Blu-ray Review The Egyptian Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

There have been a lot of explanations about why some won't buy the disc, mostly in the vein of "if I were a fan" or "this would be a blind buy". How may folks buy titles of which they aren't fond? Do they usually blind-buy a lot of stuff? If so, I've gotta tell you that you won't find this quality and beauty in $15 BD titles anywhere. I've yet to read one comment from anyone who bought it who didn't find it absolutely worth every penny.

I'm usually careful about the movies I buy but every now and then I do a blind buy and half the time regret it and half the time think, how smart I am to blind buy the movie. Were I to buy this movie, it wouldn't be a blind buy, not after reading this thread and having seen the movie eons ago and remembering that I liked it.
But you really are off base when you make such a blanket statement that you can't find this beauty and quality in $15 BD titles anywhere. One of my early buys was the multi-disc Bladerunner set for $15. Yeah, it was an insane price, but it was $15. I'm very careful with what I buy and 75% of what I buy costs me less than $20. I just picked up The Complete Metropolis at BB which was on sale for $15 and I had a $5 coupon.
I'm not going to buy this movie for one major reason, the price. $40 is too much for one bare bones disc. I can't think of any single movie I'd buy for that price and it be the movie only. And no chapter menu (and the stops are haphazardly placed), now that's a feature I expect to find in the $5 bin.

So says you.  Look, as I said earlier, if this is worth it for you and you are happy with it then I'm thrilled for you and am very pleased that you're a happy fan.  But please don't tell me this is the best $40 blu-ray ever and please don't tell me that there aren't beautifully high-quality $15 blu-rays out there because that simply isn't true. Its clearly worth it for some and not worth the artificially inflated price for others, but let's not make it an us vs them thing, okay?

Gosh! I don't believe I told you, or anyone else, that this was the best $40 Blu ray ever. While it's the best value for my money I've gotten since "The Robe", I can only speak for myself, and that's what I was doing.
No, I'll leave the you vs. them to you. You are making a great attempt.
So, YES, says I. I don't need more extras than an isolated score, a commentary and a theatrical trailer. The MOVE is the thing...the movie looking better than almost everything else I've seen out there since "The Robe" and "How the West Was Wone" were issued on BD.
My recommendation, clearly, was for those who love the film . The film's the thing.

No you didn't say best $40 blu ever, but I can see where the poster might infer that. Interesting that you say it's the best value since the Robe, which is going for $16 right now on Amazon. Or HTWWW which is going for $19 (digibook) and $15 (regular) on Amazon. HTWWW has been highly praised for pq and I assume the same for The Robe. Let's see, I can buy them both for less than the price of The Egyptian. Now that's value.
I just recently pre-ordered Mimic for $15 which is a recent movie and could be expected to have more appeal to the current audience, so maybe they should charge $40 for it? West Side story can be pre-ordered for $19. I just bought Rango (on sale for $15 and BB $5 coupon for $10 plus tax). Rango top notch animation, it's a real value.
I'm sorry, you're getting a movie you want, but not a value, IMHO.
This is an artificially inflated price. Call it the DeBeers pricing strategy. Make less of the product available and drive the price up. They'd better start advertising "BDs are Forever." I wish they had decided to go for a lower profit margin per disc and sell more. That gets the movie into more households for viewing. After all, the movie is the thing.

 

[ahollis]

I wanted the title, I got it. I am happy with it. Would I have wished the price was lower, hell yes I do, but it did not deter me from purchasing nor the other 2100 people that bought the Blu-ray release. I now wonder how the sales are on the standard DVD since 3000 was pressed for that also.

Again so much is in the eye of the beholder depending on if they think it is worth it or not. Some people will and a lot of people will not. But this is Twilight's business plan and they have had a successful business for soundtrack CD's so we will see what happens in the long run.

 

[Douglas R]

$40 is too much for one bare bones disc.

How does a commmentary track, isolated score and trailer make it a "bare bones" release?

