mixed without the overture, intermission and exit music, so those passages are silent on that track. A Clockwork Orange (1.66:1), The Shining (1.85:1) and Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1) are Warner 4K restorations from their camera negatives, with Full Metal Jacket graded against both an answer print and Kubrick’s own personal 35mm reference print. Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut match Criterion’s own recent 4K editions. Barry Lyndon is framed at 1.66:1 per Kubrick’s December 8th, 1975 letter to projectionists, and was graded against Vitali’s 2000 HD transfer. Eyes Wide Shut (1.85:1) is presented in its international cut, supervised and approved by cinematographer Larry Smith. Its look stems from Kubrick’s deliberate decision to have the negative force-developed by two stops, which accounts for the film’s distinctive grain and glowing low-light palette. Two presentations are new to 4K UHD. Lolita (1.66:1) is a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, using a Warner 35mm print as color reference, with its mono remastered from the original DME magnetic track. Kubrick’s international version of The Shining (119 minutes, against 144 for the U.S. theatrical) comes from the same Warner restoration of the camera negative, with its own mono track remastered from the original magnetic elements. Since most of these masters have been reviewed before on DVDBeaver, we have used our existing captures from those earlier 4K UHD releases where applicable. New captures will eventually be taken for Lolita and the international version of The Shining. Audio: Criterion’s audio approach across the set is admirably purist. Every film is offered with its original soundtrack, and for the mono-era titles that means uncompressed linear PCM mono remastered from the original magnetic elements. Paths of Glory’s was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm track. For Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, both versions of The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Criterion also includes alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, so purists and surround enthusiasts are both served. The early independent features and Lolita are presented in their original mono alone. This is a notable step up from earlier editions. Warner’s 4K UHD of The Shining offered only a 5.1 remix with no mono at all, its Full Metal Jacket UHD relegated the mono to a lossy track, and Sony’s Dr. Strangelove UHD carried only 16-bit lossless tracks. The three large-format productions get special treatment. Spartacus is presented in 7.1 DTS-HD MA remastered from its 70mm six-track printmaster, and it retains the overture, entr’acte and intermission music. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most generous of all, with its original 70mm six-track theatrical mix in 5.1, an alternate 5.1 remix and the original 35mm general-release mono, which, true to Kubrick’s own 35mm prints, is silent during the overture, intermission and exit music. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its original theatrical 5.1, remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered on every feature, and the set is region free. From the portions we have sampled so far, the tracks sound exceptional, clean and faithful to their sources, with the dynamic range of the scores and Kubrick’s carefully chosen music coming through with clarity and weight. About the Captures Because of the size of this set and its release date, none of the screen captures in this review are taken from The Complete Kubrick discs. Instead, we have included a single capture per film from our earlier reviews, taken from previous 4K UHD editions or, where none exist, Blu-ray. Several of those editions share their restoration with this set, while others come from different transfers. The captures should therefore be taken as representative of each film’s presentation, not as exact reproductions of the Criterion discs. Fear and Desire is represented by Kino’s 2024 4K UHD, which uses the same Kino Lorber restoration found in this set. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing come from Kino’s 2022 4K UHDs, and Paths of Glory from the 2024 Masters of Cinema (Eureka) 4K UHD. All three of those earlier discs were scanned from the original camera negatives, but Criterion presents new Duplitech masters here, so the grading and framing may differ. Spartacus is from Universal’s 2020 4K UHD, which uses the same 2015 restoration from the large-format Technirama elements. Dr. Strangelove is from Sony’s 2021 4K UHD, drawn from the same Sony restoration. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes from Warner’s 2018 4K UHD. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket come from Warner’s 2019 and 2020 4K UHDs respectively. Our Shining capture is from the U.S. theatrical version and serves for both cuts, which share the same restoration in this set. Note that both of those Warner discs were framed at 1.78:1, whereas Criterion presents both films at 1.85:1. Barry Lyndon is from Criterion’s own 2025 4K UHD, which matches the restoration in this set. For Eyes Wide Shut, our capture is from Criterion’s 2025 Blu-ray of the same Larry Smith–approved restoration, as we were unable to capture from that 4K UHD disc at the time. Lolita and A Clockwork Orange are represented by Warner’s 2011 Blu-rays (the latter its 40th Anniversary Edition). Lolita receives a new 4K restoration in this set, so that capture predates it entirely. OUR PAST REVIEWS: Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut Seen together, Stanley Kubrick's films reveal a remarkably consistent sensibility beneath their wildly varied surfaces. There is the dehumanizing machinery of war, from the trenches of Paths of Glory to the War Room farce of Dr. Strangelove and the Parris Island crucible of Full Metal Jacket. There is the individual crushed or remade by institutional authority in A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon, and there are the hidden currents of desire and power in Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut. Running through all of it is an ironic, coolly precise eye that turned every genre he touched, whether noir, epic, satire, science fiction, horror or costume drama, into something unmistakably his own. Watching the arc from the self-financed Fear and Desire and the gritty New York of Killer's Kiss through to the monumental achievements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining is a privilege few box sets can offer. Criterion's The Complete Kubrick is a staggering undertaking. Its 30 discs (13 4K UHD and 17 Blu-ray) hold every finished film Kubrick directed, all restored in 4K and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, many from their original camera negatives. It includes Lolita's 4K debut, Kubrick's international cut of The Shining, both versions of Day of the Fight, original soundtracks alongside remixes, over twenty-five hours of supplements, and archive-inspired packaging filled with Kubrick's own notes, slates and correspondence. We are still working our way through the set, but everything we have sampled so far has looked and sounded exceptional. This is the definitive presentation of one of cinema's most exacting artists and an essential acquisition for any serious film collection. Set of the Year - our very highest recommendation!

