NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Criterion's new Blu-ray is described as a "New, restored 4K digital transfer". A Raisin in the Sun looks incredible in this 1080P transfer. Contrast is at Criterion's hallmark levels - deep rich black levels, tight visuals in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and consistent, even, grain texture support. It is on a dual-layered disc with a very high bitrate and looks pristine in-motion.

Criterion provide a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) track in the original English language. The film has no demonstrative effects and has a score credited to Glenn Mercer and Bill  Laurence Rosenthal (1962's The Miracle Worker, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Becket, 1977's The Island of Dr Moreau, the TV Series Coronet Blue). It sounds consistent, flat and crisp. Criterion add optional English (SDH) subtitles and being available in North American and the UK it is a Region 'A' / 'B' Blu-ray depending on your geographic location.

Criterion add extensive supplements. First is a 24-minute interview from 1961 with playwright/screenwriter Lorraine Hansberry. When Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun opened in New York in March 1959, its author became the first African American female playwright to have a production on Broadway. The play went on to be named best of the year by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. In Criterion's illustrated audio segment from a 1961 interview Patricia Marx, Hansberry discusses her seminal work and her future plans. There is a new 25-minute interview with Imani Perry. In this interview, conducted by the Criterion Collection in April 2018, lmani Perry, author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, describes how playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s childhood experiences informed the story of A Raisin in the Sun, and the importance of Chicago as the setting. Criterion include a 27-minute episode of Theater Talk. This 2002 episode of the television program Theater Talk explores the making of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway. It features a conversation with actor Ruby Dee; the play’s producer, Philip Rose; and actor Ossie Davis, who took over the part of Walter Lee Younger from Sidney Poitier. We also get a 40-minute excerpt from Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement (1978), with a new 10-minute introduction by director Woodie King Jr. who, in 1978, directed the documentary Black Theatre tracing the influence of A Raisin in the Sun and the birth of a new kind of theater out of the civil rights movement. This excerpt features interviews with important figures of the movement, including members of A Raisin in the Sun’s original Broadway cast and its director. The introduction by King was recorded by the Criterion Collection in June 2018. There is also a new 25-minute interview with film scholar Mia Mask, coeditor of Poitier Revisited. In this 2018 program, Mia Mask describes the behind-the-scenes clashes between actors Claudia McNeil and Sidney Poitier during the theatrical production of A Raisin in the Sun, the racism the cast experienced during filming. We get a brief 2002 interview, where director Daniel Petrie recalls directing A Raisin in the Sun and lastly is a trailer. The package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by scholar Sarita Cannon and author James Baldwin’s 1969 tribute to Hansberry, “Sweet Lorraine”.

A Raisin in the Sun is a masterpiece and such a wonderful choice to bring to Blu-ray. It is a moving, impressive adaptation of an iconic American play. The Criterion Blu-ray gives a fabulous presentation with a bevy of highly relevant supplements. It is a perfect package and available in regions 'A' and 'B'! I consider this a must own - it has our highest recommendation!  

Gary Tooze