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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Solomon and Sheba -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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King Vidor's final film, Solomon and Sheba, was a problem-plagued 1959 production, with Yul Brynner as Solomon (he replaced Tyrone Power) and Gina Lollobrigida as Sheba. This has been a good month for Ms Lollobridiga on Blu-ray, as this is her third appearance. The other two, Woman of Straw and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, led me to hypothesize that she had a contractual clause causing her to appear in lingerie at least once in each production.


S & S was photographed in Technirama (8-perf 35mm) by the great Freddie Young, and while Twilight Time's new Blu-ray does give the concept that the film was shot large format, it could have been so much better. I presume that MGM has given TT a master taken from a 35mm reduction element, as printer functions pop as they go by.


There are occasional mis-alignments of the frames, possibly going back to the optical work from TLA to 35mm scope, and while these are few, they give some concept of how the imagery has been handled by MGM.


Color and densities are fine, aside from a bit of dupey functions in the main title sequence. Occasional sharpening noted.


The problem with S & S, as well as some other biblical epics of the era, are horrific scripting, and dialogue, that to be kind, has not met the test of time.


Audio is fine, albeit 2-track as opposed to discreet stereo.


Image - 3.75


Audio - 3.25


Pass / Fail - Pass


RAH
 

Robert Harris

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Robin9 said:
Well, Robert Crawford has often pointed out that RAH's standards are higher than most of ours. I think this Solomon And Sheba disc will satisfy non-professional eyes. It satisfies mine.

Standards are basically those initially proposed and set by those who created the HD and Blu-ray technology.


"The look and sound of perfect."
 

David Weicker

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Robert Harris said:
Standards are basically those initially proposed and set by those who created the HD and Blu-ray technology.

"The look and sound of perfect."
Except if you take that statement at its word, then by definition, if something is on Blu-Ray, it is perfect, regardless of what us mere mortals might think.
 

Ed Lachmann

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Just happy to have it. I thought it looked fine, in fact, far above average. Still, probably could be better. But, these are the sort of films it seems everyone loves to hate so we see hardly any of them in BD form. And for all the ugly vitriol aimed at the old 50's historical epics I like to save mine for the many 70's/80's grade D horror shlock flicks that are already on their fifth "special edition" blu-ray reissues.
 

Robert Harris

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mark brown said:
Is this the quality we might expect if The Alamo is indeed restored from 35mm reduction?

Depends upon the element used. Could be close from 35. Problem is that at 4k, everything falls apart.


RAH
 

Robert Crawford

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Robert Harris said:
Standards are basically those initially proposed and set by those who created the HD and Blu-ray technology.


"The look and sound of perfect."
Yet, those standards haven't been met for several titles.
 

notmicro

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A couple of Technirama classics that I wish would come out on Blu -

- Sayonara (1957)

- Auntie Mame (1958)
 

mark brown

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Let me get this straight. The French have the ability to create a beautiful Blu-Ray of 55 Days at Peking from the original large format elements but major U.S. studios don't?
 

Peter Apruzzese

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mark brown said:
Let me get this straight. The French have the ability to create a beautiful Blu-Ray of 55 Days at Peking from the original large format elements but major U.S. studios don't?

As far as I know, "55 Days" was done at Pinewood Studios by the rights holder, not by the Blu-ray releasing company in France.
 

David_B_K

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mark brown said:
Let me get this straight. The French have the ability to create a beautiful Blu-Ray of 55 Days at Peking from the original large format elements but major U.S. studios don't?

I'm gonna pass on this title. It's been a long time since I've seen it. I've always thought it just an OK movie, but I might have gone for it if it were scanned from the large format Technirama elements. The demo on the UK 55 Days blu-ray shows how much more impressive (even on Blu-ray on TV) the movie is when sourced from the full-sized elements as opposed to the 35mm reduction.
 

DP 70

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Peter Apruzzese said:
As far as I know, "55 Days" was done at Pinewood Studios by the rights holder, not by the Blu-ray releasing company in France.
Yes it was done at Pinewood they have a Techirama Gate on their scanner, they also did Circus World.
 

Ed Lachmann

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mark brown said:
Let me get this straight. The French have the ability to create a beautiful Blu-Ray of 55 Days at Peking from the original large format elements but major U.S. studios don't?

After this review, I put my Solomon and Sheba BD on the Oppo, checked it out, then put up my 55 Days at Peking for a spell and then the highly touted King of Kings. I'm no expert, just a typical BD buying jamoke, but I really thought they all looked fabulous. I must be missing something here. Maybe my eyes are failing in my old age or something. Actually, I thought the King of Kings looked worse.
 

Konstantinos

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Ed Lachmann said:
After this review, I put my Solomon and Sheba BD on the Oppo, checked it out, then put up my 55 Days at Peking for a spell and then the highly touted King of Kings. I'm no expert, just a typical BD buying jamoke, but I really thought they all looked fabulous. I must be missing something here. Maybe my eyes are failing in my old age or something. Actually, I thought the King of Kings looked worse.
From what I remember King of Kings looked spectacular so I'm looking forward to Solomon too! (and also looking forward to a week full of Biblical films in 10 days!)

You don't have the capability for a screenshot, do you?
 

Ed Lachmann

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Konstantinos said:
From what I remember King of Kings looked spectacular so I'm looking forward to Solomon too! (and also looking forward to a week full of Biblical films in 10 days!)

You don't have the capability for a screenshot, do you?
Sadly no, and I should actually look into the necessary software. Please let me know what you think of the quality. Just overjoyed to have it at last. Looks like Quo Vadis after Easter dinner at our house.
 

notmicro

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DP 70 said:
Yes it was done at Pinewood they have a Techirama Gate on their scanner, they also did Circus World.

I'm confused - is there a physical difference between a Technirama gate and a VistaVision gate?
 

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