 

[Alan Tully]

I
I'm sorry, you're getting a movie you want, but not a value, IMHO.
This is an artificially inflated price. Call it the DeBeers pricing strategy. Make less of the product available and drive the price up. They'd better start advertising "BDs are Forever." I wish they had decided to go for a lower profit margin per disc and sell more. That gets the movie into more households for viewing. After all, the movie is the thing.

Just to repeat, the film's the thing. I don't buy blu-rays for the sake of buying Blu-rays, to fill up a Blu-ray shelf. I love movies (old movies!). I only have about 20 blu's with maybe another 10 I need to buy. Except for The Egyptian, all my BD's have cost me between £6 & £9 (I'm happy to shop around or wait 'till it comes down in price) The fact that I will buy both Ben Hur & Mutiny On The Bounty for maybe a bit less than I paid for this is just one of those things, swings & roundabouts. I think you overestmate how well these old titles will sell, both BD & DVD haven't sold out yet. If they sold that well then Fox would be releasing them. I can probably buy six BD's for what I paid for The Egyptian, but they'd be six film I don't want, & I wanted the Egyptian very much. It could be that the Twilight Time plan doesn't work out, & that would mean that a lot of old movies are never released in HD, not by TT & certaintly not by Fox.

 

[Virgoan]

I'm usually careful about the movies I buy but every now and then I do a blind buy and half the time regret it and half the time think, how smart I am to blind buy the movie. Were I to buy this movie, it wouldn't be a blind buy, not after reading this thread and having seen the movie eons ago and remembering that I liked it.
But you really are off base when you make such a blanket statement that you can't find this beauty and quality in $15 BD titles anywhere. One of my early buys was the multi-disc Bladerunner set for $15. Yeah, it was an insane price, but it was $15. I'm very careful with what I buy and 75% of what I buy costs me less than $20. I just picked up The Complete Metropolis at BB which was on sale for $15 and I had a $5 coupon.
I'm not going to buy this movie for one major reason, the price. $40 is too much for one bare bones disc. I can't think of any single movie I'd buy for that price and it be the movie only. And no chapter menu (and the stops are haphazardly placed), now that's a feature I expect to find in the $5 bin.
No you didn't say best $40 blu ever, but I can see where the poster might infer that. Interesting that you say it's the best value since the Robe, which is going for $16 right now on Amazon. Or HTWWW which is going for $19 (digibook) and $15 (regular) on Amazon. HTWWW has been highly praised for pq and I assume the same for The Robe. Let's see, I can buy them both for less than the price of The Egyptian. Now that's value.
I just recently pre-ordered Mimic for $15 which is a recent movie and could be expected to have more appeal to the current audience, so maybe they should charge $40 for it? West Side story can be pre-ordered for $19. I just bought Rango (on sale for $15 and BB $5 coupon for $10 plus tax). Rango top notch animation, it's a real value.
I'm sorry, you're getting a movie you want, but not a value, IMHO.
This is an artificially inflated price. Call it the DeBeers pricing strategy. Make less of the product available and drive the price up. They'd better start advertising "BDs are Forever." I wish they had decided to go for a lower profit margin per disc and sell more. That gets the movie into more households for viewing. After all, the movie is the thing.

Gosh, it appears that all you want to do is argue against my point of view, and it seems you decided that one of the best ways to do that was to misrepresent what I said about "The Robe" and "HTWWW". I never once said "The Egyptian was the "best value" since anything. I said it was the best BD "quality" since those BD issues. The price of either of them is irrelevant. One was issued by FHE and the other by TCM. Both those organizations are better able to keep costs down than this small boutique label. By all means DON'T buy "the Egyptian"...but please don't take any more liberties with my positive statements by misquoting or misrepresenting my words. As for the titles you find so wonderful, please consider that great BD quality doesn't mean anything when it accompanies a film I have no interest in.
"The Egyptian" is the best BD in my collection alongside "The Robe", "HTWWW", "South Pacific" and "A Star is Born". Period.
I'd recommend anyone who hasn't seen the BD consider that my comments are based on actually having seen it...four times, thus far. IMO, the film is definitely worthy of the price. And this comes from someone who used to routinely pay such prices for laserdiscs that, by comparison, don't remotely compare

 

[Will Krupp]

By all means DON'T buy "the Egyptian"...but please don't take any more liberties with my positive statements by misquoting or misrepresenting my words. As for the titles you find so wonderful, please consider that great BD quality doesn't mean anything when it accompanies a film I have no interest in.

