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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (June 2020): Kino have transferred Bob Clark's Murder By Decree to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New HD Master". It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. This is a strong production with little spared in the way of art direction, wardrobe and cast. The image in 1080P is consistent with true colors, depth and pleasing detail in close-ups. It maintains a film-like thickness throughout with reasonably heavy texture. It can look a shade 'light' but that may be intentional (see commentary) I suspect this is a strong replication of the appearance.   

NOTE: We have added 66 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's effects and score by Paul Zaza (Stone Cold Dead, Porky’s), and Carl Zittrer (Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Black Christmas, Blood Orgy of the She Devils, Porky's, Deranged, Dead of Night) sounding moody if fairly subtle, but effective, at times. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a two commentaries - a new one by Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell as well as the older commentary with director Bob Clark (from the Anchor Bay 2003 DVD?). Clark identifies studio shots (17 sets) from location work - kind of routine with plenty of gaps. Unfortunately he passed away in 2007. I enjoyed the Berger and Mitchell commentary much more. These guys are great although the audio quality sounds almost like they are on the phone - so that is not ideal. But their discussion - from the color palette (lack of primaries, except for blood red.) Berger sees some of Dan Curtis' 'Night Stalker' cloaking of visuals - creating a 'look of evil' - doing a lot with so little. This would be very much a Bob Clark 'cinematic shorthand' technique. These guys are great to listen to - fabulous. There is also an SD trailer for the film.  

Murder by Decree has both the iconic fictional sleuth, and the historically unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper. They preside culturally together in the same Victorian era with foggy, mysterious, London back alleys, and a cracker of a mystery - as the great detective states "the game is afoot!". Christopher Plummer is wonderful as Sherlock Holmes with totally professional support from James Mason as Dr. Watson, David Hemmings as Inspector Foxborough, Susan Clark as Mary Kelly, John Gielgud, Donald Sutherland, Geneviève Bujold - and the list goes one. As discussed in the commentary - this is an 'A' level production - plenty spent on art direction, top level crew and an intelligent realization. It's one of the better Sherlock films ever made. The Kino Blu-ray has a great presentation - two commentaries and is a cracker of a Holmes adventure - the long-debated mystery of Jack the Ripper! Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze