I dunno about streaming codes but the 4-disc steelie for this is £20 at zavvi right now, with the Red Carpet discount it's just £18. Yoink! Now to sell the other three editions of fictional movie The Ten Commandments.
I dunno about streaming codes but the 4-disc steelie for this is £20 at zavvi right now, with the Red Carpet discount it's just £18. Yoink! Now to sell the other three editions of fictional movie The Ten Commandments.
It's a nice steelie. It's about US$25 here on Amazon and includes the two digital codes which are only good here in the US. I think the UK did away with digital codes a while back ago. I already had standard 4K release but that didn't include the 1923 version, so I splurged on the steelie which left me with the extra digital code for the 1956 version.
It's a nice steelie. It's about US$25 here on Amazon and includes the two digital codes which are only good here in the US. I think the UK did away with digital codes a while back ago. I already had standard 4K release but that didn't include the 1923 version, so I splurged on the steelie which left me with the extra digital code for the 1956 version.
Oh I know the UK ones don't come with codes, I was trying to say nicely that I don't give two shits about digital codes.
Best version in terms of quality and bonus video material
On November 23rd 2021 Paramount Pictures released the Ten Commandments on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format with 3 standard Blu-ray discs in one neat looking Steelbook collectable package (at the time of this post this is the absolute best version in terms of optical disc quality and in terms of bonus video material offered). The 1956 Ten Commandments movie is Rated G and had a budget of $13 million dollars with box office sells of over $122.7 million dollars during the movies first release back on November 8th 1956. Cecil B. DeMille made both faith-based movies and secular movies. Cecil B. DeMille when he walked the earth was both a Christian and a conservative Republican. Cecil B. DeMille had many friends including people with a different worldview. Cecil B. DeMille was greatly respected by the Islamic community for a prior film that accurately showed a main Muslim character fairly in the movie (listen to audio commentary for more details). The Ten Commandments movie is a very popular faith-based movie for people that follow one of the three Abrahamic religions. People into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have great respect for the prophet Moses. The Torah, Old Testament Christian Bible, and the Quran all mention history about the Prophet Moses. The very first human historical record of Moses appears in the Torah. In the second book of the Torah called Exodus, one learns about Moses and his supernatural encounter with God (Yahweh is a spirit with no body). Yahweh is the God that created the Universe who is present everywhere and its impossible for Yahweh to die. Moses had a personal supernatural encounter with Yahweh according to the historical record. There will be some major spoilers in this post, so one should watch the movie first before reading on. Several thousands of years ago the Exodus occurred. For over 400 years the Israelites were in slavery. God hates the sin of slavery. According to the historical record Pharaoh refused to release all the Hebrew slaves, therefore God supernaturally sent 10 plagues on the land of Egypt. Pharaoh and his advisers after experiencing 10 plagues, slowly came to the understanding that they have been worshiping false gods and freed all the Hebrew slaves like the one true Hebrew God demanded. However, Pharaoh did not fully understand that Yahweh was the one and only true God until the pillar of fire and the parting of the Red Sea occurred (where Pharaohs entire army ended up drowning). The Red Sea parting in the film after 66 years still looks amazing today.
There are many historical stories in the Torah and Bible that could easily be made into a movie that is rated NC-17 if the director wanted people to see and hear everything. For example, in the Ten Commandments movie the audio commentary track talks about the orgy scene around the golden calf. Then later on God supernaturally opens the earth and swallows’ people up as part of his wrath and judgment when it comes to sinful activities. Cecil B. DeMille wanted to make a family movie where all ages of people including the youngest of audiences could come and enjoy seeing the scriptures alive on the screen. Therefore, the Ten Commandments 1956 version is rated G for all ages and during the orgy scene everyone is fully clothed while dancing around the golden calf and its up to everyone’s imagination on what is really going on during that scene.
