The Complete Kubrick [4K UHD] - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Malcolm McDowell, Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Duvall

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

The Complete Kubrick [13 X 4K UHD / 17 X Blu• ray]

Fear and Desire (1952) Killer’s Kiss (1955) The Killing (1956)

Paths of Glory (1957) Spartacus (1960) / Lolita (1962)

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) A Clockwork Orange (1971) Barry Lyndon (1975)

The Shining (1980) Full Metal Jacket (1987) Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Shorts

Features

Few filmmakers have had their work gathered as completely, or presented with such reverence, as Stanley Kubrick in the Criterion Collection’s The Complete Kubrick. This 30-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray collector’s set brings together everything Kubrick finished as a director, spanning 1951 to 1999: all thirteen features and his three early documentary shorts. It begins at the very start. The Killer’s Kiss (1955) discs also hold the “Early Works”: the shorts that took him from Look magazine photographer to filmmaker, Day of the Fight (1951), Flying Padre (1951) and The Seafarers (1953), along with Fear and Desire (1952), the self-financed debut feature he later withdrew from circulation. From there it runs through the hard-edged noir of The Killing (1956), the anti-war landmark Paths of Glory (1957), the Kirk Douglas–produced epic Spartacus (1960) and Lolita (1962), making its 4K debut here. It then follows Kubrick to England and the run of films that redefined what popular cinema could attempt: Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987) and finally Eyes Wide Shut (1999), completed just days before his death.

Every film has been restored in 4K and is presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the UHDs, mostly from the original camera negatives. 2001 comes from an 8K scan of its 65mm negative and Spartacus from a 6K scan of its Technirama elements. Kubrick’s own preferences are honored throughout, from his personal reference print used for Full Metal Jacket to his 1975 letter to projectionists that fixes Barry Lyndon at 1.66:1. The original mono soundtracks are included alongside alternate 5.1 remixes. 2001 offers its original 70mm six-track mix, its 35mm mono and a 5.1 remix, while Spartacus gets a 7.1 track drawn from its 70mm printmaster. The Shining is offered in both its 144-minute U.S. theatrical version and Kubrick’s international cut, some 25 minutes shorter, which makes its North American home video debut here. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its international version, restored under the supervision of cinematographer Larry Smith.

The supplements run to over twenty-five hours. New material includes commentaries by Lee Unkrich (The Shining) and Michael Benson (2001), a conversation on Kubrick and authorship between Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Wynter, a new 4K restoration of Vivian Kubrick’s Making “The Shining”, unseen Lolita screen tests with James Mason and Sue Lyon, and an expanded Staircases to Nowhere. Alongside it is a wealth of archival documentaries and interviews with collaborators, including Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, John Alcott, Wendy Carlos and Douglas Trumbull. A dedicated supplements disc collects Jan Harlan’s Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, narrated by Tom Cruise, and Gregory Monro’s Kubrick by Kubrick. The packaging is a triumph in itself. Designed by Drusilla Adeline of Sister Hyde Design, it is styled after Kubrick’s legendary archive, with each film housed in a filing-card gatefold filled with reproductions of his slates, script pages, sketches, lighting notes, music cue lists, telexes and location notes, many bearing his own handwriting. A substantial booklet with an essay by Nathaniel Rich completes the set. Criterion producer Michael Chaiken spent two years putting it together, and it shows: this is less a box set than a definitive monument to one of cinema’s most exacting artists.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 18th, 1952 (Venice Film Festival) - July 13th, 1999 (Los Angeles, California, premiere)

