The Big Heat (1953)
Crime, Thriller • 1h 30m
Overview
After the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin, Jeanette Nolan, Alexander Scourby, Jocelyn Brando, Peter Whitney, Willis Bouchey, Robert Burton, Adam Williams, Howard Wendell, Chris Alcaide, Michael Granger, Dorothy Green, Ric Roman, Dan Seymour, Edith Evanson, Harry Lauter, Michael Ross, Phil Arnold, Sidney Clute, Michael Jeffers, Linda Bennett, Charles Cane, Byron Kane, John Close, Phil Chambers, John Crawford, John Doucette, Al Eben, Douglas Evans, Fritz Ford, Donald Kerr, Lyle Latell, John Merton, Celia Lovsky, Ted Stanhope, Herbert Lytton, Mike Mahoney, Laura Mason, Paul Maxey, Joseph Mell, Patrick Miller, William Murphy, Ezelle Poule, Norma Randall, Robert Stevenson, William Vedder
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
1991 Warner Bros LaserDisc (for original mono track)
1996 Warner Bros 25th Anniversary LaserDisc has isolated music and effects track (incorrectly labeled "music minus vocals") not present on any other release
1991 Warner Bros LaserDisc (for original mono track)
1996 Warner Bros 25th Anniversary LaserDisc has isolated music and effects track (incorrectly labeled "music minus vocals") not present on any other release
Director: Alfred E. Green
Director: Alfred E. Green
Director: John Waters
Director: John Waters
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC or Kino Lorber
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC > Kino Lorber
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC > Kino Lorber
Director: Fritz Lang
1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration: MoC or Kino Lorber
2001 Murnau restoration: MoC > Kino Lorber
2010 Murnau complete restoration: MoC > Kino Lorber
Director: Fritz Lang
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
Director: Fritz Lang
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
MoC vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray?
Director: Fritz Lang
Kino Lorber vs MoC?
Kino Lorber and MoC same resto, no comparison
Director: Fritz Lang
Kino Lorber vs MoC?
Kino Lorber and MoC same resto, no comparison
Director: Fritz Lang
Imprint Blu-ray not only has the best encoding, but also has the "correct" aspect ratio compared to ClassicFlix which is horizontally stretched or Eagle Pictures which is squished see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Fritz Lang
Imprint Blu-ray not only has the best encoding, but also has the "correct" aspect ratio compared to ClassicFlix which is horizontally stretched or Eagle Pictures which is squished see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Fritz Lang
Director: Jean Renoir
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: Jean Renoir
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: John Waters
Director: John Waters
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray - subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray - subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
Director: Ridley Scott
Capelight 4K Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Ridley Scott
Capelight 4K Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Jean Vigo
Director: Jean Vigo
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Charlie Chaplin
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
1954 version: Criterion Blu-ray
Cut info: https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=31209
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
Director: Charlie Chaplin
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
1954 version: Criterion Blu-ray
Cut info: https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=31209
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
Edit History
5/20/2026
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Added
https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Big%20Heat%20%5BThe%5D%20%281953%29
Added
https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Big%20Heat%20%5BThe%5D%20%281953%29
DVDBeaver
From
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_64/the_big_heat_blu-ray.htm
To
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film12/blu-ray_review_167/the_big_heat_4K_UHD.htm, http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_64/the_big_heat_blu-ray.htm
From
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_64/the_big_heat_blu-ray.htm
To
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film12/blu-ray_review_167/the_big_heat_4K_UHD.htm, http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_64/the_big_heat_blu-ray.htm
7/24/2025
Best English-Friendly Release
From
Criterion UHD
To
Criterion 4K Blu-ray. See nicolas review: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=841703#p841703 "The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering"
From
Criterion UHD
To
Criterion 4K Blu-ray. See nicolas review: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=841703#p841703 "The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering"
7/8/2025
Best English-Friendly Release
From
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Powerhouse/Indicator BD
To
Criterion UHD
From
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Powerhouse/Indicator BD
To
Criterion UHD
Best Video Release
From
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Indicator > US
From
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Indicator > US
Best Audio Release
From
To
Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)
From
To
Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)
4/16/2025
Best Video Release
From
UK Indicator > US
To
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Indicator > US
From
UK Indicator > US
To
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Indicator > US
4/15/2025
Best English-Friendly Release
From
UK Powerhouse/Indicator BD
To
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Powerhouse/Indicator BD
From
UK Powerhouse/Indicator BD
To
Criterion UHD coming soon. UK Powerhouse/Indicator BD
