The Ten Commandments 4K UHD (1956)

[offworldnexus]

I have a feeling this is going to rival "Spartacus" for being the best looking golden age picture. "The Ten Commandments" has many beautiful colors and scenes which will be accentuated with Dolby Vision. With a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, we also wont be getting black letterbox bars, which will stay faithful to the theatrical release. In my opinion this is a must own release!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by ilenewoodsfan99

The only scenes that would worry me greatly "action" wise are the parting of the red sea and the "orgy" sequence.

That's what I mean. There's a lot of epic VistaVision splendiferousness, yes, but not the sort of skittish content that really troubles interframe encoding. And as someone noted, Lawrence's UHD was split over two discs but the video bitrate was relatively low enough (55 Mb/s average) that the two parts of the film could've just about fit onto one 100GB disc anyway, so the two-disc thing is just a gazebo in that case.

Heck, look at Universal's UHD of Spartacus: the average bitrate for the 196-minute feature is just under 40 Mb/s and there aren't many complaints about the compression, for similar reasons: lots of talky bits and scenic bits, relatively few 'action' scenes. (Though it is letterboxed vs Ten Commandments being 'full screen'.) Some folks pointed out the chroma compression not being great but the DV FEL layer fills in those spots, just as it should do if the compression of Ten Commandments falters.

[Scottishguy]

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

That's what I mean. There's a lot of epic VistaVision splendiferousness, yes, but not the sort of skittish content that really troubles interframe encoding. And as someone noted, Lawrence's UHD was split over two discs but the video bitrate was relatively low enough (55 Mb/s average) that the two parts of the film could've just about fit onto one 100GB disc anyway, so the two-disc thing is just a gazebo in that case.

Heck, look at Universal's UHD of Spartacus: the average bitrate for the 196-minute feature is just under 40 Mb/s and there aren't many complaints about the compression, for similar reasons: lots of talky bits and scenic bits, relatively few 'action' scenes. (Though it is letterboxed vs Ten Commandments being 'full screen'.) Some folks pointed out the chroma compression not being great but the DV FEL layer fills in those spots, just as it should do if the compression of Ten Commandments falters.

There's a lot of sand in Lawrence. Never underestimate sand.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

Did anyone cringe at their statement that they smoothed out the optical effects? Slathered DNR all over the image is what they are talking about unless they were able to take the raw matte negative plates and digitally re-comp them.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

You can still stabilise disparate elements, clean up mattes, remove wires etc without having to recomp it from the OG plates. Then again, I'm pretty sure that Paramount did indeed recomp some of the martian death ray shots in the 4K remaster of War of the Worlds '53.

Indeed. There are multiple shots in TTC that have bluescreen blur, thick & flickering matte lines, etc. TWOTW had the same issues and Paramount's restoration team cleaned those up as well. Unfortunate they used the verbiage "smoothed out" here but it should be the same exact thing.

[Scottishguy]

Originally Posted by offworldnexus

I have a feeling this is going to rival "Spartacus" for being the best looking golden age picture. "The Ten Commandments" has many beautiful colors and scenes which will be accentuated with Dolby Vision. With a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, we also wont be getting black letterbox bars, which will stay faithful to the theatrical release. In my opinion this is a must own release!

Spartacus has set a very high bar indeed. Now we are waiting on the Warner Of Bros getting Ben Hur out.

A very interesting UHD chariot race.

[Narcissus]

This remains The Benchmark for film restorations.
Yes, I realize Spartacus and Ben-Hur are really good. This set the bar and I don't think anyone matched it. The original transfer was in 6k. I can see no reason why this will not blow the 1080 out of the water.

[The Batman Professor]

Originally Posted by Scottishguy

Paramount really is weird though when it comes to choosing what gets put on UHD Blu-ray outside of tie ins.
Ghost? Airplane? Nope.

A film from the 50s that's only going to be sought after by an even smaller fraction of the already niche enthusiast community? Sure.

I can only assume it's something to do with their "archive team" working on these scans, and needing to cover costs.

You can’t be serious. Adjusted for inflation, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is Paramount’s biggest moneymaker (TITANIC is shared with Fox) and it’s the film that defined "eye candy." It has always done well on home video, and I see no reason the UHD won’t be a solid financial success.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by offworldnexus

I have a feeling this is going to rival "Spartacus" for being the best looking golden age picture. "The Ten Commandments" has many beautiful colors and scenes which will be accentuated with Dolby Vision. With a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, we also wont be getting black letterbox bars, which will stay faithful to the theatrical release. In my opinion this is a must own release!

We all know Ben Hur will become the shining example of UHD soon.

