UHD Review Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia Classics Vol. 2) UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

Sony brings the 1959 Otto Preminger classic Anatomy of a Murder to 4K UHD Blu-ray as part of their 6-movie Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 2.



Anatomy of a Murder (1959)



Released: 13 Jul 1959
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 161 min




Director: Otto Preminger
Genre: Drama, Mystery



Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
Writer(s): Wendell Mayes, John D. Voelker



Plot: An upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?



IMDB rating: 8.0
MetaScore: 95





Disc Information



Studio: Sony
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution: 2160p HEVC w/HDR...

Continue reading...

 

[willyTass]

The highlight of the set in my humble opinion

 

[Johnny Angell]

BTW, the missing doc on the Criterion edition was only excerpts of the doc.

Did you find scenes in which the grain looks more like noise than grain. This happens with plain sky or walls.

 

[benbess]

One reason I didn't get the Columbia 4k volume 2 set when it first came out was that I already had the Criterion blu-ray of Anatomy of a Murder. Since the Criterion blu-ray was already restored from the OCN, I wondered how much more 4k could improve this somewhat gritty 35mm movie. But now that I've got vol. 2 after reading the positive reviews, sitting fairly close to my 65" 4k tv I think there's a big difference between this 4k of Anatomy of a Murder and the Criterion blu-ray. Watching the first fifteen minutes of both of them, one after the other, it's clear that significant additional clean-up has been done for the 4k, which is noticeable starting with the Saul Bass graphics during the opening credits. The film grain is also more natural and film-like with the 4k. And finally there are additional fine details in various scenes, especially in close-ups. As a film, I think it's probably one of James Stewart's top ten or so roles, but all the players are very good.

As Matt Hough writes in his perceptive review above:

"James Stewart won the New York Film Critics’ Best Actor prize for his performance, and it was well earned: he’s never been quite so electric as he is thundering away at George C. Scott as the two lawyers play cat and mouse continually with one another during the lengthy, brilliantly played courtroom sequences. George C. Scott had made only one other film prior to this one, but you’d think he’d been doing movie acting all his life so brilliantly taut and controlled is his performance. It’s a master class in acting and reacting that certainly paved the way for his subsequent amazing movie career. Lee Remick is likewise stunning as the gorgeous victim of rape whose sexual freedom seems rather brazen for the mid-20th century. Ben Gazzara also walks the fine line between controlled rage and knowing complicity as the defendant. It’s great seeing Eve Arden as the secretary cracking wise in her dryly familiar style, and Arthur O’Connell is completely believable as the aged lawyer spying one last chance to rebuild his life away from booze. Also very effective in smaller roles are Kathryn Grant, Murray Hamilton, and Orson Bean as a young Army psychiatrist. As for Joseph N. Welch, the lawyer famous for his telling putdown of Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings, his amateurish line readings and monotone delivery as Judge Weaver somehow seem completely apt surrounded by these towering talents as he is. It’s conceivable that a judge pushed into the limelight on a moment’s notice might appear flustered or hesitant under these circumstances, so it’s one bit of stunt casting that does work in Preminger’s favor."

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Wasn't sure where else to post this, so hope you don't mind, Todd.

We were traveling in Michigan's Upper Peninsula last week, and stopped for lunch at the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay (a small town about 20 miles north of Marquette). This is the bar where the murder took place, and the bar scenes in the movie were actually filmed on location here. We arrived when the place was just opening, and were the only customers in there for awhile. Spent some time talking with Jack, who's been the owner for the past 20 years. He has a large binder filled with photos of the crime scene, body at the morgue, and still photos from the filming. It took us our entire lunch break to peruse the contents of the binder.

Here are a few photos I took with my smart phone (didn't want to get my real camera out of the car).

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Neat - thanks for sharing!

 

[RMajidi]

As Matt Hough writes in his perceptive review above:

"James Stewart won the New York Film Critics’ Best Actor prize for his performance, and it was well earned: he’s never been quite so electric as he is thundering away at George C. Scott as the two lawyers play cat and…

I agree it was a perceptive and very well-written review.

Mods may wish to correct the attribution to the correct author, Todd Erwin, in case others like me are late to the thread and start reading it from the most recent post and work backwards. They might not read to the top to realise the true author of those words.

That’s taking nothing away from Matt’s reviews, which are uniformly perceptive, well-researched and written.

Edit: Duh - missed this bit: Note: the following is from Matt Hough’s review of the 2012 Blu-ray release of the film from The Criterion Collection.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I really love this film!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I agree it was a perceptive and very well-written review.

Mods may wish to correct the attribution to the correct author, Todd Erwin, in case others like me are late to the thread and start reading it from the most recent post and work backwards. They might not read to the top to realise the true author of those words.

That’s taking nothing away from Matt’s reviews, which are uniformly perceptive, well-researched and written.

Edit: Duh - missed this bit: Note: the following is from Matt Hough’s review of the 2012 Blu-ray release of the film from The Criterion Collection.

I'm glad you caught your error because I was wondering what you were talking about.