The Ten Commandments - 65th Anniversary (4K+2D Blu-ray SteelBook) [UK]

paulboland

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Sep 10, 2012
38,287
Navan/Ireland
Release date: November 15, 2021
Purchase links: Amazon UK - Zavvi - HMV
Price: £27.99 (Amazon - Zavvi) - £29.99 (HMV)
Note: Includes bonus 1923 film

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Extras:

DISC 1 - 1956 4K ULTRA HD FEATURE FILM + SPECIAL FEATURE • Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of “Written in Stone: Making Cecil B.DeMille’s Epic, The Ten Commandments”

DISC 2 - 1956 BLU-RAY™ FEATURE FILM (PART 1) + SPECIAL FEATURE • Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of “Written in Stone: Making Cecil B.DeMille’s Epic, The Ten Commandments”

DISC 3 - 1956 BLU-RAY™ FEATURE FILM (PART 2) + SPECIAL FEATURE • Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of “Written in Stone: Making Cecil B.DeMille’s Epic, The Ten Commandments” • Newsreel: The Ten Commandments Premiere in New York • Theatrical Trailers: 1956 “Making of” Trailer/1966 Trailer/1989 Trailer

DISC 4 - 1923 BLU-RAY™ FEATURE FILM + SPECIAL FEATURES • Hand-tinted Footage of the Exodus and Parting of the Red Sea Sequence • Photo Gallery
 
In 4k it's astonishing. I spend as much time watching the visual splendor of the film as well as the film itself. Sorry no modern film looks as visually lush as this film in 4k
I was actually quite disappointed by this on 4k. Which is no fault of the transfer, it sure looks good and the best it will probably ever look - but I had forgotten just how many optical transitions and effects are in this film. And all of these cannot be struck from the camera negatives but you have to go at least to the interpositive, so you just don't get the same quality for those shots, they remain quite soft. And there are a lot of those. I found it quite jarring at times. So there is not much of an advantage that can be taken from the fact that the film was shot on VistaVision (see to Hitchcock's Vertigo for how great such sources can look on 4k). For that reason, when it comes to 50s/60s epics, it can't compare to let's say Spartacus on the format, and for sure not to Lawrence of Arabia - now that one, shot on 70mm... Damn, it doesn't get better than this!
 
I was actually quite disappointed by this on 4k. Which is no fault of the transfer, it sure looks good and the best it will probably ever look - but I had forgotten just how many optical transitions and effects are in this film. And all of these cannot be struck from the camera negatives but you have to go at least to the interpositive, so you just don't get the same quality for those shots, they remain quite soft. And there are a lot of those. I found it quite jarring at times. So there is not much of an advantage that can be taken from the fact that the film was shot on VistaVision (see to Hitchcock's Vertigo for how great such sources can look on 4k). For that reason, when it comes to 50s/60s epics, it can't compare to let's say Spartacus on the format, and for sure not to Lawrence of Arabia - now that one, shot on 70mm... Damn, it doesn't get better than this!
Lawrence is amazing but I was taken back on my TV at least how good The 10 Commandments was and I thought the special effects were amazing and still hold up. The drowning sequence is still amazing....
 
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Lawrence is amazing but I was taken back on my TV at least how good The 10 Commandments was and I thought the special effects were amazing and still hold up. The drowning sequence is still amazing....
That is true, it holds up very well; what also really (and literally) shines in 4k and HDR are the sets and particularly the costumes.
But you can't beat the scope of David Lean. What makes Lawrence such a great experience on 4k is all the attention to detail, like the fact that there are hardly any indoor studio scenes. Even scenes in the British buildings/offices or whatever are actually on location, and you can see outside the windows onto the roofs of Morocco or whereever they filmed it. Just stunning.
In T10C, especially later on when Moses is in the desert, there are these weird intercuts of wide/mid-range shots on location with close-ups of the characters clearly inside a studio. What were they thinking. :LOL:
 
That is true, it holds up very well; what also really (and literally) shines in 4k and HDR are the sets and particularly the costumes.
But you can't beat the scope of David Lean. What makes Lawrence such a great experience on 4k is all the attention to detail, like the fact that there are hardly any indoor studio scenes. Even scenes in the British buildings/offices or whatever are actually on location, and you can see outside the windows onto the roofs of Morocco or whereever they filmed it. Just stunning.
In T10C, especially later on when Moses is in the desert, there are these weird intercuts of wide/mid-range shots on location with close-ups of the characters clearly inside a studio. What were they thinking. :LOL:
To be fair all outdoor scenes in films or TV shine. Look at the Sweeney season 1 on blu-ray, because the show was shot totally on film and no interior sequences it rises above most studio bound shows. It's very hard to do top notch interiors and make them look good. The 10 Commandments does it as does David Lean in Great Expectations. I never knew for years that Great Expectations was totally studio bound..... Also Lawrence has no special effects in the excepted scene of the word so the 10 Commandments is a serious workhorse for all involved.
 
To be fair all outdoor scenes in films or TV shine. Look at the Sweeney season 1 on blu-ray, because the show was shot totally on film and no interior sequences it rises above most studio bound shows. It's very hard to do top notch interiors and make them look good. The 10 Commandments does it as does David Lean in Great Expectations. I never knew for years that Great Expectations was totally studio bound..... Also Lawrence has no special effects in the excepted scene of the word so the 10 Commandments is a serious workhorse for all involved.
Yes, these are good points - shot largly outdoors, with hardly any fx, and on 70mm no less, makes Lawrence almost predestined to look great in 4k. One could argue that Lean even got a little lost in the scope and spectacle of his later films...

T10C must also have been a lot tougher to restore, with all the composites and such - really great work.
Can't wait for both more DeMille and Lean on UHD!
 
OOS now after briefly going up to £40 on amazon. The £20 price was evidently an error. Did seem a little cheap to me, even though the equivalent steel is also only $25usd on amazon US.
 
Yes, these are good points - shot largly outdoors, with hardly any fx, and on 70mm no less, makes Lawrence almost predestined to look great in 4k. One could argue that Lean even got a little lost in the scope and spectacle of his later films...

T10C must also have been a lot tougher to restore, with all the composites and such - really great work.
Can't wait for both more DeMille and Lean on UHD!
They worked on a 6k master for The Ten Commandments and spent a lot of time tidying up the matt lines and for 99.9% of the time it works great. I honestly wasn't pulled out of the film once by any bad effects....