Barabbas (1 Viewer)

[Douglas R]

Just got Barabbas because I love those old epics. The good thing about the picture is that it is remarkably clear of any grain or blemishes, especially when considering the age of the film. The color is rather muddy and washed out but this may well have been an intentional effect. I saw it in 70mm when it first opened but I can't remember how it looked then. The dialogue and effects are directional but the music, surprisingly, seems to be mono. Unfortunately Columbia have not included the original Overture and Intermission music, which suggests a 35mm print was used to master this disc. I must say the film is not as good as I remember, being slow and heavy going with people constantly stating the obvious although it improves a lot once you get past the first 40 minutes. Jack Palance comes off best in a typical over the top performance, with everyone else, including Anthony Quinn, giving mediocre or plain bad performances. At least the film has good production values with the Roman Colosseum scenes appearing more like a circus, as it probably was, complete with performing elephants.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

BARABBAS is actually one of my favorite Biblical epics. I remember reading it was going to be released to DVD but I had no idea that the street date was this week. I promptly went over to DVDEmpire and ordered a copy. Thanks for the post, Douglas!

 

[Ben Motley]

Bummer :frowning: . I love overture, itermission, and exit music included on the epics.
But I'll be picking this up anyway, as I doubt it'll be revisited anytime soon.
And good or bad, Quinn, Borgnine, and Palance kick ass.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I watched BARABBAS tonight and I was pleasantly surprised not only with the transfer but also that a scene that was cut from all previous home video releases-Barabbas meeting Lazarus on the first Easter Sunday-was restored on this DVD. This vignette was the keystone of the Par Lagerkvist novella that the film was based on and it was always strange that it wasn't in the film. I knew it was filmed because stills survive of the scene and have turned up in books and articles about the film. It adds a lot of dimension to the film and I'm very grateful to Columbia Home Video for making sure that this sequence finally saw the light of day on home video.