The 1956 Ten Commandments movie is historically accurate according to the Torah, however like all faith based movies there is a small amount of artistic license that DeMille uses in this movie that is a little different when compared to scriptures. However, Cecil B. DeMille does an outstanding job of showing the supernatural power and love of Yahweh when it comes to protecting the Hebrew people of Israel. God delivers the Israelites from slavery. After 66 years it still looks amazing to see the finger of God’s spirit writing the 10 commandments on stone tablets as mentioned in Exodus 32:16 . Western civilization morals and laws are based on the foundation of the 10 commandments. Cecil B. DeMille when he walked the earth use to say something like “If you break the Ten Commandments, they well break you”. The Ten Commandments is an outstanding film for faith based families to watch, and I highly recommend this classic faith based movie. See extra features in this user review for more details about the classic 1923 version of the Ten Commandments movie and information about the extra features.
Video Comments
The Ten Commandments is the first and currently only faith-based movie that has been released on a triple layer 100GB 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. There are a total of four optical discs in this package (The main disc is the 4K Blu-ray disc. A total of 92.9GB of space is used out of 100GB for the triple layer 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc). Disc 1, Disc 2, and Disc 3 are the standard dual layer 1080P BD-50 Blu-ray discs using 39.7GB for disc 1, 31.1GB for disc 2, and 43.3GB for disc 3). The Ten Commandments on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format is the fourth faith based movie to be released on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format (Exodus Gods and Kings was released on Feb 14th 2016 and Risen was released on May 24th 2016, Breakthroughwas released on July 16th 2019. but those releases only used a dual layer 66GB 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc). The Ten Commandments is also the first and currently only faith based movie to be released with a native 4K resolution. The other 3 movies are native 2K that is upscaled to 4K. Back in 2010 when 6K masters and restorations was very expensive, Paramount made the business decision to scan the 35mm VistaVision film at 6K resolution for the standard 1920 x 1080P (2K) Blu-ray that was released on March 29th 2011. That exact same 6K studio master was used to create a native 3840 x 2160P (4K) master using Dolby Vision HDR (Since VistaVision has twice the resolution of standard 35mm film, perhaps in another decade or so a 16K scan and restoration might be done on the original film negative if the demand for the Ten Commandments is still very popular for the next generation).
I should mention that due to limitations with my display only being able to offer native 1080P (2K) at standard dynamic range instead of native 2160P (4K) with Dolby Vision HDR, my OPPO UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player is forced to downscale the image on the screen at 1080P SDR. However, the downscaled 1080P picture quality was around 5% better on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc when compared to the enclosed 1080P Blu-ray disc(again this is native 4K on the optical disc, its my current display that is limiting me seeing the movie in 1080P with SDR). The high bit rate HEVC codec has a better picture quality when compared to the older lower quality MPEG-4/AVC codec. The HEVC codec appeared to be around an average of 47.39Mbps. Also, the advantage of playing back the 100GB 4K Blu-ray disc is that the entire movie for the first time fits on one Blu-ray disc instead of two. Overall, this Ten Commandments has never looked this good before (nice detail and color quality). When I get around to upgrading my equipment to 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision HDR in the years to come, then I well be able to experience this movie at its full potential. Several different subtitle options are offered.
Audio Comments
Both the original 2011 standard Blu-ray release and the new 2021 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of the Ten Commandments have the exact same studio master 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack that was created from the 6 track studio master. However, this 1956 Ten Commandments movie is really a 5.0 mix since not once during the movie did my subwoofer become active with activity. So, the sound mix is really a 5.0 master laid on top of a 5.1 studio master, but this is a 1956 movie and it’s understandable why no subwoofer channel does not exist. Overall, I enjoyed the 5.0 audio mix out of all 5 of my speakers, and for a movie being 66 years old it sounded very good. If in another decade or so a 16K master scan of the original film negative is created and if its in the budget to spend several million dollars to improve the existing studio audio master. Then maybe a decade or so from now a new 13.1 or 11.1 Dolby Atmos or DTS X lossless mix could be created. It would be real cool to hear the lightning and storm activity from height speakers and then create some subwoofer activity for the action scenes. Possibly the 5.0 mix that exists on standard Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray as 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio might end up being the best audio quality this movie well every have. For a 1956 movie the Ten Commandments sounds much better than other movies I have watched from the 1950’s timeframe. There are also other audio track options to choose from.
