5 Classic Movies Every Cinephile Should Own On 4K Blu-Ray

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For movie lovers, there's often nothing better than an evening spent watching a great film or kicking back with some movies to watch on a new TV. The classics are always worth turning to when in search of a good watch. You can always find some classics to watch on streaming services, but these rarely offer the same kind of experience as watching on 4K Blu-ray.

Classic movies and the 4K Blu-ray format pair well together when building out a movie library. Behind-the-scenes footage, promotional materials of the day, historical and contextual documentaries, filmmaker commentaries, and other bonus features can be part of the draw. There are several 4K Blu-rays you should avoid, but movie lovers are often the target demographic for classic movie releases, with studios regularly doing film restoration work specifically for the release.

I've had my own case of cinephilia over the years, and it's not only led me to build an extensive movie library, but also to some great classic movie-watching experiences. I've attended several theatrical releases when a classic has gotten the 4K treatment, and my background as a filmmaker has exposed me to 4K Blu-ray titles and viewing experiences I'm thrilled to pass along to other movie lovers.

Alongside "Star Wars," Steven Spielberg's sci-fi epic launched a wave of blockbuster science fiction movies. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is a quieter exploration of alien-human interaction, grounding the experience in the wonder of several everyday people. For Spielberg, "Close Encounters" came on the heels of the success with "Jaws," and younger movie lovers who found the director through his more recently-released "Disclosure Day" may find it worthwhile to add to their library.

In 2017, the 4K restoration of "Close Encounters" was released theatrically to celebrate its 40th anniversary. I was able to catch a screening, and it led me to purchase the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" 4K Blu-ray for my own movie collection. "Close Encounters" was one of my favorite films growing up, but seeing it in 4K was a tremendous improvement over the little square TVs I had seen it on up to that point.

While the "Close Encounters" 4K Blu-ray doesn't include a Dolby Atmos audio upgrade from its 2007 Blu-ray release, the newest iteration does include a number of different versions of the film. It also includes documentaries about the making of the film, with one featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, and Denis Villeneuve.

Where "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is a sort of epic of discovery, "Lawrence of Arabia" is an epic in the more traditional cinematic sense. Its narrative scope is massive, covering both the external and internal journeys of T.E. Lawrence. The film's scope is equally massive, with production taking more than two years and the filming taking place across Jordan, Morocco, and Spain. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, "Lawrence of Arabia" has influenced every generation of filmmakers to come after it.

The "Lawrence of Arabia" 4K Blu-ray is another I consider a cornerstone of my movie collection. The restoration traces back to an 8K scan of the original 65mm camera negative, which was originally done for the film's 50th anniversary in 2012. Because of the film's beautiful backdrops, "Lawrence of Arabia" is worth pairing with a home theater system made for cinephiles. It stars several Hollywood legends in their breakout roles, including Omar Sharif as Sharif Ali and, of course, Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence. Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn are among the cast as well.

If there's a drawback to this 4K Blu-ray release, it's that the movie is so long that it's stretched across two discs. This could, however, curry favor with cinephiles, as the film's original theatrical intermission is included, as is a musical overture at the beginning of the film, which provide a similar experience to seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" when it originally hit theaters.

"Casablanca" won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it's universally regarded as one of the best — if not the singular best — films of all time. It, of course, stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, with the film coming on the heels of another classic in Bogart's "The Maltese Falcon" a year earlier. The same black and white, shadowy visual style carries "Casablanca," and I've noticed a lot of the film looks surprisingly crisp when watching the "Casablanca" 4K Blu-ray.

However, a complete camera negative of "Casablanca" no longer exists. The restoration for the 4K Blu-ray release was built from multiple sources, using the best-preserved nitrate prints that are still in existence. Warner Bros. scanned and cleaned the prints specifically for the 4K Blu-ray version and included a brand-new HDR transfer of the film. The reviewers at High Def Digest also praise the 4K Blu-ray's visual quality, giving it five stars and claiming it outclasses every other rendering of the film.

High Def Digest also notes, however, that a few shots don't quite live up to what some might expect of a 4K transfer, but attributes that to the lack of a single intact negative to transfer from. But in just about every other regard, "Casablanca" holds up as a cornerstone of American cinema, and priced at just $24 at Amazon, it's on the more affordable end of the spectrum as classic movies on Blu-ray go.

"Casablanca" is often referenced in film schools because of its screenplay, and that's the case for "Chinatown" as well. Robert Towne's script lays out a slow-burn plot, with Jack Nicholson navigating his way through it as private investigator Jake Gittes. Prior to "Chinatown," Nicholson was known for playing more outgoing characters like those in "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," and "The Last Detail." The release of "Chinatown" in 1974 marked one of the first times audiences saw him more reserved.

The "Chinatown" 4K Blu-ray was timed to the film's 50th anniversary. It was built from a new scan of the original camera negative, and restoration even went far so far as to repair damaged sections. I don't own the 4K Blu-ray of "Chinatown," but I do own the 4K digital download. Even with the lower bitrates, Roman Polanski's portrayal of 1930s Los Angeles is worth diving into for a mystery, and the 4K Blu-ray is likely to present the film with even better image quality.

One drawback is that there seem to be a lot of different Blu-ray versions of "Chinatown" out there. Many of them don't include the 4K version, while some include a copy of the classic's somewhat-forgotten sequel, "The Two Jakes" alongside the 4K version of "Chinatown." You'll want to be sure to pay attention to which version you're purchasing if 4K resolution is imperative to your viewing experience.

What better film on 4K Blu-ray to recommend to cinephiles than a classic about the movie business itself? "Singin' in the Rain" takes a look at Hollywood's transition from silent film to "talkies," and some of the actors affected by the technological shift. Released in 1952, it's a nostalgic look at the movie business of 1927 through characters played by Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor. It's widely recognized as one of the best musicals and best comedies of all time.

As far as the "Singin' in the Rain" 4K Blu-ray goes, the film's 70th anniversary in 2022 set the stage for its release. It was remastered with HDR included among the 4K Blu-ray's features. The musical numbers, of course, are some of the most recognized that a single film has produced. I was able to catch a screening of the 4K release in theaters in 2022, and if it's indicative of what you can expect on the 4K Blu-ray, numbers like "Good Morning," "Make 'Em Laugh," and "Singin' in the Rain" will be easy to watch a few times over.

One other reason people get excited about Blu-ray releases, however, is for the special features, and the 4K Blu-ray version of "Singin' in the Rain" doesn't seem to have much to offer there. It does include some audio commentary and a documentary from 2012 that features interviews with several modern musicians, but the 4K version of the film seems to be the highlight of the 4K Blu-ray release.

This article came together based on movies I know and love. Over the years I've amassed a hefty movie library, and I spent several years learning to make and understand movies through the classics. The titles I've selected here are all films I'd genuinely tell my friends to watch, in part because of my own movie tastes, but more importantly, because of their universally agreed-upon cinematic value.

But I'm not fully versed in the intricacies of most films' 4K Blu-ray release — not even the ones I happen to own. To ensure I selected classics that have a lot to offer in their 4K Blu-ray forms, I researched across numerous outlets, ensuring bonus features and picture quality live up to the standards movie lovers might expect when making a Blu-ray purchase.