Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (Columbia Classics Vol.4)

Stanley Kramer's classic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was released in theaters the same year the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws. And with the central premise of William Rose's script focused on a happy, loving interracial couple announcing their engagement to their respective families, Kramer's social drama was a most timely and judicious production that directly — and unabashedly — challenged the prejudices and bigotry of the period. Nearly sixty years later, the film serves as a stark reminder of not only how recent those changes occurred but also how little the country has actually progessed since the Jim Crow era. The sociopolitical and racial divide in the U.S. seems to have only deepened and grown into a palpable threat to the democratic republic. Seeing it again from a contemporary lens, the film remains just as poignant and pertinent, as the story is about more than an interracial marriage. 

While the plot centers and rightly revolves around 23-year-old Joanna Drayton (Katharine Houghton) and 37-year-old widower Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), the union of two people from different social classes and ethnic backgrounds is just the catalyst to a larger discussion about systemic racism deeply ingrained within society, subconsciously blocking one's ability to see beyond that system. Joanna's liberal parents (Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) are forced with confronting their "color blind" façade while John's caring, doting parents (Beah Richards and Roy E. Glenn Sr.) wrestle with acceptance, knowing how that system more directly affects and impacts them and their son. When the reality of social ills and major cultural shifts finally hits (literally) close to home, both families must face their prejudices and acknowledge them, leading to a blunt, honest conversation on systemic racism harming everyone while leaving audiences, even sixty years later, questioning if people of different ethnicities can ever see beyond their differences and unite, simply learn to love each other as people, like Joanna and John have done.

For another take on the film, check out David Krauss's excellent review of the 2015 Twilight Time Blu-ray HERE.

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment brings Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner to Ultra HD Blu-ray as a two-disc combo pack with a flyer for a Digital Copy, which grants access to the 4K Dolby Vision HDR version with Dolby Atmos audio. The triple-layered UHD100 disc sits comfortably opposite a Region Free, BD50 disc inside a black, eco-elite vortex case with a glossy slipcover. At startup, the disc goes straight to a static main screen with the usual options along the bottom while music plays in the background.

Currently, the film is only available with Sony's Columbia Classics Volume 4 6-film collection which also includes:

His Girl Friday

Kramer Vs. Kramer 

Starman

Sleepless In Seattle

Punch-drunk Love

The classic dramedy joins the Ultra HD dinner table dressed in its best and finest, flaunting a stunningly gorgeous HEVC H.265 encode, thanks to a new restoration and remaster of the original 35mm camera negatives. For a nearly sixty-year-old movie, the native 4K transfer is a beauty to behold where we can plainly make out the fabric, texture and fine stitching in some of the furniture and clothing. Background details are striking and often razor-sharp for a majority of the runtime. 

The Dolby Vision HDR presentation parades about with outstanding contrast and brightness, displaying vividly brilliant whites and silky rich blacks. Specular highlights add a crisp, resplendent glow to the brightest, hottest areas while strong shadow details maintain superb visibility. The cinematography is gleaming with a sumptuous array of primaries, especially the reds of clothes and makeup, and a succulent, richly saturated collection of secondary hues, particularly the yellows of the furniture and other articles of clothing. Awash in a thin, more refined layer of natural grain, the 1.85:1 image looks terrifically film-like and cinematic, easily making it the best the movie has ever looked on home video. (Dolby Vision HDR Video Rating: 96/100 or 5/5)

Packing another unexpected surprise, the movie comes to home theaters with an excellent and splendidly satisfying Dolby Atmos soundtrack. While not exactly making the most of the entire system, it nonetheless serves as a fantastic complement to the film. Imaging feels wide and broad as background activity effortlessly moves between channels and the music lightly bleeds into the top front heights, creating a highly engaging half-dome soundstage. A few effects, primarily traffic noise, also extend into the surrounds and front heights without seeming forced or unnatural, further expanding the sound field. Dialogue reproduction is well prioritized and crystal clear at all times, and the midrange is dynamic and surprisingly extensive without any hints of distortion or other anomalies. With a healthy, appropriate low-end adding some depth to the music, the object-based mix makes for an outstanding addition to an American classic. (Dolby Atmos Audio Rating: 88/100 or 4.5/5)

The same set of bonuses as previous Blu-ray releases are ported over for this UHD edition and housed in the accompanying Blu-ray disc.

• Audio Commentary by film historians Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo
• A Love Story for Today (HD, 30 min)
• A Special Kind of Love (HD, 17 min)
• Stanley Kramer: A Man's Search for Truth (HD, 17 min)
• Introductions (HD, 10 min)
• Karen Kramer 
• Steven Spielberg 
• Tom Brokaw
• Quincy Jones
• 2007 Producer's Guild Stanley Kramer Award Presentation (HD, 5 min)
• Stanley Kramer Accepts the Irving Thalberg Award (HD, 2 min)
• Trailers (HD, 4 min)

With exceptional performances by Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, Stanley Kramer's social drama Guess Who's Coming to Dinner invites audiences to more bluntly discuss race relations and the harm of systemic racism as the union of an interracial couple forces families to confront their prejudices, making the film just as relevant and poignant as ever. Part of Sony's Columbia Classics collection set, the classic film arrives on 4K Ultra HD with a stunning Dolby Vision HDR presentation and a surprisingly excellent Dolby Atmos soundtrack but ports over the same set of bonuses as previous Blu-ray releases. Nevertheless, the overall UHD package is Highly Recommended.

All disc reviews at High-Def Digest are completed using the best consumer HD home theater products currently on the market. More about the gear used for this review.