Extra Features
When upgrading my favorite Blu-ray disc titles to a new and improved version, I always upgrade the movie as long as it’s the uncut version with improved video and/or improved audio quality (the extra features are less important to me when it comes time to upgrade). On the enclosed 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc the only extra feature is the audio commentary track by Katherine Orrison in 2.0 Dolby Digital at 192kbps (This was a very interesting commentary track to listen to with a lot of factual information). The exact same audio commentary track is also located on the two standard Blu-ray discs for families that have not upgraded all their Blu-ray players to native 4K Blu-ray player models. Once one finishes the audio commentary track on the 4K Blu-ray disc, then one can skip disc 1 and go directly to Disc 2 and Disc 3 to see the rest of the extra features. The Newsreel: The Ten Commandments – Premiere in New York lasts 2 minutes and 24 seconds long (MPEG-4/AVC 1080P with 2.0 Dolby Digital at 256kbps). The Trailers last 12 minutes and 40 seconds (MPEG-4/AVC 1080P with 2.0 Dolby Digital 192kbps). All the extra features including the menus on Blu-ray disc 2 and 3 are MPEG-4/AVC at 1080P resolution.
Disc 3 1956 Ten Commandments movie bonus material comments
For all the bonus features on Disc 3 it is in native 1080P using the MPEG-4/AVC codec (main menu is in 2.0 Dolby Digital at 256kbps). The Ten Commandments: Making Miracles is 1 hour 13 minutes and 14 seconds, and it is a very interesting documentary that is in 2.0 Dolby Digital at 256kbps. Cecil B. DeMille was a workaholic just like many people in Hollywood. The 1956 Ten Commandments was a lot of hard work for Cecil B. DeMille, and it was sad to learn in the documentary that Cecil B. DeMille experienced a very major heart attack, and needed to take a few days off from work. Cecil B. DeMille was so devoted to the 1956 version of the Ten Commandments, that he literally went against his doctor’s orders and returned to the movie set to finish the film (Some people were afraid he was going to die on the set). With the help of the film crew and some family members Cecil B. DeMille was able to finish the Ten Commandments. However, that heart attack shortened his life. In modern times there is more safety protocols on a film set to try and prevent injuries and people having heart attacks from the long endless hours. Of course, there have been other people in the 20th Century that have died or almost died from heart attacks or other injuries on the set. But in general, in the 21st Century, movie set safety is much saver when compared to the 20th Century. Cecil B. DeMille has went down in history as a very talented and devoted director. For the 1956 Ten Commandments, Disc 3 has the following Photo Gallery’s with a lot of neat still slides to navigate through: Storyboards & Concept Art, Costumes, Production, Moses, Press Kit, The Stars, Set Visitors, Premiere, and Around the World.
Disc 3 1923 Ten Commandments movie plus bonus material
I am a fan of silent movies and I really enjoyed watching Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 version of the Ten Commandments. The 1923 version of the Ten Commandments is in high bit rate MPEG-4/AVC at a native 1080P resolution (maybe one day a 4K scan of this movie might be created, but for now 2K 1080P is the best offered from the year 1923 35mm film negative). The 1923 version of this movie is 2 hours 16 minutes and 12 seconds. The movie uses a 2.0 musical score with a lossy 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack at 256kbps. There is also a very interesting audio commentary track on the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments that uses 2.0 Dolby Digital at 192kbps. The 1923 Ten Commandments movie also had experiments with using color for certain scenes. I preferred the scenes with the two-color technicolor segment which appears to be better color quality when compared to the scenes that were hand-tinted. The bonus footage that contains the Hand-Tinted Footage of the Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea sequence lasts 21 minutes and 5 seconds with a 2.0 Dolby Digital music at 256kbps. The bonus footage that contains the Two-Color Technicolor segment lasts 8 minutes and 43 seconds with a 2.0 Dolby Digital music at 256kbps. The 1923 Ten Commandments also contains an interesting Photo Gallery with 1080P still slides to navigate through.