Leni Riefenstahl's "Tiefland" Blu-ray - Bernhard Minetti, Leni Riefenstahl, Aribert Wascher, Karl Skraup, Maria Koppenhofer @KinoLorber US: link.amazon/B00wVMBNm CAN: link.amazon/B007dGmqS BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Leni Riefenstahl’s Tiefland (Lowlands) is one of the strangest objects in German film history: a melodrama that took two decades to reach the screen and whose reputation rests almost entirely on the circumstances of its making. Riefenstahl had wanted to adapt Eugen d’Albert’s 1903 opera, itself drawn from Àngel Guimerà’s Catalan play Terra baixa, since the mid-1930s. Production finally began in 1940, with location work in the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps standing in for the Spanish Pyrenees and interiors shot at Babelsberg and Barrandov. Shooting dragged on through the war, and the material was seized by French authorities afterward. Riefenstahl regained it only in the early 1950s, with some footage missing, and finished the film for a 1954 premiere. It was her last completed narrative feature and the only one she directed after Das blaue Licht more than twenty years earlier. *** Tiefland is a deeply compromised film, a pastoral melodrama of mountain purity and lowland greed made by the Third Reich's most celebrated filmmaker while that regime was at war, and completed only after the footage spent years in Allied hands. Its story is creaky and its pacing uneven, but Bernhard Minetti's (The Kaiser of California) decadent Don Sebastian and Albert Benitz's (The Holy Mountain,) cloud-wrapped Alpine photography still command attention, and Riefenstahl's dances carry the same fascination with movement that defined her documentaries. It also cannot be watched apart from the Sinti and Roma extras whose faces fill its village scenes, many of whom did not survive the war. Leni Riefenstahl, as star or director, also appears in The Holy Mountain, The Great Leap, The Blue Light, Triumph of the Will, Olympia. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray, restored in 4K from the original negative, is a revelation, with a pristine, richly detailed image, a clean lossless German track, a commentary by Anthony Slide, and a feature-length reel of outtakes that is a remarkable document in its own right. For students of Riefenstahl, of German wartime cinema, or of the uneasy relationship between artistry and complicity, this edition is essential. Strongly recommended!

OUT TODAY! The Complete Kubrick [4K UHD] - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Malcolm McDowell, Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Duvall @Criterion US: link.amazon/B06ryq1id CAN: link.amazon/B0cMELQ8O OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Killer’s Kiss (1955) / The Killing (1956) / Paths of Glory (1957) / Spartacus (1960) / Lolita (1962) / Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) / 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) / A Clockwork Orange (1971) / Barry Lyndon (1975) / The Shining (1980) / Full Metal Jacket (1987) / Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Criterion The Masters: All features are presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs and in SDR on the Blu-rays. Criterion’s “About the Masters” notes show that nearly every title was restored from its original camera negative, though the restorations come from a mix of sources. Some are Criterion’s own, some are carried over from studio restorations of recent years, and some were done by partner archives. The three independently produced early features had their 4K debuts on Kino Lorber UHDs, but here they are presented in masters made for Criterion by Duplitech. Killer’s Kiss (1.37:1) comes from the 35mm original camera negative, with a composite fine-grain used for some sections. The Killing and Paths of Glory (both 1.66:1) are also drawn from their camera negatives. The Paths of Glory mono was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm magnetic track. Fear and Desire (1.37:1) is the exception: it is Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration, made from the camera negative and a Library of Congress fine-grain. The three shorts are new Criterion 4K restorations from Library of Congress elements. These were 35mm prints and a duplicate negative for Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, and the 16mm original reversal for The Seafarers. The studio-era films largely use existing restorations. Spartacus (2.20:1) is Universal’s 4K restoration from a 6K scan of the original Technirama elements, with Robert A. Harris consulting, and its 7.1 track was remastered from the 70mm six-track printmaster. Dr. Strangelove (1.66:1) is Sony’s 4K restoration, supervised by Grover Crisp and assembled from a fine-grain master, a duplicate negative and a 35mm print. 2001: A Space Odyssey (2.20:1) is Warner’s 4K from an 8K scan of the 65mm camera negative, supervised by Ned Price and Leon Vitali with input from Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema. Its original 70mm six-track 5.1 mix is joined by the 35mm general-release mono, which Kubrick mixed without the overture, intermission and exit music, so those passages are silent on that track. A Clockwork Orange (1.66:1), The Shining (1.85:1) and Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1) are Warner 4K restorations from their camera negatives, with Full Metal Jacket graded against both an answer print and Kubrick’s own personal 35mm reference print. Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut match Criterion’s own recent 4K editions. Barry Lyndon is framed at 1.66:1 per Kubrick’s December 8th, 1975 letter to projectionists, and was graded against Vitali’s 2000 HD transfer. Eyes Wide Shut (1.85:1) is presented in its international cut, supervised and approved by cinematographer Larry Smith. Its look stems from Kubrick’s deliberate decision to have the negative force-developed by two stops, which accounts for the film’s distinctive grain and glowing low-light palette. Two presentations are new to 4K UHD. Lolita (1.66:1) is a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, using a Warner 35mm print as color reference, with its mono remastered from the original DME magnetic track. Kubrick’s international version of The Shining (119 minutes, against 144 for the U.S. theatrical) comes from the same Warner restoration of the camera negative, with its own mono track remastered from the original magnetic elements. Since most of these masters have been reviewed before on DVDBeaver, we have used our existing captures from those earlier 4K UHD releases where applicable. New captures will eventually be taken for Lolita and the international version of The Shining. Audio: Criterion’s audio approach across the set is admirably purist. Every film is offered with its original soundtrack, and for the mono-era titles that means uncompressed linear PCM mono remastered from the original magnetic elements. Paths of Glory’s was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm track. For Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, both versions of The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Criterion also includes alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, so purists and surround enthusiasts are both served. The early independent features and Lolita are presented in their original mono alone. This is a notable step up from earlier editions. Warner’s 4K UHD of The Shining offered only a 5.1 remix with no mono at all, its Full Metal Jacket UHD relegated the mono to a lossy track, and Sony’s Dr. Strangelove UHD carried only 16-bit lossless tracks. The three large-format productions get special treatment. Spartacus is presented in 7.1 DTS-HD MA remastered from its 70mm six-track printmaster, and it retains the overture, entr’acte and intermission music. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most generous of all, with its original 70mm six-track theatrical mix in 5.1, an alternate 5.1 remix and the original 35mm general-release mono, which, true to Kubrick’s own 35mm prints, is silent during the overture, intermission and exit music. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its original theatrical 5.1, remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered on every feature, and the set is region free. From the portions we have sampled so far, the tracks sound exceptional, clean and faithful to their sources, with the dynamic range of the scores and Kubrick’s carefully chosen music coming through with clarity and weight. About the Captures Because of the size of this set and its release date, none of the screen captures in this review are taken from The Complete Kubrick discs. Instead, we have included a single capture per film from our earlier reviews, taken from previous 4K UHD editions or, where none exist, Blu-ray. Several of those editions share their restoration with this set, while others come from different transfers. The captures should therefore be taken as representative of each film’s presentation, not as exact reproductions of the Criterion discs. Fear and Desire is represented by Kino’s 2024 4K UHD, which uses the same Kino Lorber restoration found in this set. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing come from Kino’s 2022 4K UHDs, and Paths of Glory from the 2024 Masters of Cinema (Eureka) 4K UHD. All three of those earlier discs were scanned from the original camera negatives, but Criterion presents new Duplitech masters here, so the grading and framing may differ. Spartacus is from Universal’s 2020 4K UHD, which uses the same 2015 restoration from the large-format Technirama elements. Dr. Strangelove is from Sony’s 2021 4K UHD, drawn from the same Sony restoration. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes from Warner’s 2018 4K UHD. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket come from Warner’s 2019 and 2020 4K UHDs respectively. Our Shining capture is from the U.S. theatrical version and serves for both cuts, which share the same restoration in this set. Note that both of those Warner discs were framed at 1.78:1, whereas Criterion presents both films at 1.85:1. Barry Lyndon is from Criterion’s own 2025 4K UHD, which matches the restoration in this set. For Eyes Wide Shut, our capture is from Criterion’s 2025 Blu-ray of the same Larry Smith–approved restoration, as we were unable to capture from that 4K UHD disc at the time. Lolita and A Clockwork Orange are represented by Warner’s 2011 Blu-rays (the latter its 40th Anniversary Edition). Lolita receives a new 4K restoration in this set, so that capture predates it entirely. OUR PAST REVIEWS: Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut Seen together, Stanley Kubrick's films reveal a remarkably consistent sensibility beneath their wildly varied surfaces. There is the dehumanizing machinery of war, from the trenches of Paths of Glory to the War Room farce of Dr. Strangelove and the Parris Island crucible of Full Metal Jacket. There is the individual crushed or remade by institutional authority in A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon, and there are the hidden currents of desire and power in Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut. Running through all of it is an ironic, coolly precise eye that turned every genre he touched, whether noir, epic, satire, science fiction, horror or costume drama, into something unmistakably his own. Watching the arc from the self-financed Fear and Desire and the gritty New York of Killer's Kiss through to the monumental achievements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining is a privilege few box sets can offer. Criterion's The Complete Kubrick is a staggering undertaking. Its 30 discs (13 4K UHD and 17 Blu-ray) hold every finished film Kubrick directed, all restored in 4K and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, many from their original camera negatives. It includes Lolita's 4K debut, Kubrick's international cut of The Shining, both versions of Day of the Fight, original soundtracks alongside remixes, over twenty-five hours of supplements, and archive-inspired packaging filled with Kubrick's own notes, slates and correspondence. We are still working our way through the set, but everything we have sampled so far has looked and sounded exceptional. This is the definitive presentation of one of cinema's most exacting artists and an essential acquisition for any serious film collection. Set of the Year - our very highest recommendation!

Alex Nicol's "The Screaming Skull" Blu-ray - John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, Tony Johnson, Alex Nicol @Eurekavideo UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR COMPARISON: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Alex Nicol's The Screaming Skull is a cheap, compact gothic chiller. It borrows the Rebecca / Gaslight template of the fragile second wife haunted by the first and adds a dose of William Castle-style ballyhoo. The pacing is padded and the dialogue stiff, but the deliberate emptiness of the house and Floyd Crosby's shadowy black-and-white cinematography generate a surprising amount of atmosphere. The film also makes a genuinely interesting choice in its final reel, letting the supernatural in after establishing a purely rational explanation. Peggy Webber (The Space Children, Macbeth) commits fully to Jenni's unraveling and gives the film more sincerity than its budget suggests. Russ Conway, a familiar face from dozens of bit parts in film and television (The Time Tunnel, Our Man Flint, The Beverly Hillbillies, Perry Mason, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Leave It to Beaver, Jennifer, The War of the Worlds, The Turning Point, I Was a Communist for the F.B.I., Woman in Hiding, Twelve O'Clock High, The Heiress, Flamingo Road, An Act of Murder, Larceny, The Naked City, A Double Life, T-Men, The Web), brings quiet authority as the Reverend Snow. Ernest Gold's (Jennifer, The Last Sunset, The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, Cross of Iron, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, On the Beach, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, Dementia, Unknown World etc.) heavy gothic score underlines every skull sighting. It may be closer to "so bad it's good" than to a lost classic, but it has more going for it than its MST3K reputation suggests. The Eureka Blu-ray offers a dual-layered transfer with a much higher bitrate than the Shout! Factory, showing tighter grain from what appears to be the same source, and an uncompressed 24-bit LPCM mono track. The new extras, Stephen Laws' introduction, Mary Going's Ghosts and Gaslight video essay and Jon Towlson's booklet, add real context. As the Shout! is OOP (out of print) owners may want to hold on to their disc - especially for the MST3K episode, however for the best presentation of the film to date, the Eureka is recommended.

