UHD Review Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Columbia Classics Vol. 4) UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner makes its 4K debut as part of Sony’s Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 4.



Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)



Released: 12 Dec 1967
Rated: Approved
Runtime: 108 min




Director: Stanley Kramer
Genre: Comedy, Drama



Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn
Writer(s): William Rose



Plot: A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her African-American fiancé.



IMDB rating: 7.8
MetaScore: 63





Disc Information



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



Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Dolby Atmos, English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, English 2.0 DTS-HDMA...

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[Robert Harris]

Wonderful review, Todd, Thank you. You’re correct. Miss Hepburn not only knew of Mr. Tracy’s health problems, but as In recall, they may have been living together during the production. He was only able to be on set for an hour or or so a day. Miss Hepburn’s tears in one sequence, as her old friend speaks, are quit real. Having that information causes the film to play differently for me, and I presume, for others. Reminds me of something Freddie Young told me. During the production of Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Mr.Donat pulled him aside, told him that he had a serious condition, and to get all of his takes which needed dialogue or his face on camera, leaving reverses to be dealt with as necssary.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Wonderful review, Todd, Thank you. You’re correct. Miss Hepburn not only knew of Mr. Tracy’s health problems, but as In recall, they may have been living together during the production. He was only able to be on set for an hour or or so a day. Miss Hepburn’s tears in one sequence, as her old friend speaks, are quit real. Having that information causes the film to play differently for me, and I presume, for others. Reminds me of something Freddie Young told me. During the production of Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Mr.Donat pulled him aside, told him that he had a serious condition, and to get all of his takes which needed dialogue or his face on camera, leaving reverses to be dealt with as necssary.

That wasn't me who said that, it was from Richard Gallagher's review of the Twilight Time Blu-ray release.

 

[Robert Harris]

Giving credit where due. Mr. Donat passed a month before the film wrapped.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

While it may have a great back story it’s not a great film but an important film for its time IMHO
Rather hokey and driven by star power alone.
Its subject would be much more effectively handled in a few years later by Norman Lear on TV on many of his hit shows.

 

[Mark-P]

Per the restoration notes by Grover Crisp included in the collectable book, Sony had “an original 35mm 6-track magnetic master to work with” as a starting point

Pray tell, what is that? I’ve never heard of a 35mm 6-track magnetic master. 70mm sure, but 35mm was limited to 4-track. Unless this was a 6 track element, striping on a 35mm roll without picture that was meant for use with a 70mm release that never materialized.

 

[warnerbro]

I have the Twilight Time and it is quite nice. I think this is a powerful film with powerful performances and very progressive for its time.

 

[Vern Dias]

Pray tell, what is that? I’ve never heard of a 35mm 6-track magnetic master. 70mm sure, but 35mm was limited to 4-track. Unless this was a 6 track element, striping on a 35mm roll without picture that was meant for use with a 70mm release that never materialized.

It was a full coat (35mm with magnetic oxide across the full width) element which was used extensively for mastering.

From Wikipedia, describing Command records use of 35mm fullcoat:

While the recording industry had made magnetic tape the standard for recording music for release on vinyl, Command's albums were recorded onto magnetic 35mm film. Light used the width of the film strip to create multitrack recordings, as opposed to the more limited two or three tracks offered by most recording studios at the time; the slightly higher linear speed provided an advantage in analog fidelity and the sprocket-driven film limited the "wow and flutter" problems associated with tape recording. This enabled Light to record more instruments individually and adjust their audio input levels, as well as their stereo position.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_Records

Movie studios often employed the same technology for audio mastering.

 

[battlebeast]

This IS a GREAT film. Great review.

 

[Lee Sandersen]

One of my favorite films, of course, Miss Houghton being so pretty, also helpped my opinion on this. BTW, the soundtrack record is amazing. Frank DeVol did it, an amazing talent from that time. Look him up, started in pop music, then did soundtracks. I own the soundtrack on pristine vinyl. I say pristine, because about 35 years ago, I found an unopened copy in a used book store, cost me a buck. Not a click or pop on it, rare for those days. I right away copied it to reel to reel tape, so as not to lose the great fidelity. Today all my music is digitalized, and my digital copy came from that tape. I listen to it at least annualy, sometimes more than that. I see a new record is $124 these days. Of course you can always stream it I guess, but where is the fun in that? https://www.amazon.com/GUESS-COMING-DINNER-ORIGINAL-SOUNDTRACK/dp/B00125JPC6

 

[PMF]

I would argue that it is a classic film that remains of great importance. Flawlessly executed, deftly balanced, brilliantly written and an acting ensemble of sheer perfection that still sets the standard and bar quite high, over a half century later. Thrilled that Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was taken on by Grover Crisp and his Rolls Royce team.

Yet another thoughtful review from Mr. Todd Erwin; as well as encouraged to read that this personal favorite of mine still garners a 5/5.

 

[Wes Candela]

While it may have a great back story it’s not a great film but an important film for its time IMHO
Rather hokey and driven by star power alone.
Its subject would be much more effectively handled in a few years later by Norman Lear on TV on many of his hit shows.

It’s a critical and beautiful film, important.
it addresses racism from both sides of the spectrum, and how sensitive the barrier breaking was to both sides.

The acting was sublime. Is sublime. However, it's Katherine Hepburn that knocks it out of rhe park.

her tears, and her eyes are extremely wet and filled with emotion throughout the movie. Heartbreaking for me to watch. I only saw the movie last week when I saw the 4K edition, but in my heart, I believe she found it important to do the movie and I can see that on her face during the film.
I was not aware that Spencer Tracy was sick, but that does explain quite a lot makes it even more precious of a movie to me. I can't say that I think Norman Lear handled this subject better than Stanley Kramer.

I found the way they handled the subject matter to be respectful, sensitive, and beautiful when Sidney Poitier says to his father
"Dad, in your eyes, you are a colored man. But I… I'm just a man."

I fell in love with the movie

Beautiful and tender, and I laughed quite a bit.
Great review