There will be major spoilers in this section for the 1923 Ten Commandments movie (so do not read unless one has seen the movie first). Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 version of the Ten Commandments is much more preachy when compared to the 1956 version of the Ten Commandments. Cecil B. DeMille made around 70 movies during his life, and 45 of those movies were made during a 10 year period since DeMille was a very talented hard worker. The 1956 version of the Ten Commandments uses the Old Testament Exodus and other historical documents. However, the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments has quotes from the New Testament with a scene of Jesus Christ healing a person from leprosy. In the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments the movie occurs in two parts. The first part of the movie deals with Moses’s life and God freeing the Hebrews from Pharaoh. However, the second part of the movie occurs around the modern day 1923-timeframe (a period piece for now since almost 100 years has went by). There is some nice beautiful footage of San Francisco and what the city looked like around 100 years ago. This 1923 version of the movie the lady next to the golden calf gets leprosy and the prophet Moses with the power of God has the power to cure leprosy. When one gets to the second part of the movie there is a Christian mother that raised two boys that are now adult brothers. One of the brothers is an atheist who decides to break all of God’s 10 commandments by the end of the movie. Cecil B. DeMille when he walked the earth use to say something like “If you break the Ten Commandments, they well break you”. Therefore Cecil B. DeMille in this movie is trying to show why the Ten Commandants were still valid in 1923 and for all of human history since the 3 Abrahamic religions believe the Ten Commandments was literally written by God himself. In the movie the one brother who is a self-proclaimed atheist leaves home and decides to break all 10 commandments in the movie. In the real world, back in 1923 in California and in other areas of the world some construction companies were stealing money by making buildings that were unsafe for people to live in since they used very little cement and more sand than they should have (they violated quality building codes to pocket money and put innocent people in danger). While the first part of this movie is based on history, the second part of the movie is fictional and shows one of the brothers building a church that ends up killing a woman when the wall falls down. Then later on in the movie the brother commits first degree murder which is considered by many as the worse of the Ten Commandments to break. In the movie the brother also gets leprosy which according to the audio commentary and other sources was a major problem in the United States in the 1920’s and other parts of the world. It was not until the 1940’s was leprosy starting to have a higher percentage of cure rates. During the movie the one Christian brother that believes in the existence of a God tries to get his atheist brother to repent and follow God’s Ten Commandments. To make a long story short by the end of the movie the one brother in modern day 1923 who does not repent and who does not believe in God, ends up being judged and punished by God after he breaks all the Ten Commandments. The movie also shows a woman repenting of her sins after hearing the scriptures being read to her and the story of Jesus healing a person of leprosy. Cecil B. DeMille was a Christian that believed that Jesus Christ is the Messiah (Yahweh in the flesh). The 1923 version of the Ten Commandments is very preachy in its second half with a strong Christian worldview, and therefore was used as a witnessing tool in churches with film projectors in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The 1956 version of the Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille decided to make the movie entirely based on the life of Moses as mentioned in the Torah, Old Testament, and Quran. For many reasons the 1956 version of the Ten Commandments is more popular. The main reasons is it’s a rated G family movie that is in color with sound. The other reason the 1956 Ten Commandments is so popular is because the prophet Moses is liked by people in the Judaism, Christianity, and Islam religions. In fact, some atheists enjoy the 1956 Ten Commandments movie for its high quality with memories of growing up watching the movie with family members. So, the Ten Commandments is for everyone, since even some non-religious families enjoy the movie.
Conclusion
Cecil B. DeMille’s created many popular movies. The Ten Commandments 1956 version was his most popular movie created during his lifetime. It’s a classic faith-based movie that many families have enjoyed watching for the past 66 years. The Ten Commandments is faithful to the historical record located in the Torah, Bible, Quran, and other historical texts (with a small amount of artistic license). Yahweh hates the sin of slavery and using the Prophet Moses along with supernatural miracles, Pharoah ends up freeing all the Hebrew slaves. The 4K Ultra HD resolution with Dolby Vision HDR is reference quality and the lossless 5.1 DTS HD Master audio sounds very good for a 1956 movie. The extra features were good also. I highly recommend the Ten Commandments movie for all faith based families to watch. In addition this version of the Ten Commandments on 4K Blu-ray also includes a massive amount of bonus features including the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments. (This is a 4 disc set in a nice collectable Steelbook packaging style).