OUT TODAY! The Complete Kubrick [4K UHD] - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Malcolm McDowell, Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Duvall @Criterion US: link.amazon/B06ryq1id CAN: link.amazon/B0cMELQ8O OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Killer’s Kiss (1955) / The Killing (1956) / Paths of Glory (1957) / Spartacus (1960) / Lolita (1962) / Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) / 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) / A Clockwork Orange (1971) / Barry Lyndon (1975) / The Shining (1980) / Full Metal Jacket (1987) / Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Criterion The Masters: All features are presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs and in SDR on the Blu-rays. Criterion’s “About the Masters” notes show that nearly every title was restored from its original camera negative, though the restorations come from a mix of sources. Some are Criterion’s own, some are carried over from studio restorations of recent years, and some were done by partner archives. The three independently produced early features had their 4K debuts on Kino Lorber UHDs, but here they are presented in masters made for Criterion by Duplitech. Killer’s Kiss (1.37:1) comes from the 35mm original camera negative, with a composite fine-grain used for some sections. The Killing and Paths of Glory (both 1.66:1) are also drawn from their camera negatives. The Paths of Glory mono was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm magnetic track. Fear and Desire (1.37:1) is the exception: it is Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration, made from the camera negative and a Library of Congress fine-grain. The three shorts are new Criterion 4K restorations from Library of Congress elements. These were 35mm prints and a duplicate negative for Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, and the 16mm original reversal for The Seafarers. The studio-era films largely use existing restorations. Spartacus (2.20:1) is Universal’s 4K restoration from a 6K scan of the original Technirama elements, with Robert A. Harris consulting, and its 7.1 track was remastered from the 70mm six-track printmaster. Dr. Strangelove (1.66:1) is Sony’s 4K restoration, supervised by Grover Crisp and assembled from a fine-grain master, a duplicate negative and a 35mm print. 2001: A Space Odyssey (2.20:1) is Warner’s 4K from an 8K scan of the 65mm camera negative, supervised by Ned Price and Leon Vitali with input from Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema. Its original 70mm six-track 5.1 mix is joined by the 35mm general-release mono, which Kubrick mixed without the overture, intermission and exit music, so those passages are silent on that track. A Clockwork Orange (1.66:1), The Shining (1.85:1) and Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1) are Warner 4K restorations from their camera negatives, with Full Metal Jacket graded against both an answer print and Kubrick’s own personal 35mm reference print. Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut match Criterion’s own recent 4K editions. Barry Lyndon is framed at 1.66:1 per Kubrick’s December 8th, 1975 letter to projectionists, and was graded against Vitali’s 2000 HD transfer. Eyes Wide Shut (1.85:1) is presented in its international cut, supervised and approved by cinematographer Larry Smith. Its look stems from Kubrick’s deliberate decision to have the negative force-developed by two stops, which accounts for the film’s distinctive grain and glowing low-light palette. Two presentations are new to 4K UHD. Lolita (1.66:1) is a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, using a Warner 35mm print as color reference, with its mono remastered from the original DME magnetic track. Kubrick’s international version of The Shining (119 minutes, against 144 for the U.S. theatrical) comes from the same Warner restoration of the camera negative, with its own mono track remastered from the original magnetic elements. Since most of these masters have been reviewed before on DVDBeaver, we have used our existing captures from those earlier 4K UHD releases where applicable. New captures will eventually be taken for Lolita and the international version of The Shining. Audio: Criterion’s audio approach across the set is admirably purist. Every film is offered with its original soundtrack, and for the mono-era titles that means uncompressed linear PCM mono remastered from the original magnetic elements. Paths of Glory’s was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm track. For Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, both versions of The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Criterion also includes alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, so purists and surround enthusiasts are both served. The early independent features and Lolita are presented in their original mono alone. This is a notable step up from earlier editions. Warner’s 4K UHD of The Shining offered only a 5.1 remix with no mono at all, its Full Metal Jacket UHD relegated the mono to a lossy track, and Sony’s Dr. Strangelove UHD carried only 16-bit lossless tracks. The three large-format productions get special treatment. Spartacus is presented in 7.1 DTS-HD MA remastered from its 70mm six-track printmaster, and it retains the overture, entr’acte and intermission music. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most generous of all, with its original 70mm six-track theatrical mix in 5.1, an alternate 5.1 remix and the original 35mm general-release mono, which, true to Kubrick’s own 35mm prints, is silent during the overture, intermission and exit music. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its original theatrical 5.1, remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered on every feature, and the set is region free. From the portions we have sampled so far, the tracks sound exceptional, clean and faithful to their sources, with the dynamic range of the scores and Kubrick’s carefully chosen music coming through with clarity and weight. About the Captures Because of the size of this set and its release date, none of the screen captures in this review are taken from The Complete Kubrick discs. Instead, we have included a single capture per film from our earlier reviews, taken from previous 4K UHD editions or, where none exist, Blu-ray. Several of those editions share their restoration with this set, while others come from different transfers. The captures should therefore be taken as representative of each film’s presentation, not as exact reproductions of the Criterion discs. Fear and Desire is represented by Kino’s 2024 4K UHD, which uses the same Kino Lorber restoration found in this set. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing come from Kino’s 2022 4K UHDs, and Paths of Glory from the 2024 Masters of Cinema (Eureka) 4K UHD. All three of those earlier discs were scanned from the original camera negatives, but Criterion presents new Duplitech masters here, so the grading and framing may differ. Spartacus is from Universal’s 2020 4K UHD, which uses the same 2015 restoration from the large-format Technirama elements. Dr. Strangelove is from Sony’s 2021 4K UHD, drawn from the same Sony restoration. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes from Warner’s 2018 4K UHD. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket come from Warner’s 2019 and 2020 4K UHDs respectively. Our Shining capture is from the U.S. theatrical version and serves for both cuts, which share the same restoration in this set. Note that both of those Warner discs were framed at 1.78:1, whereas Criterion presents both films at 1.85:1. Barry Lyndon is from Criterion’s own 2025 4K UHD, which matches the restoration in this set. For Eyes Wide Shut, our capture is from Criterion’s 2025 Blu-ray of the same Larry Smith–approved restoration, as we were unable to capture from that 4K UHD disc at the time. Lolita and A Clockwork Orange are represented by Warner’s 2011 Blu-rays (the latter its 40th Anniversary Edition). Lolita receives a new 4K restoration in this set, so that capture predates it entirely. OUR PAST REVIEWS: Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut Seen together, Stanley Kubrick's films reveal a remarkably consistent sensibility beneath their wildly varied surfaces. There is the dehumanizing machinery of war, from the trenches of Paths of Glory to the War Room farce of Dr. Strangelove and the Parris Island crucible of Full Metal Jacket. There is the individual crushed or remade by institutional authority in A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon, and there are the hidden currents of desire and power in Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut. Running through all of it is an ironic, coolly precise eye that turned every genre he touched, whether noir, epic, satire, science fiction, horror or costume drama, into something unmistakably his own. Watching the arc from the self-financed Fear and Desire and the gritty New York of Killer's Kiss through to the monumental achievements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining is a privilege few box sets can offer. Criterion's The Complete Kubrick is a staggering undertaking. Its 30 discs (13 4K UHD and 17 Blu-ray) hold every finished film Kubrick directed, all restored in 4K and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, many from their original camera negatives. It includes Lolita's 4K debut, Kubrick's international cut of The Shining, both versions of Day of the Fight, original soundtracks alongside remixes, over twenty-five hours of supplements, and archive-inspired packaging filled with Kubrick's own notes, slates and correspondence. We are still working our way through the set, but everything we have sampled so far has looked and sounded exceptional. This is the definitive presentation of one of cinema's most exacting artists and an essential acquisition for any serious film collection. Set of the Year - our very highest recommendation!

