The Killing 4K UHD - Sterling Hayden

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Bed of Fear" or "Clean Break" or "Day of Violence")

USA 1956

Stanley Kubrick’s account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywood’s tautest, twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson, and a phenomenal cast of character actors, including Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Timothy Carey, Elisha Cook Jr., and Marie Windsor, The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony, it’s Kubrick to the core.

***

Stanley Kubrick's heist drama "The Killing" is one of the finest noir films of the 1950's, a film so deliberately wire-tight that it will leave exhausted and exhilarated. Its one of the most tense thrillers of all time, and likely to leave you gasping for air after it is all over.

The film introduces us immediately to a host of characters, all involved in a big-time upcoming heist of a racetrack. Kubrick introduces the device of the omniscient narrator, a sort of "Dragnet"-like voice-over that is essential in understanding and following the structure of the story, particularly the time shifts in "Rashomon" style, atypical for that time. The narrator also comments on the actions of the characters, their timed schedules and documentary-like shot scenes of their initial preparations and confrontations with others while planning and partaking in this heist.

Excerpt from Jerry Saravia's film review located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 20th, 1956

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Review: Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Runtime	1:23:54.250
Video	1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 57,328,386,016 bytes Feature: 54,895,000,320 bytes Video Bitrate: 76.49 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1817 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1817 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: DTS-HD Master Audio English 1865 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1865 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 57,328,386,016 bytes Feature: 54,895,000,320 bytes Video Bitrate: 76.49 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc • NEW Audio Commentary by Author/Film Historian Alan K. Rode • Theatrical Trailer (1:46) 4K Ultra HD Release Date: July 26th, 2022 Black 4K Ultra HD Case inside cardboard slipcase Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Kino 4K UHD (July 2022): Kino have released Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" on 4K UHD. While Kino have produced a few 4K transfer without HDR (For a Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars, The Apartment, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and there are others like Koch Media's Neon Demon) this has a Dolby Vision pass described as a "Brand New Dolby Vision HDR Master – From 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative". Unlike most 4K UHD packages, but the same as Kino's Killer's Kiss 4K UHD, this has NO second disc Blu-ray. Both Criterion and Arrow included 1080P transfers of "The Killing" on their Blu-ray packages and are compared HERE.

The 2160P has richer contrast (darker black levels, brighter whites) than the Blu-rays and extensive, consistent visible grain. It is spotlessly clean and looks pristine on my system as I hope the screen captures below can attest. The image is more detailed and brighter in spots with no gloss. It's stunning appearance and the texture is such a film-like upgrade. Shadows (DoP Lucien Ballard but mostly Kubrick) are accentuated and the 1080P transfer seem duller by comparison. As always, systems and equipment will vary.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 58 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: Killer's Kiss (software uniformly simulated HDR), Out of Sight (software uniformly simulated HDR), Raging Bull (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shaft (1971), (software uniformly simulated HDR), Double Indemnity (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Untouchables (software uniformly simulated HDR), For a Few Dollars More (no HDR), Saboteur (software uniformly simulated HDR), Marnie (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shadow of a Doubt (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Fistful of Dollars (no HDR), In the Heat of the Night (no HDR), Jack Reacher (software uniformly simulated HDR), Death Wish II (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Apartment (no HDR), The Proposition (software uniformly simulated HDR), Nightmare Alley (2021) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Godfather (software uniformly simulated HDR), Le Crecle Rouge (software uniformly simulated HDR), An American Werewolf in London (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Hard Day's Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Piano (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Great Escape (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Red Shoes (software uniformly simulated HDR), Citizen Kane (software uniformly simulated HDR), Unbreakable (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mulholland Dr. (software uniformly simulated HDR), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Hills Have Eyes (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Servant (software uniformly simulated HDR), Anatomy of a Murder (software uniformly simulated HDR), Taxi Driver (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wolf Man (1941) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Frankenstein (1931) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Deep Red (software uniformly simulated HDR), Misery (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Silence of the Lambs (software uniformly simulated HDR), John Carpenter's "The Thing" (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Cat' o'Nine Tails (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (software uniformly simulated HDR), Perdita Durango (software uniformly simulated HDR), Django (software uniformly simulated HDR), Fanny Lye Deliver'd (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, (NO HDR applied to disc), Rollerball (software uniformly simulated HDR), Chernobyl (software uniformly simulated HDR), Daughters of Darkness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vigilante (software uniformly simulated HDR), Tremors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cinema Paradiso (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR), Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR), Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsing (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot (software uniformly simulated HDR),, Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR), 2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

On their 4K UHD, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. "The Killing" has aggressive moments with sequences of gunfire that come through with surprisingly intense depth. The score is by Gerald Fried (A Killer in the Family, The Baby, and Kubrick's films Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss and Paths of Glory as well as venturing later into work in TV - Star Trek - and also the notable Joseph H. Lewis' western Terror in a Texas Town - also with Sterling Hayden, but wielding a harpoon!) It adds quite a bit to The Killing sounding impactful and buoyant in the lossless. The disc offers optional English subtitles - and is, like all 4K UHD, region FREE, playable worldwide.

The 4K UHD disc has a fabulous new commentary by author/film historian Alan K. Rode. He covers so much including art director Ruth Sobotka (Kubrick's wife), Stanley's knowledge of lenses, the opening narration by Art Gilmore, how Kubrick got a lot from watching Max Ophuls' films, the use of the flashbacks, how the studio wanted them to remove them (linear) - Harris-Kubrick tried but it didn't work, composer Gerald Fried's friendship with Kubrick - how they would watch films together. He talks about Kubrick's indulgence in chess, playing for quarters in Washington Square Park, a story about cinematographer Lucien Ballard changing the shot that Kubrick has set up, Alan points out Rodney Dangerfield as an extra, discusses Sterling Hayden as a New England sailor, citing comments from Hayden's fascinating memoir "Wanderer" and Rode describes the Marie Windsor character (Sherry Peatty) as a 'delicious package of sociopathic desire'. He talks of the careers of Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards (Ben Casey - and as a degenerate gambler and eventually cocaine addict), Timothy Carey, Jay Adler, Tito Vuolo, Dorothy Adams, James Edwards, Pro wrestler and chess player Kola Kwariani - replete with great stories - sometimes anecdotal. It has so many small, interesting details including locations, and Kubrick fans will greatly appreciate it. There is a trailer for The Killing as well as Killer's Kiss and Paths of Glory. The 4K UHD package has reversible artwork (see below) and an O-card slipcase.

Kino's 4K UHD release of Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" on 4K UHD is much like their Killer's Kiss package. It has the highly notable video upgrade - rife with grain and vastly superior contrast, plus the highly valuable commentary (there was none on the Criterion or Arrow Blu-rays.) "The Killing" was written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson and based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White (James B. Harris bought the rights before United Artists, and Frank Sinatra.) Kubrick and Harris moved from New York to L.A. to shoot the picture, and Kubrick went unpaid during the shooting, surviving on loans from Harris, but it helped establish Kubrick's reputation. The lines in "The Killing" are so Noir:

"You'd be killing a horse - that's not first degree murder, in fact it's not murder at all, in fact I don't know what it is... killing a horse out of season."

Sherry: "You don't understand me Johnny. You don't know me very well."
Johnny: "I know you like a book. You're a no good, nosy little tramp. You'd sell out your own mother for a piece of fudge."

It has a dark cinema dream cast and is filled with wonderful self-serving characters. A masterpiece that is a must-own in this 4K UHD format. Don't hesitate.

Gary Tooze