Best version in terms of quality and bonus video material
On November 23rd 2021 Paramount Pictures released the Ten Commandments on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format with 3 standard Blu-ray discs in the same Steelbook collectable package (at the time of this post this is the absolute best version in terms of optical disc quality and in terms of bonus video material offered). The 1956 Ten Commandments movie is Rated G and had a budget of $13 million dollars with box office sells of over $122.7 million dollars during the movies first release back on November 8th 1956. Cecil B. DeMille made both faith-based movies and secular movies. Cecil B. DeMille when he walked the earth was both a Christian and a conservative Republican. Cecil B. DeMille had many friends including people with a different worldview. Cecil B. DeMille was greatly respected by the Islamic community for a prior film that accurately showed a main Muslim character fairly in the movie (listen to audio commentary for more details). The Ten Commandments movie is a very popular faith-based movie for people that follow one of the three Abrahamic religions. People into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have great respect for the prophet Moses. The Torah, Old Testament Christian Bible, and the Quran all mention history about the Prophet Moses. The very first human historical record of Moses appears in the Torah. In the second book of the Torah called Exodus, one learns about Moses and his supernatural encounter with God (Yahweh is a spirit with no body). Yahweh is the God that created the Universe who is present everywhere and its impossible for Yahweh to die. Moses had a personal supernatural encounter with Yahweh according to the historical record. There will be some major spoilers in this post, so one should watch the movie first before reading on. Several thousands of years ago the Exodus occurred. For over 400 years the Israelites were in slavery. God hates the sin of slavery. According to the historical record Pharaoh refused to release all the Hebrew slaves, therefore God supernaturally sent 10 plagues on the land of Egypt. Pharaoh and his advisers after experiencing 10 plagues, slowly came to the understanding that they have been worshiping false gods and freed all the Hebrew slaves like the one true Hebrew God demanded. However, Pharaoh did not fully understand that Yahweh was the one and only true God until the pillar of fire and the parting of the Red Sea occurred (where Pharaohs entire army ended up drowning). The Red Sea parting in the film after 66 years still looks amazing today.
There are many historical stories in the Torah and Bible that could easily be made into a movie that is rated NC-17 if the director wanted people to see and hear everything. For example, in the Ten Commandments movie the audio commentary track talks about the orgy scene around the golden calf. Then later on God supernaturally opens the earth and swallows’ people up as part of his wrath and judgment when it comes to sinful activities. Cecil B. DeMille wanted to make a family movie where all ages of people including the youngest of audiences could come and enjoy seeing the scriptures alive on the screen. Therefore, the Ten Commandments 1956 version is rated G for all ages and during the orgy scene everyone is fully clothed while dancing around the golden calf and its up to everyone’s imagination on what is really going on during that scene.
The 1956 Ten Commandments movie is historically accurate according to the Torah, however like all faith based movies there is a small amount of artistic license that DeMille uses in this movie that is a little different when compared to scriptures. However, Cecil B. DeMille does an outstanding job of showing the supernatural power and love of Yahweh when it comes to protecting the Hebrew people of Israel. God delivers the Israelites from slavery. After 66 years it still looks amazing to see the finger of God’s spirit writing the 10 commandments on stone tablets as mentioned in Exodus 32:16 . Western civilization morals and laws are based on the foundation of the 10 commandments. Cecil B. DeMille when he walked the earth use to say something like “If you break the Ten Commandments, they well break you”. The Ten Commandments is an outstanding film for faith based families to watch, and I highly recommend this classic faith based movie. See extra features in this user review for more details about the classic 1923 version of the Ten Commandments movie and information about the extra features.
Video Comments
The Ten Commandments is the first and currently only faith-based movie that has been released on a triple layer 100GB 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. There are a total of four optical discs in this package (The main disc is the 4K Blu-ray disc. A total of 92.9GB of space is used out of 100GB for the triple layer 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc). Disc 1, Disc 2, and Disc 3 are the standard dual layer 1080P BD-50 Blu-ray discs using 39.7GB for disc 1, 31.1GB for disc 2, and 43.3GB for disc 3). The Ten Commandments on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format is the fourth faith based movie to be released on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format (Exodus Gods and Kings was released on Feb 14th 2016 and Risen was released on May 24th 2016, Breakthroughwas released on July 16th 2019. but those releases only used a dual layer 66GB 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc). The Ten Commandments is also the first and currently only faith based movie to be released with a native 4K resolution. The other 3 movies are native 2K that is upscaled to 4K. Back in 2010 when 6K masters and restorations was very expensive, Paramount made the business decision to scan the 35mm VistaVision film at 6K resolution for the standard 1920 x 1080P (2K) Blu-ray that was released on March 29th 2011. That exact same 6K studio master was used to create a native 3840 x 2160P (4K) master using Dolby Vision HDR (Since VistaVision has twice the resolution of standard 35mm film, perhaps in another decade or so a 16K scan and restoration might be done on the original film negative if the demand for the Ten Commandments is still very popular for the next generation).