OUT TODAY! The Complete Kubrick [4K UHD] - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Malcolm McDowell, Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Duvall @Criterion US: link.amazon/B06ryq1id CAN: link.amazon/B0cMELQ8O OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Killer’s Kiss (1955) / The Killing (1956) / Paths of Glory (1957) / Spartacus (1960) / Lolita (1962) / Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) / 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) / A Clockwork Orange (1971) / Barry Lyndon (1975) / The Shining (1980) / Full Metal Jacket (1987) / Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Criterion The Masters: All features are presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs and in SDR on the Blu-rays. Criterion’s “About the Masters” notes show that nearly every title was restored from its original camera negative, though the restorations come from a mix of sources. Some are Criterion’s own, some are carried over from studio restorations of recent years, and some were done by partner archives. The three independently produced early features had their 4K debuts on Kino Lorber UHDs, but here they are presented in masters made for Criterion by Duplitech. Killer’s Kiss (1.37:1) comes from the 35mm original camera negative, with a composite fine-grain used for some sections. The Killing and Paths of Glory (both 1.66:1) are also drawn from their camera negatives. The Paths of Glory mono was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm magnetic track. Fear and Desire (1.37:1) is the exception: it is Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration, made from the camera negative and a Library of Congress fine-grain. The three shorts are new Criterion 4K restorations from Library of Congress elements. These were 35mm prints and a duplicate negative for Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, and the 16mm original reversal for The Seafarers. The studio-era films largely use existing restorations. Spartacus (2.20:1) is Universal’s 4K restoration from a 6K scan of the original Technirama elements, with Robert A. Harris consulting, and its 7.1 track was remastered from the 70mm six-track printmaster. Dr. Strangelove (1.66:1) is Sony’s 4K restoration, supervised by Grover Crisp and assembled from a fine-grain master, a duplicate negative and a 35mm print. 2001: A Space Odyssey (2.20:1) is Warner’s 4K from an 8K scan of the 65mm camera negative, supervised by Ned Price and Leon Vitali with input from Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema. Its original 70mm six-track 5.1 mix is joined by the 35mm general-release mono, which Kubrick mixed without the overture, intermission and exit music, so those passages are silent on that track. A Clockwork Orange (1.66:1), The Shining (1.85:1) and Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1) are Warner 4K restorations from their camera negatives, with Full Metal Jacket graded against both an answer print and Kubrick’s own personal 35mm reference print. Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut match Criterion’s own recent 4K editions. Barry Lyndon is framed at 1.66:1 per Kubrick’s December 8th, 1975 letter to projectionists, and was graded against Vitali’s 2000 HD transfer. Eyes Wide Shut (1.85:1) is presented in its international cut, supervised and approved by cinematographer Larry Smith. Its look stems from Kubrick’s deliberate decision to have the negative force-developed by two stops, which accounts for the film’s distinctive grain and glowing low-light palette. Two presentations are new to 4K UHD. Lolita (1.66:1) is a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, using a Warner 35mm print as color reference, with its mono remastered from the original DME magnetic track. Kubrick’s international version of The Shining (119 minutes, against 144 for the U.S. theatrical) comes from the same Warner restoration of the camera negative, with its own mono track remastered from the original magnetic elements. Since most of these masters have been reviewed before on DVDBeaver, we have used our existing captures from those earlier 4K UHD releases where applicable. New captures will eventually be taken for Lolita and the international version of The Shining. Audio: Criterion’s audio approach across the set is admirably purist. Every film is offered with its original soundtrack, and for the mono-era titles that means uncompressed linear PCM mono remastered from the original magnetic elements. Paths of Glory’s was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm track. For Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, both versions of The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Criterion also includes alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, so purists and surround enthusiasts are both served. The early independent features and Lolita are presented in their original mono alone. This is a notable step up from earlier editions. Warner’s 4K UHD of The Shining offered only a 5.1 remix with no mono at all, its Full Metal Jacket UHD relegated the mono to a lossy track, and Sony’s Dr. Strangelove UHD carried only 16-bit lossless tracks. The three large-format productions get special treatment. Spartacus is presented in 7.1 DTS-HD MA remastered from its 70mm six-track printmaster, and it retains the overture, entr’acte and intermission music. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most generous of all, with its original 70mm six-track theatrical mix in 5.1, an alternate 5.1 remix and the original 35mm general-release mono, which, true to Kubrick’s own 35mm prints, is silent during the overture, intermission and exit music. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its original theatrical 5.1, remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered on every feature, and the set is region free. From the portions we have sampled so far, the tracks sound exceptional, clean and faithful to their sources, with the dynamic range of the scores and Kubrick’s carefully chosen music coming through with clarity and weight. About the Captures Because of the size of this set and its release date, none of the screen captures in this review are taken from The Complete Kubrick discs. Instead, we have included a single capture per film from our earlier reviews, taken from previous 4K UHD editions or, where none exist, Blu-ray. Several of those editions share their restoration with this set, while others come from different transfers. The captures should therefore be taken as representative of each film’s presentation, not as exact reproductions of the Criterion discs. Fear and Desire is represented by Kino’s 2024 4K UHD, which uses the same Kino Lorber restoration found in this set. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing come from Kino’s 2022 4K UHDs, and Paths of Glory from the 2024 Masters of Cinema (Eureka) 4K UHD. All three of those earlier discs were scanned from the original camera negatives, but Criterion presents new Duplitech masters here, so the grading and framing may differ. Spartacus is from Universal’s 2020 4K UHD, which uses the same 2015 restoration from the large-format Technirama elements. Dr. Strangelove is from Sony’s 2021 4K UHD, drawn from the same Sony restoration. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes from Warner’s 2018 4K UHD. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket come from Warner’s 2019 and 2020 4K UHDs respectively. Our Shining capture is from the U.S. theatrical version and serves for both cuts, which share the same restoration in this set. Note that both of those Warner discs were framed at 1.78:1, whereas Criterion presents both films at 1.85:1. Barry Lyndon is from Criterion’s own 2025 4K UHD, which matches the restoration in this set. For Eyes Wide Shut, our capture is from Criterion’s 2025 Blu-ray of the same Larry Smith–approved restoration, as we were unable to capture from that 4K UHD disc at the time. Lolita and A Clockwork Orange are represented by Warner’s 2011 Blu-rays (the latter its 40th Anniversary Edition). Lolita receives a new 4K restoration in this set, so that capture predates it entirely. OUR PAST REVIEWS: Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut Seen together, Stanley Kubrick's films reveal a remarkably consistent sensibility beneath their wildly varied surfaces. There is the dehumanizing machinery of war, from the trenches of Paths of Glory to the War Room farce of Dr. Strangelove and the Parris Island crucible of Full Metal Jacket. There is the individual crushed or remade by institutional authority in A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon, and there are the hidden currents of desire and power in Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut. Running through all of it is an ironic, coolly precise eye that turned every genre he touched, whether noir, epic, satire, science fiction, horror or costume drama, into something unmistakably his own. Watching the arc from the self-financed Fear and Desire and the gritty New York of Killer's Kiss through to the monumental achievements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining is a privilege few box sets can offer. Criterion's The Complete Kubrick is a staggering undertaking. Its 30 discs (13 4K UHD and 17 Blu-ray) hold every finished film Kubrick directed, all restored in 4K and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, many from their original camera negatives. It includes Lolita's 4K debut, Kubrick's international cut of The Shining, both versions of Day of the Fight, original soundtracks alongside remixes, over twenty-five hours of supplements, and archive-inspired packaging filled with Kubrick's own notes, slates and correspondence. We are still working our way through the set, but everything we have sampled so far has looked and sounded exceptional. This is the definitive presentation of one of cinema's most exacting artists and an essential acquisition for any serious film collection. Set of the Year - our very highest recommendation!

