Back in February, Obsessed With Film's Stuart Cummins dedicated an entry into his Top Ten Tuesdays series with his choice of the
10 Greatest Heist Movies Ever Made. It was a fun list and I loved most of the movies he chose but one classic he left out deserved recognition. In fact I believe it to be the greatest heist film ever made.
Stanley Kubrick's early career thriller
The Killing, a movie so refined and perfectly put together - Criterion have got the idea to give it the kind of Blu-ray treatment only that magnificent company can with his 1958 boxing drama
Killer's Kiss getting the full restoration treatment as an bonus feature! Save your pennies in August. Press release below;
THE KILLING Blu-ray & DVD Stanley Kubricks account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywoods tautest, twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson, and a phenomenal cast of character actors, including Sterling Hayden (
Dr. Strangelove), Coleen Gray (
Red River), Timothy Carey (
Paths of Glory), and Elisha Cook Jr. (
The Maltese Falcon),
The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony, its Kubrick to the core.
1956 85 minutes Black & White Monaural 1.66:1 aspect ratio SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition New video interview with producer James B. Harris Excerpts of interviews with actor Sterling Hayden from the French television series
Cinéma cinémas New video interview with film scholar Robert Polito about writer Jim Thompson and his work on
The Killing Restored transfer of Stanley Kubricks 1955 noir feature
Killers Kiss New video appreciation of
Killers Kiss with film critic Geoffrey OBrien Theatrical trailers PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Haden Guest and a reprinted interview with Marie Windsor on
The Killing This August, Criterion adds an incredible lineup of films from four of cinemas greatest and most iconoclastic artists: Stanley Kubricks early master class of a heist movie
The Killing; Roman Polanskis long-unavailable, tense relationship-drama-cum-gangster-thriller
Cul-de-sac; Jean Cocteaus visually innovative update of the Greek myth
Orpheus; and the complete output of Jean Vigo, the legendary artist whose tragically short-lived 1930s career produced some of the most revelatory works of French cinema,
Zéro de conduite and
LAtalante among them. Criterion is also proud to present a contemporary master, the leading light of Korean cinema Lee Chang-dong, with his searing, Cannes-awarded drama of faith and redemption
Secret Sunshine. All this plus Blu-ray upgrades of two big Criterion titles: the electrifying political action film
The Battle of Algiers and the Palme dOrwinning British boarding school rebel yell
If., starring Malcolm McDowell.
As for Eclipse, some of the lines greatest sets have focused on the dazzling films made in Japan in the 1960s, during that countrys New Wave, including Oshimas Outlaw Sixties and Nikkatsu Noir. Now, Criterion is happy to introduce you to one of that eras greatest and craziest artists, with
Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara. In these deranged portraits of lost youths, criminals, and families (which run the gamut from noir to domestic drama to comedy), Kurahara pulls out all the stylistic stops, creating dangerous psychological universes unlike any youve seen before.