[slumcat]

A sleeper for the best looking UHD might be - Ryan's Daughter. If it ever gets released. Does not even have a proper blu ray yet.

[Narcissus]

Originally Posted by Poya

We all know Ben Hur will become the shining example of UHD soon.

The Ben-Hur Blueray was exceptional but Ten Commandments?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Os3HYQZ1Kk&feature=youtu.be&ab_&ab_channel=DarrelEddings

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Narcissus

The Ben-Hur Blueray was exceptional but Ten Commandments?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Os3...=DarrelEddings

I know it shouldn’t matter but Ben Hur had Ultra Panavision 65 cinematography. Ten Commandments had the benefits of amazing set design. Not to dismiss the movie, both are beautiful. I just believe Ben Hur is the most beautiful mainstream movie of the 50s.

[meremortal]

Another one of those "always wanted to see it, but my blu's still sealed" movies.

[birdztudio]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Another one of those "always wanted to see it, but my blu's still sealed" movies.

i thought i was the only one

[Scottishguy]

Originally Posted by The Batman Professor

You can’t be serious. Adjusted for inflation, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is Paramount’s biggest moneymaker (TITANIC is shared with Fox) and it’s the film that defined "eye candy." It has always done well on home video, and I see no reason the UHD won’t be a solid financial success.

Between the mid 80s and mid 00s the majority of it's core mainstream audience was still alive, coupled with the fact VHS and DvD were the dominant home video media. DvD especially around during the sweet spot.

Now you'll be lucky to find anyone in the main under 50 who has any interest in it. Hence why the likes of the Warner Archive exists for many films.

[shy86]

I am so looking forward to pre-ordering this. One of my all time favourite epics, and I remember all the times that I watched this with my father as a child, some of the best memories.

Hopefully the U.K. gets this, or I will just import this.

[ROSS.T.G.]

Yeah this should be a stunner.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Scottishguy

Between the mid 80s and mid 00s the majority of it's core mainstream audience was still alive, coupled with the fact VHS and DvD were the dominant home video media. DvD especially around during the sweet spot.

Now you'll be lucky to find anyone in the main under 50 who has any interest in it. Hence why the likes of the Warner Archive exists for many films.

You're obsessed with stuff that appeals to the mainstream, aren't you? Or should I say, old stuff that only appeals to you, you mention Sunset Boulevard with what seems like every other post and spend the posts inbetween iterating how no-one's going to buy this other old film. Say that name to the average person on the street and you'll be met with as many blank faces as mentioning The Ten Commandments, if not more. I know you want SB but don't become that guy who shits on what other people want using arguments that derail the likelihood of getting his own favourite classic out on UHD.

[Scottishguy]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

You're obsessed with stuff that appeals to the mainstream, aren't you? Or should I say, old stuff that only appeals to you, you mention Sunset Boulevard with what seems like every other post and spend the posts inbetween iterating how no-one's going to buy this other old film. Say that name to the average person on the street and you'll be met with as many blank faces as mentioning The Ten Commandments, if not more. I know you want SB but don't become that guy who shits on what other people want using arguments that derail the likelihood of getting his own favourite classic out on UHD.

Did I say the main wants SB? No. I bring it up because it's 70th came and went, while Paramount continue full steam ahead with other classic era films.

Which is a fair point, aye?

[Archivy]

I was swooning last night over that cover art (and it is and always will be really beautiful), but as my first impression subsides, I'm left with concern that the original audio will not be included, as apparently the important 1923 version will not be Hopefully the BD that includes it remains in print, granted the film is in the public domain.

Furthermore, the non-audio extras on this release are pithy, what with theatrical premiere footage and trailers. That's it? Does that even amount to a half hour of content? Two blu-ray discs that will only sit in my disc tray for at most a half hour combined seems like a waste.

The commentary is considered one of the best, though, so I'm glad to have it. All in all, aces on the commentary and the cover art, cautiously optimistic about the transfer (the restoration itself I'm sure is aces), and concerned about the rest. As always, wait and see.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Scottishguy

Did I say the main wants SB? No. I bring it up because it's 70th came and went, while Paramount continue full steam ahead with other classic era films.

Which is a fair point, aye?

So don't use "but it's not mainstream" as a stick to beat other films with, it just comes off as sour grapes. The lack of an anniversary release for SB is a fair point, but as it's not a film that's been a historical mainstay of Paramount's catalogue home video business then it didn't get the celebrations that you wanted it to. No need to dump on other films just because they're not SB, it's like SweetieMan and his obsession with Blomkamp whenever Sony announced a catalogue UHD that wasn't D9 or Elysium. He's had his wishes come true, thank fook, and I hope you get yours. In the meantime the rest of us are gonna enjoy the heck of TTC.