Your intent (conscious or unconscious) was not misrepresented by anyone.

Again, we ALL love movies and I'm very happy that those of you who have bought the blu-ray are happy and find that it's worth the money to you.

 

[Will Krupp]

Originally Posted by Billy Batson
Just to repeat, the film's the thing. I don't buy blu-rays for the sake of buying Blu-rays, to fill up a Blu-ray shelf. I love movies (old movies!)

This line of argument seems to come up whenever someone has the temerity to suggest that a blu-ray (or dvd in the old days) is too bare bones for its pricing strategy (or public interest) and, quite frankly, the argument is tired. We are posting on a forum about a 1954 Cinemscope film starring Edmund Purdom, for heaven's sake, so I think its safe to assume that we are all on the same team. I also find "the film" to be "the thing." but I am not a philistine for suggesting a little more bang for my buck.

 

[Alan Tully]

This line of argument seems to come up whenever someone has the temerity to suggest that a blu-ray (or dvd in the old days) is too bare bones for its pricing strategy (or public interest) and, quite frankly, the argument is tired.  We are posting on a forum about a 1954 Cinemscope film starring Edmund Purdom, for heaven's sake, so I think its safe to assume that we are all on the same team.  I also find "the film" to be "the thing." but I am not a philistine for suggesting a little more bang for my buck.  

For me the "bang" is the movie. But fine, if you don't want it you don't buy it, & if you do..you do. If you lived next door I'd lend it to you.

 

[Will Krupp]

Originally Posted by Billy Batson
For me the "bang" is the movie. But fine, if you don't want it you don't buy it, & if you do..you do. If you lived next door I'd lend it to you.

Hahahah...Thank you Billy (I would LOVE to see it and have always wanted to!!!)

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Will Krupp
This line of argument seems to come up whenever someone has the temerity to suggest that a blu-ray (or dvd in the old days) is too bare bones for its pricing strategy (or public interest) and, quite frankly, the argument is tired. We are posting on a forum about a 1954 Cinemscope film starring Edmund Purdom, for heaven's sake, so I think its safe to assume that we are all on the same team. I also find "the film" to be "the thing." but I am not a philistine for suggesting a little more bang for my buck.

Damn, you would think we were talking about HELLO DOLLY.

 

[Will Krupp]

Originally Posted by ahollis
Damn, you would think we were talking about HELLO DOLLY.

You know Allen, I was thinking the SAME thing when I was posting that!!! Hahahah

And I was thinking of you giving me hell for being unusually combative in that thread (and you were totally right to do it too!) and I thought, oh shit....I hope Allen doesn't read this!!

 

[Johnny Angell]

If so, I've gotta tell you that you won't find this quality and beauty in $15 BD titles anywhere. I've yet to read one comment from anyone who bought it who didn't find it absolutely worth every penny.

Gosh, it appears that all you want to do is argue against my point of view, and it seems you decided that one of the best ways to do that was to misrepresent what I said about "The Robe" and "HTWWW". I never once said "The Egyptian was the "best value" since anything. I said it was the best BD "quality" since those BD issues. The price of either of them is irrelevant. One was issued by FHE and the other by TCM.

"You won't find this quality and beauty in $15 BD titles anywhere." I find that to be a specific and clear statement. The Egyptian beats out all $15 BDs anywhere. " I've yet to read one comment from anyone who bought it who didn't find it absolutely worth every penny." So "worth every penny" isn't a comment on value? If you don't want someone thinking you're talking about value, don't do dollar comparisons. You think you got your money's worth and your opinion is valid, for you. I'll agree that you got your money's worth. But your comment about $15 BDs is incorrect, IMHO. If you had written "The Egyptian is as good or better than any BD I've run across", that's different.

