Nearly everyone’s favorite musical of all time, Singin’ in the Rain, arrives on 4K UHD sporting a brand-new transfer, but missing many of the special features from previous Blu-ray release.
The Production: 4.5/5
Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s musical masterpiece, Singin’ in the Rain, is a love letter to the birth of “talkies,” featuring Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, who desperately try to save their studio employer, Monumental Pictures, from disaster by converting their first sound picture into an all-out musical. The only problem – the movie’s star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), not only can‘t sing, but has a voice that makes nails on a chalkboard sound relaxing. Piecing together several popular songs from earlier MGM musicals, the movie is a sheer delight from beginning to end.
You can read Cameron Yee’s review of the film and the 2012 60th Anniversary Blu-ray release here.
Video: 5/5
3D Rating: NA
Warner has created a new 4K master of the film (mostly from dupe sources, as most of the original camera negatives were lost) for this 70th anniversary release, adding HDR10 high dynamic range. The result is an incredible improvement over the still rather excellent 60th anniversary Blu-ray release from 10 years ago. Colors are more refined and vibrant, with improved highlights and stronger shadow detail. Detail gets a nice bump, with slightly more noticeable textures and film grain. Warner has done it again, bringing an all-time classic to 4K.
Audio: 4.5/5
Warner has repurposed the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track from the 2012 60th anniversary Blu-ray release, but this time around, the original mono mix has also been included in DTS-HD MA 2.0 and sounds clean and distortion free.
From Cameron Yee’s Blu-ray review of the 5.1 audio:
Dialogue in the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is consistently clear, detailed and intelligible. The musical numbers naturally benefit most from the lossless presentation, with strings and vocals sounding silky smooth. Surround activity is limited to some light support for the score, but sounds adequately balanced with the front channel activity. LFE is non-existent, but the track has a consistently pleasing depth and dynamic range… the quality of the 5.1 track can’t be denied and most should find it quite pleasing.
Special Features: 3.5/5
Warner has opted for this 70th anniversary release on UHD to unfortunately omit the DVD of additional special features that was included on the 60th Anniversary Collector’s (aka Box of Junk) Edition. What has been included is acceptable, but owners of that 2012 boxed set may want to hold on to those discs.
UHD Disc
Audio Commentary: This is the same track from the previous home video releases of the film.
Musical Numbers: Identical to the Jukebox feature found on the Blu-ray edition, providing access to the individual musical numbers from the film.
Blu-ray Disc
This disc is identical to the Blu-ray disc included on the 60th Anniversary releases of the film.
Audio Commentary
Singin’ In the Rain: Raining on a New Generation (1080p; 50:41)
Jukebox
Theatrical Trailer (480i; 4:07)
Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital copy in UHD on Movies Anywhere. Many of the omitted special features are available on select digital retailers.
Overall: 4.5/5
Singin’ in the Rain has never looked better in this new 4K release. Unfortunately, some of the archival special features have not been included this time around.
Singin’ in the Rain [4K UHD]
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Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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