Sergio Grieco's "The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine" 4K UHD - Françoise Prévost, Jenny Tamburi, Corrado Gaipa, Aldina Martano, Barbara Herrera, María Luisa Sala @indicatorseries US: link.amazon/B093w4Gob CAN: link.amazon/B09AbiS37 UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI… US Blu-ray: link.amazon/B0imhmsq5 CAN Blu-ray: link.amazon/B00d1JdXq UK Blu-ray: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… What separates The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine from the more lurid entries of the cycle is that Grieco plays much of it as straight gothic tragedy. The Romeo-and-Juliet framework gives the film a narrative spine that many of its nunsploitation contemporaries lack. Its real target is the Church as an institution of control. The convent is a place where daughters are disposed of for family convenience, where piety masks appetite, and where the Inquisition serves anyone with a grudge. The expected flagellation and nudity are present, but they are less gratuitous than in films like The Nun and the Devil, and they are more firmly tied to the abbess’s tyranny. Prévost is the film’s center of gravity. Her abbess is icy and composed in public and quietly desperate in private, and she gives the film a dignity it might otherwise lack. Tamburi, only in her early 20s, has the wide-eyed vulnerability the role demands, and her terrified close-ups in the convent’s cells are among the film’s most effective moments. Malco, a few years before his Fulci period, makes a handsome if somewhat passive hero. Gaipa’s leering inquisitor is pure villainy, a grinning embodiment of religious sadism. The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine rises above much of the nunsploitation cycle by playing its Inquisition-era tale as gothic tragedy. Its Romeo-and-Juliet framework gives the film a narrative backbone, and its scorn is aimed squarely at institutional hypocrisy. Françoise Prévost (Paris Belongs to Us, Spirits of the Dead,) brings real dignity to the tormented abbess. Jenny Tamburi (The Suspicious Death of a Minor, Smile Before Death,) is affecting as the doomed novice, Paolo Malco (The New York Ripper, The House by the Cemetery, Murder-Rock) is a handsome hero, and Corrado Gaipa (The Godfather, Lucky Luciano, Illustrious Corpses) makes a gleefully sadistic inquisitor. The Indicator 4K UHD is superb, with a pristine, film-like Dolby Vision image at a very high bitrate and a clean lossless 24-bit Italian mono track. The extras include a new commentary and an excellent subgenre documentary. Fans of Italian genre cinema should consider this a must-own, and it is strongly recommended!

Uli Edel's "Christiane F." 4K UHD - Natja Brunckhorst, Thomas Haustein, David Bowie @Criterion US: link.amazon/A0c2Qm7IW CAN: link.amazon/B00qdtU99 US Blu-ray: link.amazon/B0i6FJSxK CAN Blu-ray: link.amazon/B0h7CIEuv BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Natja Brunckhorst plays Christiane. She was barely older than her character when they shot it. Christiane is a bored 13-year-old living in the anonymous high-rises of Gropiusstadt with a mother who is rarely home. The film works because Edel refuses both moralizing and glamour. It has no adult voice of reason and no tidy redemption arc. Mostly there are kids, many of them younger than Christiane, trying to talk each other into quitting while they share a spoon. The withdrawal sequence, where Christiane and Detlef try to go cold turkey together in her room, is one of the most punishing passages in any addiction film. Uli Edel's Christiane F. remains one of the most harrowing films ever made about addiction, and its power hasn't diminished in 45 years. Edel refuses to moralize or glamorize. He lets his non-professional young cast, led by an extraordinary Brunckhorst, carry the story from the giddy freedom of the Sound discotheque and the David Bowie concert to the platforms and public toilets of Bahnhof Zoo. The authentically grimy location shooting and Bowie's Berlin-era music give it an atmosphere that no later film about addiction has quite matched. Criterion's director-approved 4K restoration is a revelation in 4K UHD, with heavy, natural grain, deep blacks and true-to-period color, and the new DTS-HD Master 5.1 track brings the Bowie songs to life. The extras, including the new interviews with Edel and Sean Baker, the 2022 Brunckhorst interview and the screen tests, add welcome context. This is easily the best this cult classic has ever looked or sounded on home video, and it comes very strongly recommended!

James Gray's "Little Odessa" 4K UHD - Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly, Vanessa Redgrave, Paul Guilfoyle, Natalya Andreychenko, Maximilian Schell @Criterion US: link.amazon/A05cBfYPs CAN: link.amazon/B00ErcRvB UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI… US Blu-ray: link.amazon/B0eQsnXKX CAN Blu-ray: link.amazon/B0cUNkmb0 BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… On the surface Little Odessa is a gangster picture, but James Gray is far less interested in the mechanics of the hit than in what is waiting for Joshua at home. The violence he practices for a living is presented as the inheritance of a household ruled by Arkady’s contempt. In that household the mother is fading and the youngest son is learning, by watching, how to become his brother. It is a Dostoevskian construct of guilt, exile and patrimony. Gray stages it with a classical restraint that was startling from a first-time director in the age of Tarantino imitators. Thirty years on, Little Odessa remains one of the most assured American debuts of the '90s and the clear template for everything Gray has made since. Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Hit, Meantime, Vincent & Theo, Youth Without Youth, Don't Come Knocking, Invincible, Chronic, Bergman Island) gives one of his most interior performances as the hooded, watchful Joshua, with Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, American History X, Animal Factory) as the open nerve of the film and Moira Kelly (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) as the girl he left behind. Brief Vanessa Redgrave (Blow-Up, Isadora, The Devils, A Man for All Seasons, Camelot, A Quiet Place in the Country, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Julia, Comrades, Howards End, Deep Impact, Atonement, The Day of the Triffids) and Maximilian Schell (Judgment at Nuremberg, The Young Lions, Return from the Ashes, The Deadly Affair, Krakatoa East of Java, The Odessa File, The Man in the Glass Booth, Cross of Iron, John Carpenter's Vampires), reunited from Julia, give the household its gravity: the dying mother and the self-pitying, tyrannical father whose contempt set everything in motion. DoP Tom Richmond (Palindromes, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Chopping Mall; camera operator on Repo Man and Monster) shoots the drained winter palette and swallowing shadows with real mastery, and the choral music of Arvo Pärt and Georgy Sviridov turns the story into a requiem. Criterion's director-approved 4K UHD, with Dolby Vision, is flawless, handling the film's very dark photography beautifully, and the included Blu-ray is excellent in its own right. Add Gray's commentary, the French making-of documentary, a new conversation with Sean Fennessey and Glenn Kenny's essay, and this is a superb package for a film that has long deserved one. This 4K UHD package get a strong recommendation.