I'd recommend anyone who hasn't seen the BD consider that my comments are based on actually having seen it...four times, thus far. IMO, the film is definitely worthy of the price. And this comes from someone who used to routinely pay such prices for laserdiscs that, by comparison, don't remotely compare

Once again a comment on what the movie is worth. The dollar is brought into the discussion again, by you.
I do not believe I've misrepresented want you wrote.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I wanted the title, I got it. I am happy with it. Would I have wished the price was lower, hell yes I do, but it did not deter me from purchasing nor the other 2100 people that bought the Blu-ray release. I now wonder how the sales are on the standard DVD since 3000 was pressed for that also.

Again so much is in the eye of the beholder depending on if they think it is worth it or not. Some people will and a lot of people will not. But this is Twilight's business plan and they have had a successful business for soundtrack CD's so we will see what happens in the long run.

The core of my position is that I believe the movie is overpriced. You don't. That's our privilege.

How does a commmentary track, isolated score and trailer make it a "bare bones" release?

I got that incorrect. Not bare bones, but not loaded either. Still not $40 worth, IMHO.

 

[Virgoan]

I think the truth here is plain. The only people complaining are the people who have not seen the Blu-ray of "The Egyptian".
Yes?
Of course, yes!
As for the quality of the BD....I can assess it's worth vis a vis its quality because I have it and have seen it. It's deeply rich and vibrant...it's gloriously produced...and it was worth every penny I paid for it.
I bought it because I love the film.
THAT has been the essence of my puzzlement over the negativity....negativity from folks who say it's not a title they know or particularly like....a title they would buy blind if the price were right.
I do not deny anyone his rights for not paying a cent more than he thinks something is worth.
I would suggest, however, that it would be wise and prudent (bet you haven't seen that word since the first George Bush left office) to know what it is you're passing on before you trash it out of hand.

 

[Virgoan]

Dude, RELAX!!  Before you climb up on that high horse, you may want to re-read the post to which I was responding.  Whether intentional or not, it gives the impression that you are attempting to invalidate the opinions of those of us who find it to be ARTIFICIALLY expensive.  You did this by saying that, for all our bellyaching about blind buys and stuff we are on the fence about, we won't find this quality in a $15 blu ray anywhere and that everyone who bought it says it was worth every penny.  Translation....those who don't think it's worth it are ill-informed or wrong.  It MAY be worth every penny to YOU and that's GREAT (as I said, good on you if you love it!) but those on the other side of that argument have every right to voice our feelings on it as well.    We ALL love movies, that's why we are here and what we all have in common.  Of COURSE the movie's the thing but, to me, there is nothing special enough about the BLU-RAY to justify a price that is so much higher than releases of similar quality.  If Fox HAD released it do you really think you would have paid $40?  No, you are paying for the boutique release and while that's worth it for you, there is NOTHING "off" about people who aren't willing to shell out that kind of money to support this particular business model.      He's not arguing with you either, he's just putting forth an opinion that is different than yours, in that $40 (in comparison to the titles he mentioned) is not VALUE.  You seem to want to battle with anyone who doesn't agree with you, as though you are being picked on.    Your intent (conscious or unconscious) was not misrepresented by anyone.  Again, we ALL love movies and I'm very happy that those of you who have bought the blu-ray are happy and find that it's worth the money to you. 

Gosh, dude, I couldn't re-read your post because your horse was blocking my sight lines.The only opinions that are invalid are the ones that presume the film isn't worth the money. If you have not SEEN it , you can only be presumptuous. At best.

 

[Will Krupp]

/forum/thread/313127/the-egyptian-blu-ray-review/60#post_3837893
I think the truth here is plain. The only people complaining are the people who have not seen the Blu-ray of "The Egyptian".
Yes?
Of course, yes!
As for the quality of the BD....I can assess it's worth vis a vis its quality because I have it and have seen it. It's deeply rich and vibrant...it's gloriously produced...and it was worth every penny I paid for it.
I bought it because I love the film.
THAT has been the essence of my puzzlement over the negativity....negativity from folks who say it's not a title they know or particularly like....a title they would buy blind if the price were right.
I do not deny anyone his rights for not paying a cent more than he thinks something is worth.
I would suggest, however, that it would be wise and prudent (bet you haven't seen that word since the first George Bush left office) to know what it is you're passing on before you trash it out of hand.