I should mention that due to limitations with my display only being able to offer native 1080P (2K) at standard dynamic range instead of native 2160P (4K) with Dolby Vision HDR, my OPPO UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player is forced to downscale the image on the screen at 1080P SDR. However, the downscaled 1080P picture quality was around 5% better on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc when compared to the enclosed 1080P Blu-ray disc(again this is native 4K on the optical disc, its my current display that is limiting me seeing the movie in 1080P with SDR). The high bit rate HEVC codec has a better picture quality when compared to the older lower quality MPEG-4/AVC codec. The HEVC codec appeared to be around an average of 47.39Mbps. Also, the advantage of playing back the 100GB 4K Blu-ray disc is that the entire movie for the first time fits on one Blu-ray disc instead of two. Overall, this Ten Commandments has never looked this good before (nice detail and color quality). When I get around to upgrading my equipment to 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision HDR in the years to come, then I well be able to experience this movie at its full potential. Several different subtitle options are offered.
Audio Comments
Both the original 2011 standard Blu-ray release and the new 2021 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of the Ten Commandments have the exact same studio master 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack that was created from the 6 track studio master. However, this 1956 Ten Commandments movie is really a 5.0 mix since not once during the movie did my subwoofer become active with activity. So, the sound mix is really a 5.0 master laid on top of a 5.1 studio master, but this is a 1956 movie and it’s understandable why no subwoofer channel does not exist. Overall, I enjoyed the 5.0 audio mix out of all 5 of my speakers, and for a movie being 66 years old it sounded very good. If in another decade or so a 16K master scan of the original film negative is created and if its in the budget to spend several million dollars to improve the existing studio audio master. Then maybe a decade or so from now a new 13.1 or 11.1 Dolby Atmos or DTS X lossless mix could be created. It would be real cool to hear the lightning and storm activity from height speakers and then create some subwoofer activity for the action scenes. Possibly the 5.0 mix that exists on standard Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray as 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio might end up being the best audio quality this movie well every have. For a 1956 movie the Ten Commandments sounds much better than other movies I have watched from the 1950’s timeframe. There are also other audio track options to choose from.
Extra Features
When upgrading my favorite Blu-ray disc titles to a new and improved version, I always upgrade the movie as long as it’s the uncut version with improved video and/or improved audio quality (the extra features are less important to me when it comes time to upgrade). On the enclosed 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc the only extra feature is the audio commentary track by Katherine Orrison in 2.0 Dolby Digital at 192kbps (This was a very interesting commentary track to listen to with a lot of factual information). The exact same audio commentary track is also located on the two standard Blu-ray discs for families that have not upgraded all their Blu-ray players to native 4K Blu-ray player models. Once one finishes the audio commentary track on the 4K Blu-ray disc, then one can skip disc 1 and go directly to Disc 2 and Disc 3 to see the rest of the extra features. The Newsreel: The Ten Commandments – Premiere in New York lasts 2 minutes and 24 seconds long (MPEG-4/AVC 1080P with 2.0 Dolby Digital at 256kbps). The Trailers last 12 minutes and 40 seconds (MPEG-4/AVC 1080P with 2.0 Dolby Digital 192kbps). All the extra features including the menus on Blu-ray disc 2 and 3 are MPEG-4/AVC at 1080P resolution.