Jerzy Skolimowski's "The Shout" Blu-ray - Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Tim Curry @Criterion US: link.amazon/A00zgUvQK CAN: link.amazon/B07FFY035 UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Jerzy Skolimowski, a Polish émigré working in England, approaches English village life the way an anthropologist might. Crossley is a kind of cuckoo in the nest, a figure familiar from Teorema and similar tales of the stranger who disrupts a bourgeois home. Here, though, the threat is primal rather than spiritual. He represents something old and uncontrollable that the civilized couple can’t reason with and, in Rachel’s (Susannah York) case, can’t resist. The Shout is one of the most unsettling and original British films of the 1970s, a puzzle-box study of dread that never settles whether we are watching memory, invention, or madness. Skolimowski (Moonlighting, EO, Night Train, Essential Killing, Deep End) looks at the English village like an outsider, making the cottage, the church, and the cobbler's shop as strange as Crossley's tales of the outback. Alan Bates (The Running Man (1963), The Wicked Lady, The Go-Between, Tommy, Zorba the Greek, The Pumpkin Eater, The Rose, Secret Friends, Impossible Object, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, King of Hearts, An Unmarried Woman, Women in Love, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Caretaker, Georgy Girl, Gosford Park) is superb as Crossley, by turns charming, menacing, and pitiful, and he never reveals whether the man is a sorcerer or simply a very persuasive madman. John Hurt (Alien, Melancholia, Watership Down, I, Claudius, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 1984, The Limits of Control, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, 10 Rillington Place, Dead Man, Scandal, The Hit, A Man for All Seasons) is a fine match as the composer whose curiosity about sound becomes the very thing that endangers him. Susannah York (Visitors, Images, The Killing of Sister George, Gold, Sands of the Kalahari, Tom Jones, Tunes of Glory, A Man for All Seasons, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, X Y & Zee, The Silent Partner) conveys Rachel's trance-like surrender with very little dialogue, and Tim Curry (Clue, Alice, The Hunt for Red October) is a quietly wry presence as Robert Graves, keeping score at the asylum cricket match. Mike Molloy's (The Hit) cinematography makes the vast coastal dunes feel like the edge of the known world, while the sound design and the electronic score by Anthony Banks, Michael Rutherford, and Rupert Hine turn listening itself into a source of terror. The Criterion Blu-ray offers a superb, film-like 1080P transfer from a 2K restoration approved by both Skolimowski and Molloy, a lossless 24-bit 2.0 surround track that delivers the titular shout in all its unnerving power, new interviews with Skolimowski and producer Jeremy Thomas, almost an hour of Skolimowski at the 1997 Midnight Sun Festival, a 1977 on-set TV program, and an essay by Leo Goldsmith (Keywords in Subversive Film.) A curious and deceptively entertaining film experience. Absolutely recommended!

Beneath The Trees : Folktales At DEFA 2 Blu-ray - Rolf Ludwig, Heinz Schubert, Doris Weikow, Marianne Christina Schilling, Julie Juristova, Katrin Martin, Jana Mattukat, Susanne Luning, Eva-Maria Hagen, Lore Frisch @Eurekavideo @mastersofcinema UK: amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI… BONUS CAPTURES: patreon.com/dvdbeaver/posts/… OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Eureka's second volume of DEFA Märchenfilme is every bit as fascinating as the first. Drawing on Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, these five films share a distinctly East German sensibility: vain rulers, greedy courtiers and a moral that always favors ordinary working people, from the soldier of The Tinderbox, left with nothing but the friendship of the poor, to the miners who get their mine back in Snow White and Rose Red. The stars include Barbara Mehlan, Doris Weikow, Marianne Christina Schilling (Signals: A Space Adventure,) Julie Jurištová (Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea,) Katrin Martin and Jana Mattukat, whose princess in the late-GDR The Frog King must earn her prince rather than simply receive him. The crown jewel is Konrad Petzold's The Robe with Eva-Maria Hagen and Lore Frisch, an Andersen satire about a tyrant in a walled town that was shelved in the year the Berlin Wall went up and only reconstructed and premiered in 1991. Its history alone makes the set essential for anyone interested in DEFA. The restorations from the DEFA Foundation are mostly excellent, grainy and film-like, with very high bitrates and original German 24-bit linear PCM tracks. The Robe shows the limits of its surviving elements, but that is part of its story. Add two strong commentaries, informative new featurettes, three charming DEFA stop-motion shorts and a substantial book, and this is another superb Masters of Cinema Blu-ray package. Highly recommended!