Where to begin? The only one complaining here is you. We are saying that the price is too artificially high FOR US. No one has been even a single little bit negative about the quality of the image itself. I'm sure it's WONDERFUL and I would LOVE to have a beautifully produced blu-ray of the first Cinemascope film shot with its improved lenses, I really would. No one is denying that it's a beautifully produced blu-ray and I would snap it up in a heartbeat if given the chance. I won't do that however, because the price is ARTIFICIALLY set too high (in my eyes) and I don't NEED it. You clearly LOVE the film and did NEED to have it so you bought it. And again (for the 100th time) I think that's GREAT for you and I'm happy that you're happy with it.

Whether you love or have seen the blu-ray makes you something of an authority on its quality (granted) but has no bearing on whether or not other people (who aren't you) have to agree with you that the price point is justified. This is not "negativity" or "trashing" it out of hand, its just a difference of opinion that, for some reason, really seems to offend you.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I think the truth here is plain. The only people complaining are the people who have not seen the Blu-ray of "The Egyptian".
Yes?
Of course, yes!
As for the quality of the BD....I can assess it's worth vis a vis its quality because I have it and have seen it. It's deeply rich and vibrant...it's gloriously produced...and it was worth every penny I paid for it.
I bought it because I love the film.
THAT has been the essence of my puzzlement over the negativity....negativity from folks who say it's not a title they know or particularly like....a title they would buy blind if the price were right.
I do not deny anyone his rights for not paying a cent more than he thinks something is worth.
I would suggest, however, that it would be wise and prudent (bet you haven't seen that word since the first George Bush left office) to know what it is you're passing on before you trash it out of hand.

Please go back to reread what I've written. Find one word that criticizes the film. One word (except for bemoaning the lack of a chapters menu) that criticizes the blu-ray production. I have not trashed either, but have merely stated the film is not worth the $40 to me. BTW, this is something we all do every time we pick up a disc and than put it back on the rack. Without seeing the blu-ray, we turn it down. That is what I'm doing, leaving The Egyptian on the rack.

Gosh, dude, I couldn't re-read your post because your horse was blocking my sight lines.
The only opinions that are invalid are the ones that presume the film isn't worth the money. If you have not SEEN it , you can only be presumptuous. At best.

Every consumer makes the judgement for him/herself, "Is the product worth the price?" It is my personal decision that no blu-ray is worth $40 to me. As the film title goes "Never Say Never Again", so I will reserve the possibility there will be an exception out there, but I haven't encountered it yet.
Both Will and I have acknowledged your valid opinion that the blu-ray is worth the $40 to you. However your pompous horse is blocking your sight lines so much, that you can't extend the same courtesy to us. The view from atop your high horse must be breathtaking.

 

[Alan Tully]

I bought it because I love the film.

That sentance says it all!
If the next one is a film I don't like, I might change sides, "what,forty dollars for that!".

 

[Will Krupp]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell
"You won't find this quality and beauty in $15 BD titles anywhere." I find that to be a specific and clear statement. The Egyptian beats out all $15 BDs anywhere.

What KILLS me about that quote (well, quote of a quote to be more accurate) is that, had FOX gone ahead and pressed/released THE EGYPTIAN, the exact same disc would have BEEN one of those $15 Blu-rays!

 

[Alan Tully]

 What KILLS me about that quote (well, quote of a quote to be more accurate) is that, had FOX gone ahead and pressed/released THE EGYPTIAN, the exact same disc would have BEEN one of those $15 Blu-rays!

I think some sort of answer is for the studios to sell limited Blu-rays of older movies direct, but large companies are notoriously bad at selling small & making a profit. Mind you Warner do have a head start with the Archive set-up. I dunno, it might happen.