Arthur Hamilton is living the life of a worker bee. He is middle aged and lost any reason to do move forward. Work is unfulfilling and that other thing that made him happy, his child has now left and moved on. Love for his wife is empty and ambition in his work is blackness. Hamilton is approached by a secret organization, The Company. Now through a friend long believed dead and buried, he is going to take on a new life and a new self. Given the body of a young beautiful man through experimental surgery, he now has to see what will happen as a new him.

I could have such fun at this point with a film that deals with Paronia, self and emptiness. Those who have spoken on this, often hit their stride on that well trodden path of paronia and Frakenheimer (the films director). Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May central motifs were this.

I want to focus on the theme of empty capitalism and personal emptiness. This would have been a core part of the way people felt at the time. The 50s had ended with that consumer boom, happy glow waining. The 60s had come in and blown apart that world by expelling the myth, you should be happy with empty cash generation. This is key to connection to the source. Hudson was a fantastic choice as a film star of the 50s that had been on the front of the glow losing its sheen. Then of course we have the movement to that other life of excess and party. This is the 50s hangover so to speak, it is the money made as celebration turned to dull conformation and process. Howe is to be credited with making this film look as distorted as the world had become. Conformity had warped and shaped the world into an empty bubble and the cinematography expressed this.

The disc is a delightful reward.

Greatlooking and the 4k is sublime. The commentaries are grand and explore a superb film. The interview with Kim is great and has a logic. Then finally the booklet is superb.

• Gorgeous restoration from a 4K transfer, in 1080p HD on the Blu-ray
• Two Feature-length audio commentaries: one by director John Frankenheimer, and one by film scholar Adrian Martin
• New video interview with novelist and critic Kim Newman
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired
• Booklet featuring new essays by critics David Cairns and Mike Sutton