In the Heat of the Night 4K UHD (1967) (Criterion Collection)

[MifuneFan]

Coming in May!

In The Heat of the Night 4K UHD

https://www.criterion.com/films/2945...t-of-the-night

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Interviews with director Norman Jewison and actor Lee Grant
• Segment from a 2006 American Film Institute interview with actor Sidney Poitier
• Interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon
• Audio commentary featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler
• Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the ’60s, a program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald Hudlin
• Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a program about Jones’s innovative soundtrack, including the title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie Hancock
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins

Cover by Sean Phillips

[jt839]

Will this have HDR/Dolby Vision?

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by jt839

Will this have HDR/Dolby Vision?

Doesn't look like it. Not sure I'd replace the Kino if there's no upgrade in the transfer.

Also, the Kino has the two followup films with Virgil Tibbs that the Criterion is missing.

[MifuneFan]

There's a German release with HDR/DV if anyone needs it. I think this restoration/scan was done in SDR though, so that release may be applying HDR to that SDR master.

[dickdarlington]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

There's a German release with HDR/DV if anyone needs it. I think this restoration/scan was done in SDR though, so that release may be applying HDR to that SDR master.

Come through Arrow UK.

[thunder2020]

Yes without HDR/DV there is no point of this release since kino's version is perfectly fine. Now we need Arrow to come through

[zw94]

Is this Criterion taking the path of least resistance or is MGM standing in the way of adding HDR?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by zw94

Is this Criterion taking the path of least resistance or is MGM standing in the way of adding HDR?

Probably the former.

[MifuneFan]

If no HDR was done when the master was made then Criterion aren't applying it to an SDR one, simple as that.

[jt839]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

If no HDR was done when the master was made then Criterion aren't applying it to an SDR one, simple as that.

It was a 10 bit scan. The HDR on the German release isn't fake to my knowledge.



From user nicolas on Criterion Forum.


"In case anyone’s considering getting the Criterion upgrade: German label Wicked Vision also released the film in 4K in 2023 but they did a HDR / Dolby Vision grade and it looks excellent. It’s not a fake HDR grade as the negative scan was done at a higher bit depth (I believe 10-bit). Still, the MGM restoration was only performed in SDR for whatever reason. It’s a strong release and can highly recommend it, however at the moment it’s not cheap."

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Criterion seem to have a policy where if they're given something SDR-finished then they'll present it in SDR instead of giving it a HDR pass. I've seen cases where a HDR pass can be appealing, but there's times where the limitations of the SDR-sourced content becomes a bit too noticeable.

In an ideal world we'd get new OCN scans on an industry leading scanner with a pure HDR workflow, but that doesn't seem like it will happen for many of these 4K masters that were finished in SDR at the time.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by jt839

It was a 10 bit scan. The HDR on the German release isn't fake to my knowledge.



From user nicolas on Criterion Forum.


"In case anyone’s considering getting the Criterion upgrade: German label Wicked Vision also released the film in 4K in 2023 but they did a HDR / Dolby Vision grade and it looks excellent. It’s not a fake HDR grade as the negative scan was done at a higher bit depth (I believe 10-bit). Still, the MGM restoration was only performed in SDR for whatever reason. It’s a strong release and can highly recommend it, however at the moment it’s not cheap."

That paragraph is a bit confusing. It does say the MGM restoration was SDR. So are they saying Wicked Vision did a brand new scan/restoration than that MGM one, or are they still using that SDR restoration from MGM? It still sounds like the latter based on their use of the word Still there.

[RBBrittain]

Is it normal for a boutique label's license for a film to last only 3 years? The release date for this is just after 3 years from Kino Lorber's 4K. If this were The Silence of the Lambs I might see a reason to replace it, but I see no such reason here other than making more money off the Criterion brand.

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by jt839

It was a 10 bit scan. The HDR on the German release isn't fake to my knowledge.



From user nicolas on Criterion Forum.


"In case anyone’s considering getting the Criterion upgrade: German label Wicked Vision also released the film in 4K in 2023 but they did a HDR / Dolby Vision grade and it looks excellent. It’s not a fake HDR grade as the negative scan was done at a higher bit depth (I believe 10-bit). Still, the MGM restoration was only performed in SDR for whatever reason. It’s a strong release and can highly recommend it, however at the moment it’s not cheap."

Wait, is that person implying that a German label was granted access to the raw scans and did their own workflow? If so, then I find that kind of difficult to believe, and that's what would likely be required in order to give it a native HDR finish.

I think it's more likely that the German Blu-ray is an HDR upconversion of an SDR source, but if anybody can provide anything suggesting otherwise then I'd happily stand corrected.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

Is it normal for a boutique label's license for a film to last only 3 years? The release date for this is just after 3 years from Kino Lorber's 4K. If this were The Silence of the Lambs I might see a reason to replace it, but I see no such reason here other than making more money off the Criterion brand.

There was nothing really normal about Kino's licensing of the 10 MGM titles that Criterion have BD rights to that are now OOP. It's the first time that a studio split the BD and 4K rights between two boutiques, which hasn't really happened much with MGM since. When asked multiple times about how Kino managed to get the 4K rights to them, they've always been more coy, and saying stuff like "no comment". If it was simply them beating Criterion to the rights I don't see why they wouldn't have said that. I've often speculated that they got some sort of short-term sweetheart deal or a heads-up from their connections at MGM that they were open to splitting format rights before Criterion was aware of that. The fact that their license for them has already ended before the usual lengths also points to this being an unusual package deal for them. Others on here simply speculate that Criterion were just too slow to jump to 4K and Kino merely beat them to the punch.

I don't think Criterion expects most people that have the Kino releases to buy this one, or the other ones that seem to be coming out monthly, but there are thousands of new customers who don't yet have them, and since they're OOP (and getting scarce at retailers), Criterion will eventually be the sole option to get them.

[Matt89]

Yeah, I can also see people jumping on this for the fact that it's simply a Criterion release.

I hope they do The Killing/Killer's Kiss and The Night of the Hunter soon.

[Nocheduro]

Originally Posted by JohnCarpenterFan

Wait, is that person implying that a German label was granted access to the raw scans and did their own workflow? If so, then I find that kind of difficult to believe, and that's what would likely be required in order to give it a native HDR finish.

I think it's more likely that the German Blu-ray is an HDR upconversion of an SDR source, but if anybody can provide anything suggesting otherwise then I'd happily stand corrected.

There is more info in this thread.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=365103

I already have the Kino 4K and the Criterion BR for any extras so I won’t be getting the Criterion 4K.

[CreasyBear]

These labels reissuing the same titles that have already been available in 4K is getting a bit ridiculous. Are there that many people who didn't buy the Kino 4K really going to purchase this one again?

[bbyrd1982]

The Kino is really good. This is the second month in a row Criterion is releasing a movie that already exists in 4k. What are we doing here?

[RBBrittain]

With no HDR, and with KL's 4K taken from the same restoration as the Criterion BD, I see only ONE reason to buy this besides the Criterion brand if you already own the Criterion BD & KL 4K as I have: While KL's OG audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono which usually uses the left & right front speakers, Criterion's is LPCM mono which some players (like my UB820) will output as LPCM 5.1, with all channels but center silent, to more accurately reproduce mono. IMO that's not enough to buy this.