A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

No.

The Robe is not now, nor will it ever be, the disc that you reach for to show off the wonders of Blu-ray, 1080p or 7.1 audio.

As a 55 year old Eastman color production, and the first to be released in Fox's CinemaScope format, the elements had to sit in Fox's vaults waiting for technology to meet the needs of a major restoration project.

Finally, over the past couple of years with our digital abilities in place, work could proceed.

The result is far better than one might have expected. Anyone familiar with the original DVD of The Robe will know of its sad state.

With this huge restoration effort now complete, both image and audio are back to an "honorable" state -- not perfect, and in many shots far from it -- but never embarrassing, and certainly far more than simply viewable.

Those shots that survived from original elements tend to look very, very good, while dupes (based largely on the quality of the early 5216 stock) now appear far better than what they actually are.

The Robe has an extremely important place in the history of cinema, not as the first wide-screen production -- but as the first modern movement into an expansion of the cinema as it attempted to fend off that enemy of the airwaves, television.

One must look at this Blu-ray of The Robe not in comparison to anything else out there on BD, but as a totally separate entity with all of its various technical problems intact.

In an effort to place things in perspective, I tend to look at film history in terms of dates on either side of the specific production. In that light, travel back 56 years from the release of The Robe and one finds oneself in 1897 --
eleven years before D.W. Griffith's first film and just in time to be able to view an early Lumiere or Edison production.

The Robe is a very special Blu-ray. Just don't go in expecting perfection, which probably wasn't there even in 1953.

Recommended.

RAH

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I've never seen this film. How would you rate it as a film (I understand its significance from a technical standpoint)? Is it as entertaining as Ben-Hur, for example?

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

It is @ least as entertaining as Ben-Hur and in some ways, moreso. For one thing, it's considerably shorter, and while the acting is typical of a 50s quasi-Biblical epic, no one comes close to Heston's overacting in The Ten Commandments.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I'll add it to my rental list then. Thanks.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

By all means rent it, but in my opinion it is a potboiler without any of the depth that Wyler brings to the script and acting that makes Ben Hur so special.It's a fun film that I wouldn't be without(it's a genre I especially like) and while I would show Ben to others, I wouldn't with Robe.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Mine is on the way. Really looking forward to it after seeing those screen caps at that "science" forum.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I watched my copy tonight was pleased with the result.

I agree with Robert Harris, it's probably the best it's ever looked on video, but don't expect perfection.

I was never a fan of THE ROBE, but purchased it due it's importance in film history. One of the clever bonus features is that you can watch the widescreen film with a PIP screen of the flat version as well so you can judge how much had been re-framed and missing from the scope version. This can be turned on/off while viewing the film, unlike many of the options on PINOCCHIO which forces you to stop the film and go to the main menu and start over.

THE ROBE is definitely a solid purchase!

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

BEN-HUR is a masterful work, my personal choice for "Greatest Movie Ever Made". THE ROBE is nowhere near it, but having said this, I still own it.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I don't agree with you often, but I do with your high opinion of Ben-Hur. I think The Robe is a fine film, but Ben-Hur is in a different class as one of the 100 greatest films ever made.





Crawdaddy

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Ben-Hur is an extraordinary film, that has stood the test of time magnificently. It is however, one of those films best not seen in a home video environment.

Think 70mm.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I dearly wish I could have seen Ben-Hur in its cinematic glory. Unless it gets some sort of re-release in my corner of the world OR I happen to be somewhere that is showing it in 70mm, I'm afraid a "home video environment" is as good as I'll ever get.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Is Ben Hur expected to be released on Blu-Ray this year for the 50th anniversary?

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

We'll most likely find out on Monday night here.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Why of course! I've already drafted a carefully worded question.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I remember seeing BH at the Hollywood Egyptian Theater. It was a wonderful experience and, I especially remember the ending where the theater's mammoth curtains slowly closed on the ending as the chorus and orchestra built to a tremendous crescendo.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Having never seen The Robe, I'm looking forward to finally seeing it, and in the best non-theatrical experience possible. I'm glad they've done what they could.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

When I think 70mm and Ben Hur I am thinking of pink and damaged anamorphic 70mm prints and of that single Australian print that is cropped down to 2.2 to 1.

I agree that most 70mm movies and especially Ben Hur are best experienced on a large screen but Warner needs to throw us a bone and do something about striking new prints from their 70mm library. Not even your restoration of My Fair Lady is screened on a regular basis, not to talk about the likes of Mutiny on the Bounty, Grand Prix, Cheyenne Autumn and other movies where no new prints exist.

So while a Blu-Ray of Ben Hur would be nice it would be even nicer if Warner also produced an anamorphic 70mm print or two so that we can see this masterpiece the way it was meant to be seen.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I found "The Robe" in Blu-ray to be astonishingly beautiful and very moving.

Burton's Oscar-nominated performance is certainly credible. Simmons is exquisite as Diana and Mature is a terrific Demetrius.

Jay Robinson's maniacal, crazed and demented Caligula is one of the screen's most extraordinary creations. I cannot imagine anyone else in the role. It is a performance more than the equal of Hugh Griffith's in "Ben-Hur"...and it wasn't even nominated.

"Ben-Hur" casts no shadows on "The Robe" in terms of acting or production values. The script is literate, and there are several very stunning sequences in the film.

The Palm Sunday sequence with Marcellus riding into Rome while Jesus is also arriving on a white donkey with crowds carrying palm fronds is a beautifully shot/choreographed sequence. As Demetrius falls behind to see this man, we get a true sense that Jesus is riding "behind us" while Demetrius watches him curiously. The effect is nearly 3-dimensional in feeling and the music is perfection.