Review: Criterion - Region FREE - 4K UHD - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Criterion - Region FREE 4K UHD - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Criterion Edition Details: Killer's Kiss + Early Works (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • 4K restoration of Killer's Kiss, with uncompressed mono soundtrack • 4K restoration of Fear and Desire (1952) • New 4K restorations of the shorts Day of the Fight (1951; original version 13:02 and RKO version 16:40), Flying Padre (1951) and The Seafarers (1953) • Appreciation of Killer's Kiss by critic Geoffrey O'Brien • 2012 interview with filmmaker and early Kubrick collaborator Alexander Singer • Trailer The Killing (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • Interview with producer James B. Harris • Excerpted interviews with Sterling Hayden from the French TV series Cinéma cinémas • Interview with critic and poet Robert Polito about Jim Thompson • Trailer Paths of Glory (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • Audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins • Audio excerpt from a 1966 interview with Kubrick • 1979 television interview with Kirk Douglas • Interviews with Jan Harlan, James B. Harris and Christiane Kubrick • French TV program about the real• life WWI execution that partly inspired the film • Trailer Spartacus (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • Audio commentary with Kirk Douglas, Peter Ustinov, Howard Fast, Edward Lewis, Robert A. Harris and Saul Bass • Audio commentary featuring Dalton Trumbo's scene• by• scene analysis, narrated by Michael McConnohie • Restoring "Spartacus" (2015), a documentary by Gary Leva • Deleted scenes • Archival newsreel footage • Archival interviews with Peter Ustinov and Jean Simmons • Behind• the• scenes "gladiatorial school" footage • The Hollywood Ten (1950), a documentary about the blacklist • Trailer Lolita (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • New conversation between Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Wynter about Kubrick and authorship • Segment from a 1987 episode of Cinéma cinémas featuring Sue Lyon • 1958 conversation between Vladimir Nabokov and critic Lionel Trilling • Screen tests with Sue Lyon and James Mason • Trailers Dr. Strangelove (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • Alternate 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack • Interviews with scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill, archivist Richard Daniels, cinematographer Joe Dunton, camera operator Kelvin Pike, and David George (son of Red Alert author Peter George) • Audio excerpts from a 1966 interview with Kubrick by physicist Jeremy Bernstein • Four short documentaries on the making of the film, the sociopolitical climate of the era, Peter Sellers, and the artistry of Kubrick • 1963 interviews with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott • Excerpt from a 1980 NBC Today show interview with Sellers • Trailers 2001: A Space Odyssey (4K UHD + 2 Blu-rays) • Audio: original 70mm 5.1 DTS-HD MA, alternate 5.1 DTS• HD MA, and original 35mm uncompressed mono • Audio commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood • New audio commentary by author Michael Benson • Five archival documentaries: A Look Behind the Future (1968), "2001": The Making of a Myth (2001), Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of "2001" (2007), Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of "2001" (2007) and FX and Early Conceptual Artwork (2007) • A Primer for "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1971), an episode of Camera Three hosted by Dullea • Universe (1960), a documentary by Roman Kroitor and Colin Low, narrated by Douglas Rain (later the voice of HAL 9000) • New program about Graphic Films, including rare footage from To the Moon and Beyond (1964) • Rare slit• scan films by John Whitney Sr. and his son • Archival interview with Douglas Trumbull • Trailers A Clockwork Orange (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • Alternate 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack • Audio commentary by Malcolm McDowell and historian Nick Redman • Three archival documentaries: Still Tickin': The Return of "A Clockwork Orange" (2000), Great Bolshy Yarblockos! Making "A Clockwork Orange" (2007) and Once Upon a Time . . . "A Clockwork Orange" (2011) • 1972 Camera Three episode with McDowell and Anthony Burgess • Kama Sutra Rides Again (1971), Bob Godfrey's animated short that Kubrick selected to play before the film's U.S. and UK theatrical releases • Trailer Barry Lyndon (4K UHD + 2 Blu-rays) • Alternate 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack • Interviews with cast and crew, plus archival Kubrick audio on the film's cinematography, costumes, editing and production • Interview with historian Christopher Frayling on production designer Ken Adam • Interview with critic Michel Ciment • Interview with Leon Vitali on the 5.1 mix he co• supervised • Interview with curator Adam Eaker on the film's fine• art• inspired aesthetics • Trailers The Shining (2 4K UHDs + 2 Blu-rays: U.S. theatrical and international versions) • Alternate 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtracks for both versions • New 4K restoration of Vivian Kubrick's Making "The Shining" (1980), with her audio commentary • Audio commentary by biographer John Baxter and Steadicam operator Garrett Brown • New audio commentary by Lee Unkrich • Three archival documentaries: Staircases to Nowhere (2013, expanded 2026), View from the Overlook (2007) and Work & Play (2017) • Six Kinds of Light (1983), a documentary on cinematographer John Alcott • Shine On (2024), Paul King's short documentary on the last surviving Elstree Studios location from the film • Archival interviews with Wendy Carlos and Scatman Crothers • 30 Impossible Shots (1974), Garrett Brown's Steadicam show reel • Trailers Full Metal Jacket (4K UHD + Blu-ray) • Alternate 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack • Audio commentary by Adam Baldwin, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jay Cocks • "Full Metal Jacket": Between Good and Evil (2007) • Behind the Scenes of "Full Metal Jacket" (2005), by Vivian Kubrick, edited by Katia deVidas • The Marines (1957), François Reichenbach's documentary on Parris Island • Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (1968), an animated short by Whitney Lee Savage and Milton Glaser • Stanley Kubrick's Boxes (2008), Jon Ronson's short documentary on Kubrick's archive • Trailer Eyes Wide Shut (4K UHD + 2 Blu-rays) • Interviews with cinematographer Larry Smith, set decorator and second• unit director Lisa Leone, and archivist Georgina Orgill • Archival interview with Christiane Kubrick • Never Just a Dream (2019), with Jan Harlan, Katharina Kubrick and Anthony Frewin • Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick (2007) • Kubrick Remembered (2014), with Todd Field, Leelee Sobieski and Steven Spielberg • Kubrick's 1998 DGA D. W. Griffith Award acceptance speech • 1999 press conference with Harlan, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman • Teaser, trailer and promos Additional Supplements (Blu-ray) • Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001), Jan Harlan's feature-length documentary narrated by Tom Cruise • 2001 conversation with Harlan, Martin Scorsese and Christiane Kubrick about A Life in Pictures • 1999 interview with Steven Spielberg on his friendship with Kubrick • Kubrick by Kubrick (2020), Gregory Monro's documentary told through Kubrick's interviews with Michel Ciment 4K UHD Package Release Date: October 20th, 2026 Custom Cases

