ADDITION: Studiocanal 4K UHD (July 2024): Studiocanal have released Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" to 4K UHD. There was a DVD back in 2000 and a 2011, 1.78:1, Blu-ray produced. We reviewed the latter HERE. This 2160P is housed on a triple layered 4K UHD disc with a very high bitrate for the almost 2-hour film. Colors embolden, flesh tones warm and there is a green/blue leaning. Overall, the transferred 4K UHD image is a shade darker (tone suitable) than the previous digital editions and the resulting pastels are quite rich and have a film-like thickness. The HDR is liberally applied and I don't know if our replication really does it justice but it can give you an idea. One note: the included 50th Anniversary 2160P trailer has a more passive colors scheme than the actual HD presentation. While maintaining the 70's feel, the new image is pristinely clean and feel like you are watching "The Conversation" in the theater for the first time.    

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: 28 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 recently: Perfect Days, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Le samouraï  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Castle of Blood (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (HDR), Fist of Legend (HDR), American Gigolo (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Long Wait (no HDR,) Bound (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Valiant Ones (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mute Witness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Narc (software uniformly simulated HDR), Peeping Tom (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Terrors House of Horrors (software uniformly simulated HDR), High Noon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Picnic at Hanging Rock (Criterion) (software uniformly simulated HDR), I Am Cuba (no HDR), The Demoniacs (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Nude Vampire (software uniformly simulated HDR), Nostalghia (no HDR), Werckmeister Harmonies (no HDR), Goin' South (software uniformly simulated HDR), La Haine (software uniformly simulated HDR,) All Ladies Do It (software uniformly simulated HDR), Old Henry  (software uniformly simulated HDR), To Die For (software uniformly simulated HDR), Snapshot (software uniformly simulated HDR), Phase IV (software uniformly simulated HDR), Burial Ground (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dark Water (software uniformly simulated HDR), Fear and Desire (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf (no HDR), Paths of Glory (software uniformly simulated HDR), Southern Comfort (software uniformly simulated HDR).

On their 4K UHD, Studiocanal offer the option of linear PCM dual-mono track (24-bit) or a DTS-HD Master 5.1 Surround bump - both in the original English language. There is an optional German language DUB. "The Conversation" has violence but it is not diegetically expressed - only through jarring sound effects and fast editing cuts. David Shire's ragtime-y piano score was composed before the film was shot. He also utilizes techniques such as "musique concrète" with raw recorded sounds that often are modified through the application of audio signal processing assembled into a sound collage. It brilliantly produces a haunting and paranoid quality in the film viewing. Also heard in the film are When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along, Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home, Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Lady, Johnny Green's Out of Nowhere and Schertzinger + Mercer's I Remember You. The disc offers optional English (SDH) or German subtitles - and is, like all 4K UHD, region FREE, playable worldwide. Sample the theme here (browser dependant):

There are plentiful extras on the 4K UHD disc. Many of the supplements are repeated from the previous Blu-ray release; two excellent commentaries - one from director Francis Ford Coppola, and another from sound editor Walter Murch - remain -as does the 4-minutes of archival on-set interview with Gene Hackman and 9-minute “Close-up on The Conversation” featurette. Included is the 50-minute 6-part archival footage of Francis Ford Coppola dictating the original script (with a brief intro) with heading such as 'The Life of Harry Caul' and 'Introduction to Frank Lovista', archival screen tests with Harrison Ford and Cindy Williams, “Harry Caul's San Francisco” 4-minute featurette identifying shooting locales in the city by the Bay, a brief discussion with Francis For Coppola about his early film exercise, "No Cigar" and its subtle relationship to The Conversation and the 11-minute interview with David Shire by Coppola. There is a theatrical trailer and a new 50th anniversary trailer. Included is a 'Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery' with photos. Unique to this release is a 3/4 hour Q&A with, triple Academy Award winner, Walter Murch, filmed at Curzon Soho, on August 2nd, 2017. He would have been 74 years old at the time and is still with us today! He has plenty of fascinating details of the production, it's history, Coppola and much more. Murch had more or less a free reign on the editing since Coppola was working on The Godfather Part II at the same time. The package is overloaded with brand new artwork by Laurent Durieux, Rigid box packaging with magnetic closing and a 64-page booklet with 4 new essays, an original soundtrack cassette tape (how cool is that?), original and new posters.  

Studiocanal's 4K UHD release of Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" is immensely desirable. The film is  masterpiece wedged between the director's Godfather and Godfather Part 2. Coppola has stated that Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966) was a key influence with similar themes - auditory voyeurism without participation, based in the world of audio surveillance. Brian De Palma's Blow Out recalls both films. Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) was based on middle-aged Harry Haller in the 1927 novel, Steppenwolf, by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse. Both Harrys do not embrace societal norms. Caul's obsession is with invasion of privacy... his own and others as a vocation through surveillance. His advantage is stealth and subterfuge with direct camouflage via employed colleagues or, pivotal, technical expertise. He is proud that he "makes all his own equipment." In the end, believing his apartment is bugged, he rips the protective skin off every thing that has a covering or laminated surface: walls, hardwood floors, ceilings, furniture, ornaments, drapes, etc. His most painful moment comes when he forces himself to bash open a small figure of the Virgin Mary. It is the last thing his burgeoning paranoia exposes. Inside is nothing at all, she is hollow - a crushing commentary on his religion. The confessional - his only trusted avenue. He has been betrayed by colleagues, by would-be lovers, and there is nothing to give him solace for the morality of his business. Studiocanal's stacked 4K UHD release "The Conversation" is a 'must own' for cinephiles. Our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze