Kino Lorber’s release of Touch of Evil on 4K UHD disc is drawing rave reviews.
With the Criterion Collection release of Citizen Kane on 4K UHD in November, Touch of Evil now becomes the second Orson Welles title on the format.
This three-disc special edition features 4K restorations of all three versions of the film: the theatrical release, longer preview version and reconstructed edition based on Welles’ original vision. (A collection of the three versions was previously released on Blu-ray by both Universal and Eureka).
Here is a sampling of reviews:
Edge Media Network: This is the best the film has ever looked at home, and makes a strong case for how HDR can deepen and embolden black-and-white cinematography without removing anything inherently filmic, like grain.And speaking of film grain, it looks terrific here despite the multiple sources used for the various cuts. The Reconstructed Cut is clearly restored from multiple sources, and despite brief drops in quality and some print damage, it still looks cohesive… Kino Lorber has bestowed this classic with a 4K Blu-ray release that matches the film’s importance. It’s astonishing to see a film of this age with this level of detail, and the uptick in resolution makes Welles’ baroque aesthetic shine and confound like never before.
High Def Digest: Kino Lorber puts much more than a touch of class on Touch of Evil. Three dazzling, brand-new Dolby Vision/HDR10 transfers bring all the grit and grime of all three versions of Welles’ electrifying film noir to brilliant life while heightening the tension and impact of this disturbing tale of racism, police corruption, organized crime, and murder in a Mexican border town… With rich blacks, stark lighting, moody close-ups, and an abundance of shadows, film noirs adapt especially well to the heightened definition of 4K UHD, and Touch of Evil is Exhibit A. All three versions receive brand new Dolby Vision HDR masters and the resulting 2160p/HEVC H.265 transfers maximize the impact of every scene, with astonishing clarity, marvelous contrast, and beautifully varied grays producing an eye-popping, film-like image packed with detail and depth. The reconstructed and preview cuts must incorporate and finesse multiple sources encompassing a wide quality spectrum, but despite some noticeable print damage (white streaks, frayed edges, and mild speckling) that flag the reinserted scenes, the presentation remains surprisingly cohesive throughout…. Solid audio and a hefty supplemental package enhance this exciting release that deserves a prominent spot in every cinephile’s collection. Must Own.
Blu-ray.com: I viewed the Theatrical Cut in native 4K and then sampled the other two versions. I believe I spent more time on the Reconstructed Cut than on the Preview Cut. My initial impression was that both daylight and darker/nighttime footage looked quite a bit sharper in native 4K — not sharpened with digital tools, but boasting superior delineation. In some of the daylight footage the difference was especially easy to appreciate, but there were plenty of darker close-ups that looked really, really good as well… Obviously, the inherited density fluctuations looked practically the same in 1080p and native 4K. Furthermore, a lot of highlights are handled better in native 4K, and again the difference is noticeable during daylight and darker/nighttime footage. The Dolby Vision/HDR grade appears to be expanding darker nuances too, though I have to say that the most significant improvements were during indoor footage with sufficient lighting… Grain exposure is even and consistent, which is one of the key reasons why the visuals look very tight and incredibly attractive. Is grain exposure better in native 4K than in 1080p? Yes, absolutely. Fluidity is excellent, but I don’t think that there is a meaningful improvement in native 4K. So, if you have a large TV set or project, you should expect to see the same type of fluidity that you have already experienced in 1080p. The overall quality of the grayscale is outstanding, with balance probably appearing a notch or two better than it is in 1080p. However, I think that the 4K restoration deserves all of the credit, not the new Dolby Vision/HDR grade. A few small blemishes are retained on all versions, but they were visible in 1080p as well. All in all, I think that the folks at Universal Pictures did a tremendous work on the 4K restoration of Touch of Evil, while the folks at Kino Lorber did an equally impressive job presenting it in its native resolution on 4K Blu-ray.
In addition to the 4K remastering of Touch of Evil, the extras and special features on both sets include:
Disc 1
New 4K restoration of the Theatrical Cut
New audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas
Audio commentary with writer/filmmaker F.X. Feeney
Theatrical trailer (2:10)
Optional English subtitles
Disc 2
New 4K restoration of the Reconstructed Cut
New audio commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith
Audio commentary by Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and producer Rick Schmidlin
Evil Lost and Found featurette (17:06)
Optional English subtitles
Disc 3
New 4K Restoration of the Preview Cut
Audio commentary with Orson Welles historians Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore
Bringing Evil to Life featurette (20:59)
Optional English Subtitles
___________
Post your comments on the Wellesnet Message Board.