Individual Transparent Cases:

Comments:

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

The Masters:

All features are presented in Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD discs and in SDR on the Blu-rays. Criterion’s “About the Masters” notes show that nearly every title was restored from its original camera negative, though the restorations come from a mix of sources. Some are Criterion’s own, some are carried over from studio restorations of recent years, and some were done by partner archives.

The three independently produced early features had their 4K debuts on Kino Lorber UHDs, but here they are presented in masters made for Criterion by Duplitech. Killer’s Kiss (1.37:1) comes from the 35mm original camera negative, with a composite fine-grain used for some sections. The Killing and Paths of Glory (both 1.66:1) are also drawn from their camera negatives. The Paths of Glory mono was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm magnetic track. Fear and Desire (1.37:1) is the exception: it is Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration, made from the camera negative and a Library of Congress fine-grain. The three shorts are new Criterion 4K restorations from Library of Congress elements. These were 35mm prints and a duplicate negative for Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, and the 16mm original reversal for The Seafarers.

The studio-era films largely use existing restorations. Spartacus (2.20:1) is Universal’s 4K restoration from a 6K scan of the original Technirama elements, with Robert A. Harris consulting, and its 7.1 track was remastered from the 70mm six-track printmaster. Dr. Strangelove (1.66:1) is Sony’s 4K restoration, supervised by Grover Crisp and assembled from a fine-grain master, a duplicate negative and a 35mm print. 2001: A Space Odyssey (2.20:1) is Warner’s 4K from an 8K scan of the 65mm camera negative, supervised by Ned Price and Leon Vitali with input from Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema. Its original 70mm six-track 5.1 mix is joined by the 35mm general-release mono, which Kubrick mixed without the overture, intermission and exit music, so those passages are silent on that track. A Clockwork Orange (1.66:1), The Shining (1.85:1) and Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1) are Warner 4K restorations from their camera negatives, with Full Metal Jacket graded against both an answer print and Kubrick’s own personal 35mm reference print.

Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut match Criterion’s own recent 4K editions. Barry Lyndon is framed at 1.66:1 per Kubrick’s December 8th, 1975 letter to projectionists, and was graded against Vitali’s 2000 HD transfer. Eyes Wide Shut (1.85:1) is presented in its international cut, supervised and approved by cinematographer Larry Smith. Its look stems from Kubrick’s deliberate decision to have the negative force-developed by two stops, which accounts for the film’s distinctive grain and glowing low-light palette.

Two presentations are new to 4K UHD. Lolita (1.66:1) is a new 4K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative, using a Warner 35mm print as color reference, with its mono remastered from the original DME magnetic track. Kubrick’s international version of The Shining (119 minutes, against 144 for the U.S. theatrical) comes from the same Warner restoration of the camera negative, with its own mono track remastered from the original magnetic elements.

Since most of these masters have been reviewed before on DVDBeaver, we have used our existing captures from those earlier 4K UHD releases where applicable. New captures will eventually be taken for Lolita and the international version of The Shining.

Audio:

Criterion’s audio approach across the set is admirably purist. Every film is offered with its original soundtrack, and for the mono-era titles that means uncompressed linear PCM mono remastered from the original magnetic elements. Paths of Glory’s was remastered at 24-bit from UCLA archivist Robert Gitt’s 35mm track. For Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, both versions of The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, Criterion also includes alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, so purists and surround enthusiasts are both served. The early independent features and Lolita are presented in their original mono alone. This is a notable step up from earlier editions. Warner’s 4K UHD of The Shining offered only a 5.1 remix with no mono at all, its Full Metal Jacket UHD relegated the mono to a lossy track, and Sony’s Dr. Strangelove UHD carried only 16-bit lossless tracks. The three large-format productions get special treatment. Spartacus is presented in 7.1 DTS-HD MA remastered from its 70mm six-track printmaster, and it retains the overture, entr’acte and intermission music. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most generous of all, with its original 70mm six-track theatrical mix in 5.1, an alternate 5.1 remix and the original 35mm general-release mono, which, true to Kubrick’s own 35mm prints, is silent during the overture, intermission and exit music. Eyes Wide Shut is presented in its original theatrical 5.1, remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered on every feature, and the set is region free. From the portions we have sampled so far, the tracks sound exceptional, clean and faithful to their sources, with the dynamic range of the scores and Kubrick’s carefully chosen music coming through with clarity and weight.

About the Captures

Because of the size of this set and its release date, none of the screen captures in this review are taken from The Complete Kubrick discs. Instead, we have included a single capture per film from our earlier reviews, taken from previous 4K UHD editions or, where none exist, Blu-ray. Several of those editions share their restoration with this set, while others come from different transfers. The captures should therefore be taken as representative of each film’s presentation, not as exact reproductions of the Criterion discs.

Fear and Desire is represented by Kino’s 2024 4K UHD, which uses the same Kino Lorber restoration found in this set. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing come from Kino’s 2022 4K UHDs, and Paths of Glory from the 2024 Masters of Cinema (Eureka) 4K UHD. All three of those earlier discs were scanned from the original camera negatives, but Criterion presents new Duplitech masters here, so the grading and framing may differ.

Spartacus is from Universal’s 2020 4K UHD, which uses the same 2015 restoration from the large-format Technirama elements. Dr. Strangelove is from Sony’s 2021 4K UHD, drawn from the same Sony restoration. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes from Warner’s 2018 4K UHD. The Shining and Full Metal Jacket come from Warner’s 2019 and 2020 4K UHDs respectively. Our Shining captures are from the U.S. theatrical version and serves for both cuts, which share the same restoration in this set. Note that both of those Warner discs were framed at 1.78:1, whereas Criterion presents both films at 1.85:1. Barry Lyndon is from Criterion’s own 2025 4K UHD, which matches the restoration in this set.

For Eyes Wide Shut, our capture is from Criterion’s 2025 Blu-ray of the same Larry Smith–approved restoration, as we were unable to capture from that 4K UHD disc at the time. Lolita and A Clockwork Orange are represented by Warner’s 2011 Blu-rays (the latter its 40th Anniversary Edition). Lolita receives a new 4K restoration in this set, so that capture predates it entirely.

OUR PAST REVIEWS:
Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut

Seen together, Stanley Kubrick's films reveal a remarkably consistent sensibility beneath their wildly varied surfaces. There is the dehumanizing machinery of war, from the trenches of Paths of Glory to the War Room farce of Dr. Strangelove and the Parris Island crucible of Full Metal Jacket. There is the individual crushed or remade by institutional authority in A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon, and there are the hidden currents of desire and power in Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut. Running through all of it is an ironic, coolly precise eye that turned every genre he touched, whether noir, epic, satire, science fiction, horror or costume drama, into something unmistakably his own. Watching the arc from the self-financed Fear and Desire and the gritty New York of Killer's Kiss through to the monumental achievements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining is a privilege few box sets can offer. Criterion's The Complete Kubrick is a staggering undertaking. Its 30 discs (13 4K UHD and 17 Blu-ray) hold every finished film Kubrick directed, all restored in 4K and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, many from their original camera negatives. It includes Lolita's 4K debut, Kubrick's international cut of The Shining, both versions of Day of the Fight, original soundtracks alongside remixes, over twenty-five hours of supplements, and archive-inspired packaging filled with Kubrick's own notes, slates and correspondence. We are still working our way through the set, but everything we have sampled so far has looked and sounded exceptional. This is the definitive presentation of one of cinema's most exacting artists and an essential acquisition for any serious film collection. 4K UHD set of the Year - our very highest recommendation!