NOTE: 72 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: Casablanca (software uniformly simulated HDR), In the Mood For Love (NO HDR applied to disc), The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Blow Out (software uniformly simulated HDR), Night of the Living Dead (NO HDR applied to disc), Lost Highway (software uniformly simulated HDR), Videodrome (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Last Picture Show (software uniformly simulated HDR), It Happened One Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Mummy (1932)(software uniformly simulated HDR), Creature From the Black Lagoon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Bride of Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Amityville Horror  (software uniformly simulated HDR), The War of the Worlds (1953) (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Incredible Melting Man  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Event Horizon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Get Carter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Killing (software uniformly simulated HDR), 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, Classicflix use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. "I, The Jury" was shown with 3 Channel Stereo theatrically - stereophonic. It is filled with various types of violence. They can punctuate scenes. The score is by Franz Waxman (Bride of Frankenstein Untamed, Rebecca, Dark Passage, Rear Window, Sunset Boulevard etc.) and it supports the film with some subtlety and more dramatic sequences. It sounds quite clear and fault-free in the lossless. The discs offers optional English subtitles - and, like all 4K UHD, region FREE, playable worldwide but the Blu-ray is Region 'A'-locked..

There are two commentaries and they are on both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs. The first is new by Mike Hammer continuation writer Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition, Quarry), co-author of Spillane - King of Pulp Fiction (with James L. Traylor.) Max is a friend of mine and he discusses the Mike Hammer character - how he is played as kinda intellectually-challenged by Biff Elliot, this being cinematographer John Alton's only 3-D shot film, how in the novel the major crime that motivated the murder was 'drug-dealing' which was against the Production Code at the time - and the same thing happened in Kiss Me Deadly (the mystery box actually had narcotics.) Max is great and covers quite a lot of the cast, Hammer's sexuality and frank violence with many extraneous links - often within the realm of Noir. I thought it was an excellent commentary. The second commentary is archival with Biff Elliot from 2004 with nephew Josh Shalek. The rest of the supplements are relegated to the second disc Blu-ray. There are some excerpts from a 2006 interview with Biff Elliot, a 10-minute video on the history of 3-D plus we get the 1/2 hour unaired Mike Hammer TV Show Pilot from 1954 written and directed by Blake Edwards and starring Brian Keith. Also included are two rarely seen O. Henry Playhouse TV episodes, "Between Rounds" with Preston Foster and "After 20 Years" with Peggie Castle. They each ruin about 26-minutes. Lastly is an episode of the TV Series Public Defender featuring Biff Elliot entitled "Loyalty".

It's great to see Classicflix contributing to the catalogue of 4K UHD releases. Mike Hammer is part of the hard boiled avenue of film noir - in the vein of Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe - which is fine. I found" I, The Jury" a bit convoluted. I would have liked a more in-depth development of the character - not simply the blue-collar brute portrayed by Biff Elliot. Great bunch of, mostly, one-dimensional gals here; sophisticated and sexy femme fatale Charlotte Manning (played by Peggie Castle who passed at only 45) engaging in snappy patter with the beer-swilling, unapologetic, gumshoe. She was also in an episode of the Mike Hammer TV show with Darren McGavin. There's loyal secretary and part-time squeeze Margaret Sheridan and the nymphomaniac twins Esther and Mary Bellamy (played by the Seitz sisters.) Also seen are Alan Reed (yes, the voice of Fred Flintstone), occasional Noir-dweller Elisha Cook Jr. (The Killing, The Gangster, Born to Kill, The Big Sleep), and short-term Stooge Joe Besser - all waltzing through the occasional shadowy magic of John Alton (The Big Combo, Witness to Murder, Slightly Scarlet). So it's the first film based on a Mike Hammer novel - the protagonist on the vengeance trail... with a good ending. And it was one of a niche of 3-D shown efforts. Also the 4K UHD will easily be the best the film has looked on digital. Yes, Noirists may be intrigued enough - two commentaries helps and the 3-D caché can be attractive to those completists. Certainly enough positives to recommend.     

Gary Tooze