The Killing and Killer's Kiss 4K UHDs (1955-1956)

[Dailyan]

The Killing 4K Blu-ray .... Killer's Kiss 4K Blu-ray

Coming Soon on 4KUHD!

Two Classic Film Noirs by the Great Stanley Kubrick!

Brand New 2022 HDR Dolby Vision Masters!

• The Killing (1956) Starring Sterling Hayden - Cinematography by Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch)

• Killer’s Kiss (1955) Cinematography by Stanley Kubrick

Sold Separately!

[Filmmaker]

I desperately want to quit my job (good pay but miserable beyond all ken in every other way), but Kino’s hellbent on making that impossible, I see.

[Kyle15]

Oh dear. Would be excited but I'm avoiding this unless it isn't a mess.

[kristoffer]

More Kubrick in HDR! Well, shit, I guess I will have to get these depending on how they turn out.

[BluProofie]

They’ll screw it up somehow lol

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

They’ll screw it up somehow lol

Cue "is it really a problem if I don't see it?"/"you can't expect perfection"/"entitled whining"/"you're going to kill physical media"

[Matt89]

Cool, but I'm definitely holding onto my Arrow Academy release until someone who knows what they're talking about has a look at it. Lol.

~Matt

[Brian81]

Ok wonder if it will be a. 2-fer or separate releases.

[tama]

Its good to see the Killers Kiss getting a new scan. And although the Criterion release was a solid 2k master I never liked the noise (was it scanner noise?) That plagued that presentation.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

2-fer. "Killer's Kiss" is barely worthy enough of an individual Blu let alone a standalone 4K. I assume "Killer's Kiss" is automatically part of a packaged deal with "The Killing".

Appears that they are solo releases according to social media posting from KLSC. I generally prefer individual cases/packaging for individual films.

[MifuneFan]

Expected Kino to have these, like most other major MGM titles from Criterion (and other labels). I'm surprised they're being sold separately though.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Oh dear. Would be excited but I'm avoiding this unless it isn't a mess.

I'm hoping that it'll be better than either the Criterion and Arrow Blus. I find neither one to be ideal; Criterion has more high frequency grain but the encoding is complete ass and Arrow's is more tightly encoded but it's got a bit too much filtering (I presume this was more of MGM's doing of modifying Criterion's HD master for licensors).

[yoloswegmaster420]

I'm convinced that KL and MGM had sneakily signed a deal first as there is no way Criterion had passed on the 4K rights on these or any of the other titles that have been previously announced by KL.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

I'm convinced that KL and MGM had sneakily signed a deal first as there is no way Criterion had passed on the 4K rights on these or any of the other titles that have been previously announced by KL.

For sure they did. Kino Insider won't divulge the details of course, but somehow they got access to these before any other label could pounce. Similar to Criterion, I'm certain Arrow would have gotten 4K rights to The Apartment too since it's been a popular title for them.

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

I'm convinced that KL and MGM had sneakily signed a deal first as there is no way Criterion had passed on the 4K rights on these or any of the other titles that have been previously announced by KL.

I'm sure Kino got a good first dibs deal but remember, Criterion only releases 5 titles a month, so it's not like they can handle upgrading every one of their releases. We don't know which titles Criterion's curator would have chosen to spend time to upgrade. This may be a huge title for us fans, but for all we know, the CC curator may be less enthusiastic about it than he is other titles

[dylrichard02]

Sold separately, but that's okay. I'll have to hold off and see how it compares to the Criterion/Arrow UK first.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

I'm convinced that KL and MGM had sneakily signed a deal first as there is no way Criterion had passed on the 4K rights on these or any of the other titles that have been previously announced by KL.

Sounds like tin foil hat stuff to me. Criterion's BD of these two came out, what, 11 years ago? That's one hell of a thing to protect for a format that doesn't exist. And have you listened to anything Lee Kline has said on the subject over the past few years? His Famous Filmmaker Friends™️ mostly hate HDR or think it's a waste of time and he just played right into that, it wouldn't surprise me in the least that when these recent MGM titles were enacted by Criterion (some which were a good three or four years ago now e.g. SOTL) that they said "thanks but no thanks" to the 4K disc rights, even though MGM be handing them out like sweeties.

In other words, even though the 4K rights seem to have been included as a matter of course or for a nominal fee with MGM licenses Criterion actually made a point of refusing them, for which they're being gazumped now. [edit] Though that's separate from these two films as noted above, no way was 4K a thing in 2011. In this case they've just plain snoozed on them while Kino have nipped in.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Sounds like tin foil hat stuff to me. Criterion's BD of these two came out, what, 11 years ago? That's one hell of a thing to protect for a format that doesn't exist. And have you listened to anything Lee Kline has said on the subject over the past few years? His Famous Filmmaker Friends™️ mostly hate HDR or think it's a waste of time and he just played right into that, it wouldn't surprise me in the least that when these recent MGM titles were enacted by Criterion (some which were a good three or four years ago now e.g. SOTL) that they said "thanks but no thanks" to the 4K disc rights, even though MGM be handing them out like sweeties.

In other words, even though the 4K rights seem to have been included as a matter of course or for a nominal fee with MGM licenses Criterion made a point of refusing them, for which they're being gazumped now.

If Criterion simply passed on 4K rights, the insider would likely have said that. There's nothing nefarious about them scooping up titles that were simply available to any label for licensing.. Instead, they've been pretty cryptic every time they've been asked if they simply got to these MGM titles before Criterion did.

As of right now Kino got these titles previously released from Criterion, presumably all in the same deal:

Silence of the Lambs
Some Like it Hot
Paths of Glory
The Great Escape
In The Heat of the Night
Dressed to Kill
The Killing
Killer's Kiss

You really believe Criterion passed on all of these? You could make the argument that they may have passed on one or two, but all? I find that very hard to believe. I'm sure this isn't all of them either. I expect The Graduate, and others too. And again, Arrow passed on The Apartment too? You could argue that Criterion were short-sighted as far as 4K goes, but Arrow too? You have to keep in mind that Kino is the largest customer for MGM, they license some really obscure titles that Criterion, and Arrow would never touch. What's a good way to keep them doing that? How about access to 4K rights before any other label? When I stated this recently, the Kino Insider simply said they rarely get first dibs before other labels, but that in no way answers that they didn't with these 4K titles. However they acquired them, the Insider refuses to publicly state how they did. And this is from an Insider who has had zero problems divulging such details in the past, or letting us know when another label has something, etc.. Interpret that however you want.

[Maximux]

great news of course but will wait for reviews before buying

[yoloswegmaster420]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

If Criterion simply passed on 4K rights, the insider would likely have said that. There's nothing nefarious about them scooping up titles that were simply available for the taking. Instead, they've been pretty cryptic every time they've been asked if they simpyl got to these MGM titles before Crriterion did.

As of right now Kino got these titles previously released from Criterion, presumably all in the same deal:

Silence of the Lambs
Some Like it Hot
Paths of Glory
The Great Escape
In The Heat of the Night
Dressed to Kill
The Killing
Killer's Kiss

You really believe Criterion passed on all of these? You could make the argument that they may have passed on one or two, but all? I find that very hard to believe. And again, Arrow passed on The Apartment too? You could argue that Criterion were shortsighted as far as 4K goes, but Arrow too?

Not to mention that it doesn't really matter what Lee Kline has said about 4K on his (not Criterion's) podcast, as the Big C have already announced/released 9 4K titles (with DV/HDR10!) within 5 months. Like they are ok with releasing 'The Last Waltz' or 'The Piano' on 4K but are happy to pass on 'Paths of Glory' or 'Some Like it Hot'?