OUT TOMORROW! The Complete Kubrick [4K UHD] - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Malcolm McDowell, Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Duvall @Criterion US: link.amazon/B06ryq1id CAN: link.amazon/B0cMELQ8O OUR REVIEW: dvdbeaver.com/subsite/film3/… Killer’s Kiss (1955) / The Killing (1956) / Paths of Glory (1957) / Spartacus (1960) / Lolita (1962) / Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) / 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) / A Clockwork Orange (1971) / Barry Lyndon (1975) / The Shining (1980) / Full Metal Jacket (1987) / Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Criterion The Masters: All features are presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs and in SDR on the Blu-rays. Criterion’s “About the Masters” notes show that nearly every title was restored from its original camera negative, though the restorations come from a mix of sources. Some are Criterion’s own, some are carried over from studio restorations of recent years, and some were done by partner archives. The three independently produced early features had their 4K debuts on Kino Lorber UHDs, but here they are presented in masters made for Criterion by Duplitech. Killer’s Kiss (1.37:1) comes from the 35mm original camera negative, with a composite fine-grain used for some sections. The Killing and Paths of Glory (both 1.66:1) are also drawn from their camera negatives. The Paths of Glory mono was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm magnetic track. Fear and Desire (1.37:1) is the exception: it is Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration, made from the camera negative and a Library of Congress fine-grain. The three shorts are new Criterion 4K restorations from Library of Congress elements. These were 35mm prints and a duplicate negative for Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, and the 16mm original reversal for The Seafarers. The studio-era films largely use existing restorations. Spartacus (2.20:1) is Universal’s 4K restoration from a 6K scan of the original Technirama elements, with Robert A. Harris consulting, and its 7.1 track was remastered from the 70mm six-track printmaster. Dr. Strangelove (1.66:1) is Sony’s 4K restoration, supervised by Grover Crisp and assembled from a fine-grain master, a duplicate negative and a 35mm print. 2001: A Space Odyssey (2.20:1) is Warner’s 4K from an 8K scan of the 65mm camera negative, supervised by Ned Price and Leon Vitali with input from Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema. Its original 70mm six-track 5.1 mix is joined by the 35mm general-release mono, which Kubrick mixed without the overture, intermission and exit music, so those passages are silent on that track. A Clockwork Orange (1.66:1), The Shining (1.85:1) and Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1) are Warner 4K restorations from their camera negatives, with Full Metal Jacket graded against both an answer print and Kubrick’s own personal 35mm reference print. Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut match Criterion’s own recent 4K editions. Barry Lyndon is framed at 1.66:1 per Kubrick’s December 8th, 1975 letter to projectionists, and was graded against Vitali’s 2000 HD transfer. Eyes Wide Shut (1.85:1) is presented in its international cut, supervised and approved by cinematographer Larry Smith. Its look stems from Kubrick’s deliberate decision to have the negative force-developed by two stops, which accounts for the film’s distinctive grain and glowing low-light palette. Two presentations are new to 4K UHD. Lolita (1.66:1) is a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, using a Warner 35mm print as color reference, with its mono remastered from the original DME magnetic track. Kubrick’s international version of The Shining (119 minutes, against 144 for the U.S. theatrical) comes from the same Warner restoration of the camera negative, with its own mono track remastered from the original magnetic elements. Since most of these masters have been reviewed before on DVDBeaver, we have used our existing captures from those earlier 4K UHD releases where applicable. New captures will eventually be taken for Lolita and the international version of The Shining. Audio: Criterion’s audio approach across the set is admirably purist. Every film is offered with its original soundtrack, and for the mono-era titles that means uncompressed linear PCM mono remastered from the original magnetic elements. Paths of Glory’s was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm track. For Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, both versions of The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Criterion also includes alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, so purists and surround enthusiasts are both served. The early independent features and Lolita are presented in their original mono alone. This is a notable step up from earlier editions. Warner’s 4K UHD of The Shining offered only a 5.1 remix with no mono at all, its Full Metal Jacket UHD relegated the mono to a lossy track, and Sony’s Dr. Strangelove UHD carried only 16-bit lossless tracks. The three large-format productions get special treatment. Spartacus is presented in 7.1 DTS-HD MA remastered from its 70mm six-track printmaster, and it retains the overture, entr’acte and intermission music. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most generous of all, with its original 70mm six-track theatrical mix in 5.1, an alternate 5.1 remix and the original 35mm general-release mono, which, true to Kubrick’s own 35mm prints, is silent during the overture, intermission and exit music. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its original theatrical 5.1, remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered on every feature, and the set is region free. From the portions we have sampled so far, the tracks sound exceptional, clean and faithful to their sources, with the dynamic range of the scores and Kubrick’s carefully chosen music coming through with clarity and weight. About the Captures Because of the size of this set and its release date, none of the screen captures in this review are taken from The Complete Kubrick discs. Instead, we have included a single capture per film from our earlier reviews, taken from previous 4K UHD editions or, where none exist, Blu-ray. Several of those editions share their restoration with this set, while others come from different transfers. The captures should therefore be taken as representative of each film’s presentation, not as exact reproductions of the Criterion discs. Fear and Desire is represented by Kino’s 2024 4K UHD, which uses the same Kino Lorber restoration found in this set. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing come from Kino’s 2022 4K UHDs, and Paths of Glory from the 2024 Masters of Cinema (Eureka) 4K UHD. All three of those earlier discs were scanned from the original camera negatives, but Criterion presents new Duplitech masters here, so the grading and framing may differ. Spartacus is from Universal’s 2020 4K UHD, which uses the same 2015 restoration from the large-format Technirama elements. Dr. Strangelove is from Sony’s 2021 4K UHD, drawn from the same Sony restoration. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes from Warner’s 2018 4K UHD. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket come from Warner’s 2019 and 2020 4K UHDs respectively. Our Shining capture is from the U.S. theatrical version and serves for both cuts, which share the same restoration in this set. Note that both of those Warner discs were framed at 1.78:1, whereas Criterion presents both films at 1.85:1. Barry Lyndon is from Criterion’s own 2025 4K UHD, which matches the restoration in this set. For Eyes Wide Shut, our capture is from Criterion’s 2025 Blu-ray of the same Larry Smith–approved restoration, as we were unable to capture from that 4K UHD disc at the time. Lolita and A Clockwork Orange are represented by Warner’s 2011 Blu-rays (the latter its 40th Anniversary Edition). Lolita receives a new 4K restoration in this set, so that capture predates it entirely. OUR PAST REVIEWS: Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut Seen together, Stanley Kubrick's films reveal a remarkably consistent sensibility beneath their wildly varied surfaces. There is the dehumanizing machinery of war, from the trenches of Paths of Glory to the War Room farce of Dr. Strangelove and the Parris Island crucible of Full Metal Jacket. There is the individual crushed or remade by institutional authority in A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon, and there are the hidden currents of desire and power in Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut. Running through all of it is an ironic, coolly precise eye that turned every genre he touched, whether noir, epic, satire, science fiction, horror or costume drama, into something unmistakably his own. Watching the arc from the self-financed Fear and Desire and the gritty New York of Killer's Kiss through to the monumental achievements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining is a privilege few box sets can offer. Criterion's The Complete Kubrick is a staggering undertaking. Its 30 discs (13 4K UHD and 17 Blu-ray) hold every finished film Kubrick directed, all restored in 4K and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, many from their original camera negatives. It includes Lolita's 4K debut, Kubrick's international cut of The Shining, both versions of Day of the Fight, original soundtracks alongside remixes, over twenty-five hours of supplements, and archive-inspired packaging filled with Kubrick's own notes, slates and correspondence. We are still working our way through the set, but everything we have sampled so far has looked and sounded exceptional. This is the definitive presentation of one of cinema's most exacting artists and an essential acquisition for any serious film collection. Set of the Year - our very highest recommendation!