The Crucifixion sequence is also beautifully done. I found it very, very moving and mercifully free of over-dramatizing.

I've loved this film since I saw it on a CinemaScope screen during its 1963 re-release. It has NEVER looked this wonderful before.

Pay close attention to master cinematographer Leon Shamroy's lighting throughout the film. The scenes lit by oil lamps and torches "seem to be" lit by oil lamps and torches. And when Marcellus bursts into a room in Cana where Demetrius is staying, note the poetry of the sunlight streaming through the window...sunlight by which Demetrius is reading.

Henry Koster, in directing the very first film in this process, composed some extraordinary shots throughout this film. From Marcellus' entry into the slave market square, to the farewell at the Ostia docks, to the entry into Jerusalem, to the Crucifixion, to the arrival at Capri and on and on, culminating in one of the great set pieces in epic films -- the "trial" of Marcellus in Caligula's throne room.

This is a very important film, and the Blu-ray restoration makes it shine as it has never shone.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Unfortunately, I have heard that WB has given up on printing anymore repertory titles in any format. And people running repertory shows are having trouble finding prints of well-known titles from studios. And 70mm prints are NOT cheap.

BTW, they no longer own My Fair Lady. CBS owns it, but Warner licensed the rights to DVD. Hollywood Classics handles CBS's theatrical product. And in the DVD commentary, Mr. Harris lamented that many of the prints from his 1994 restoration were badly mishandled.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Frankly I find this completely unacceptable. It seems that of all the studios only Fox is actively working on its library and on releasing prints of the bigger classics.



That's new to me about CBS owning My Fair Lady. Regarding the mishandled prints the prints of Spartacus and Lawrence of Arabia were also frequently mishandled in exhibition that is. I have seen two prints of both movies and in each case the version with the better colors, resolution and shadow delineation was also the version that already looked rather beat up - very sad.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

While seeing Ben projected properly from a new anamorphic 70mm print on a vast screen would be one of the greatest cinematic experiences you could have, it is difficult enough these days to find a venue that can show ordinary 70 properly let alone anamorphic 70.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I was fortunate enough to see "Ben-Hur" in 70mm in the early 1970s at the legendary Castro Theater here in San Francisco. Mr. Harris is right...as wonderful as home theater technology has gotten, it still can't hold a candle to the true cinematic experience at its biggest and best!

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Fox has done great work with their 70mm reprints. If you ever have the opportunity to see them, take it. Not liking the film itself is no excuse.

As for My Fair Lady, CBS put up money for the original Broadway production in exchange for the cast album rights and, apparently, film rights. Jack L. Warner loved the show so much he paid a then-record $5.5 million for the film rights. But the deal included a caveat: 7 years after the release of the film (which was contractually obliged not to be made until the Broadway production closed), its copyright would be turned over to CBS. It is a bizarre agreement, and I've never heard of any other one like it. But J.L. wanted the movie rights that much.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

He is even more over the top in Demetrius & The Gladiators. On the making of documentary he mentions Henry Koster trying to tone down his performance in The Robe, but it doesn't seem that Delmer Daves did the same for Demetrius!

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Then you will be happy to hear about the new anamorphic print of Khartoum that was shown last month at the Berlinale
That print was done for MGM by the way and to my knowledge together with West Side Story was their first new print since the ca 2003 print of IAMMMMW, also an anamorphic print. Although I think this was not entirely a studio project but was pushed forward by Stanley Kramer's widow.

I do agree on the scarcity of venues that can show UP70/Camera 65 movies but in Europe somebody made the suggestion that the problem could be overcome by buying one or two standard sized anamorphic attachments that could be shipped together with the prints so that in theory most 70mm theaters that do not have their own could show Ben Hur.

In Europe I know of at least 4 cinemas by the way that still can show Ben Hur the way it is meant to be seen as they still have these attachments although they are rarely used for obvious reasons.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

@MatthewA:

Actually I have so far seen these new prints from Fox:

Hello Dolly !
Cleopatra
Patton
South Pacific
The Bible
Star!

That is a strange story about My Fair Lady. I still hope to one day see a print from the restoration.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Got done watching THE ROBE and was amazed!!

FOX did an incredible job with this film. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect but it's so much better looking than it's ever been on home video. I have the original DVD and honestly it's crap! This restoration brings with it bold colors and outside a few passing moments a sharp picture.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

Do you perhaps know where in Europe those cinemas are located? I can't even find a theater here that shows 70mm films (or perhaps I'm not looking hard enough).

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I have only been to 4 cinemas that showed 70mm but there are many more, you might want to start here:
Now showing in 70mm and 6-track stereo

On the left side you can see the screenings sorted by date and on the right side there is a list of cinemas that show 70mm regularly and occasionally.

The Dutch film museum repeatedly did 70mm festivals including some vintage prints that were in surprisingly good shape and if you look around you will surely find their contact info and then you can inquire when they will do their next festival

When you come from the Netherlands there are also festivals in Kopenhagen, Karlsruhe and Bradford that are in reasonably close distance from you, Krnow would probably be a bit more difficult to get to but it is also a very nice festival once you are there.

Re: A few words about...™ The Robe -- in Blu-ray

I got a lot more out of THE ROBE via this tremendous new restoration on BD than I ever did before. I've seen the movie at least thirty times, on broadcast television, laserdisc, and DVD. It looks like a completely new movie. Unlike others who have criticized the "fakeness" of the matte paintings on this new release, I find them to be more beautiful than ever.

No, it's not BEN HUR, but THE ROBE is an excellent film, and this new BD is required viewing for folks who want to appreciate the history of Hollywood filmmaking.



EDIT: I would give anything to see these films in a proper theatrical venue, but Philadelphia is one of the worst cities in the country for repertory film exhibition.