PHE Press Release: The Ten Commandments (Blu-ray)

YES!  Way to go Paramount.  I will be picking this one up, and after seeing African Queen I'm sure they will do a wonderful job with it.  At this point I am leaning toward the $24.99 two disc, but might cave for the special edition.

Nice! This has long been one of the films I really wanted on Blu. The DVD just never looked very good to me. I am really looking forward to picking this up.

Two factual errors in the press release:  DeMille had nothing to do with "Ben-Hur", and I'm not quite sure how his on-screen introduction is "rare" - it's been on at least the last two home video releases.  (Maybe they meant "rare" as opposed to the OFF-screen introductions he did for some of his earlier films.)

SE as soon as the preorder is up

So what's on the other 3 discs of the 6-disc set?  I only see 3 discs mentioned in the press release.  Oh, I get it, they are including both the blu-ray and the DVD in the gift set.

So, can we assume that each of the Blu Rays is 50 gB (to alleviate bit-rate concerns)?

I'm sure.  There is no way they would split it across two 25 gig BDs.

 

There my be one more error in the press release. I believe that the "hand-tinted" sequences mentioned in the description of the silent version were actually filmed in early 2-strip Technicolor, not tinted. Whatever-- the inclusion of the silent version on BD helps make this is a must-have for me!!

My instincts are to go for the 2 disc set but I might swallow hard and buy the SE. I'd be sorry not to have the 75 minute documentary and the 1923 version. 

 

The announcement mentions "fully restored". Does anyone know what condition the OCR was in?

Any ideas yet if this might be region-free?  I live in the UK and I've been waiting for this disc for an age.

Since this is a Paramount release and they also have the overseas rights to the film (unlike Gladiator for example), I daresay that a region free disc is almost guaranteed.

Another VistaVision release on blu-ray - difficult to resist for me! :-)

 

Not sure how much I like it as a movie, though.  It's more of a biblical pageant than anything else.

 

Doesn't seem a great deal different that its last dvd boxset release, including silent version and same commentary track.  A new 75-min doc, hopefully in HD, sounds interesting.

 

oh well, so long as the colours look good on the new bluray, I'll be perfectly happy with it.

 

I thought the original 2 disc DVD looked amazing color wise and image wise. The opening titles were great! So this new Blu Ray is probably going to be spectacular. Nice the gift set won't have any extra unnecessary trinkets.

I can imagine the audio will see some tweaking, especially during the sequence the stones are carved or when God speaks to Moses.

I've never seen the 1923 version, so that is tempting!

i'll go for the BD / DVD combo especially as it includes the 1923 version.

 

Yes, you are correct, and it is so annoying they still haven't corrected this detail in the notes.  While some tinting was employed for the Parting of the Red Seas shot, the bulk of the footage was shot in two-color Technicolor.  It's the earliest surviving example of the process after 1921's "Toll of the Sea."
 

One combo pack for me too! DeMille's movie is visually stunning and spectacular beyond belief. This is also one of the most effects laden films ever made: it's jam-packed with miniatures, animations and travelling matte shots. I saw it when I was about 12 years old at the long gone Cataract theatre in Niagara Falls, NY and I still have the souvenir book stashed away in a box somewhere. Can't wait.

Indeed, I trust Paramount will amend this nonsense. Wyler's Ben Hur is light years ahead of De Mille's epic as "the" epic of the period. It was all that he yearned for- a critical as well as popular sucess and while DeMille was always popular with the public,critical sucess eluded him which is not surprising as he was never in Wyler's league as a director. Nevertheless, it is great

(if sometimes unintentional) fun and I'm looking forward to it on BD.
 

Cool, so the two tablets house the discs and are not chotskies! They didn't include a swath of Moses' cloth he was wrapped in? 

Pre Order is up on Amazon, also after a quick check of all my Paramount Blu's  that one has art on the disc, love the stone tablet holders

I agree the tablets are pretty cool.

I'm curious to see how the reproduction programme stacks up to the original programme my father has from 1956.

Such an odd film.  On the one hand, it's as much a theatrical and TV viewing tradition as The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music.  And of course it embodies a certain type of "old Hollywood" tradition.  But as a "pageant" as opposed to a dramatic blockbuster like Ben-Hur and the others, I believe it stands pretty much alone, and leaves something to be desired.  I bought the deluxe DVD set to watch it for the first time since I was a kid, and found I really had to be in the mood or I just wouldn't get through it.  You really do have to take it on its own terms.  That said, I'll probably pop for the deluxe set -- to have the extras, especially the new documentary, and of course to give it a shot in Blu.

 

 

I'd like to get the gift set.   But what exactly is the price?  The press release both here and at dvdactive.com show 59.99

but amazon says the list price is  89,99 and they are selling it for around $62.

What gives?

Ten Commandments has had some great posters over the years.  Sadly, none of them are used for this generallly ugly cover, with the red sea repainted to look like a cartoon.

Paramount has the habit of only mentioning the MAP (minimum advertised price) in their press releases instead of the actual list price, so 60 bucks is what you can reasonably expect to pay for this set.

 

The gift box looks a lot like the Red Sea that was depicted on the poster for the 1989 re-release. Still the both the Blu-ray cover and gift box could use some better graphics, but that seems to the problem in most classic releases now that are not MOD.  
 

 

Amen to that.

 

Question Concerning DeMille's 1923 Version on DVD/Blu-ray:

 

Why is Paramount releasing the color footage as a separate Blu-ray feature (as it did when the film was earlier issued on DVD) since its video division released the film ages ago on VHS with the color sequence integrated into the rest of the black and white footage? I assume the film was initially released in 1923 in certain theaters with the black and white footage intermingled with the color, so what's this insistence in separating the color sequence from its source? "Okay theatre-goers, we have a special treat for you today! Stay in your seats and the projectionist will re-run parts of the film you have just seen, but this time they're in color!" Wouldn't the color footage have more impact if it were a part of the black and white film and not a separate entity?

 

Is Paramount thinking some home theater viewer would freak when the color footage hit his or her TV screen, and having just watched part of the film in black and white, believe it some weird anomaly on the disc and therefore wish a replacement? (I'm being facetious here, but one never knows what the home entertainment divisions are thinking.)

 

To make matters worse, on the earlier DVD, where the color sequence is replaced with black and white footage (and I'm sure it's coming to Blu-ray this way), a PAL source is used, so there is an annoying jerkiness in the action for the rather lengthy sequence. The film that donuts the PAL footage is just fine.

 

Anyone have any answers? Just curious.

 

Greg Shoemaker

All good questions Greg, which has me wondering, while the 1923 version is on a blu-ray disc will it be 1080p or will they use the standard DVD transfer?  If they were going to remaster this in High Def, then would they not include the tinted scenes.  Though none of this will deter me from getting the gift set..