Disc 3 1956 Ten Commandments movie bonus material comments
For all the bonus features on Disc 3 it is in native 1080P using the MPEG-4/AVC codec (main menu is in 2.0 Dolby Digital at 256kbps). The Ten Commandments: Making Miracles is 1 hour 13 minutes and 14 seconds, and it is a very interesting documentary that is in 2.0 Dolby Digital at 256kbps. Cecil B. DeMille was a workaholic just like many people in Hollywood. The 1956 Ten Commandments was a lot of hard work for Cecil B. DeMille, and it was sad to learn in the documentary that Cecil B. DeMille experienced a very major heart attack, and needed to take a few days off from work. Cecil B. DeMille was so devoted to the 1956 version of the Ten Commandments, that he literally went against his doctor’s orders and returned to the movie set to finish the film (Some people were afraid he was going to die on the set). With the help of the film crew and some family members Cecil B. DeMille was able to finish the Ten Commandments. However, that heart attack shortened his life. In modern times there is more safety protocols on a film set to try and prevent injuries and people having heart attacks from the long endless hours. Of course, there have been other people in the 20th Century that have died or almost died from heart attacks or other injuries on the set. But in general, in the 21st Century, movie set safety is much saver when compared to the 20th Century. Cecil B. DeMille has went down in history as a very talented and devoted director. For the 1956 Ten Commandments, Disc 3 has the following Photo Gallery’s with a lot of neat still slides to navigate through: Storyboards & Concept Art, Costumes, Production, Moses, Press Kit, The Stars, Set Visitors, Premiere, and Around the World.
Disc 3 1923 Ten Commandments movie plus bonus material
I am a fan of silent movies and I really enjoyed watching Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 version of the Ten Commandments. The 1923 version of the Ten Commandments is in high bit rate MPEG-4/AVC at a native 1080P resolution (maybe one day a 4K scan of this movie might be created, but for now 2K 1080P is the best offered from the year 1923 35mm film negative). The 1923 version of this movie is 2 hours 16 minutes and 12 seconds. The movie uses a 2.0 musical score with a lossy 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack at 256kbps. There is also a very interesting audio commentary track on the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments that uses 2.0 Dolby Digital at 192kbps. The 1923 Ten Commandments movie also had experiments with using color for certain scenes. I preferred the scenes with the two-color technicolor segment which appears to be better color quality when compared to the scenes that were hand-tinted. The bonus footage that contains the Hand-Tinted Footage of the Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea sequence lasts 21 minutes and 5 seconds with a 2.0 Dolby Digital music at 256kbps. The bonus footage that contains the Two-Color Technicolor segment lasts 8 minutes and 43 seconds with a 2.0 Dolby Digital music at 256kbps. The 1923 Ten Commandments also contains an interesting Photo Gallery with 1080P still slides to navigate through.
There will be major spoilers in this section for the 1923 Ten Commandments movie (so do not read unless one has seen the movie first). Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 version of the Ten Commandments is much more preachy when compared to the 1956 version of the Ten Commandments. Cecil B. DeMille made around 70 movies during his life, and 45 of those movies were made during a 10 year period since DeMille was a very talented hard worker. The 1956 version of the Ten Commandments uses the Old Testament Exodus and other historical documents. However, the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments has quotes from the New Testament with a scene of Jesus Christ healing a person from leprosy. In the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments the movie occurs in two parts. The first part of the movie deals with Moses’s life and God freeing the Hebrews from Pharaoh. However, the second part of the movie occurs around the modern day 1923-timeframe (a period piece for now since almost 100 years has went by). There is some nice beautiful footage of San Francisco and what the city looked like around 100 years ago. This 1923 version of the movie the lady next to the golden calf gets leprosy and the prophet Moses with the power of God has the power to cure leprosy. When one gets to the second part of the movie there is a Christian mother that raised two boys that are now adult brothers. One of the brothers is an atheist who decides to break all of God’s 10 commandments by the end of the movie. Cecil B. DeMille when he walked the earth use to say something like “If you break the Ten Commandments, they well break you”. Therefore Cecil B. DeMille in this movie is trying to show why the Ten Commandants were still valid in 1923 and for all of human history since the 3 Abrahamic religions believe the Ten Commandments was literally written by God himself. In the movie the one brother who is a self-proclaimed atheist leaves home and decides to break all 10 commandments in the movie. Back in 1923 in California and in other areas of the world some construction companies were stealing money by making buildings that were unsafe for people to live in since they used very little cement and more sand than they should have (they violated quality building codes to pocket money and put innocent people in danger). While the first part of this movie is based on history, the second part of the movie is fictional and shows one of the brothers building a church that ends up killing a woman when the wall falls down. Then later on in the movie the brother commits first degree murder which is considered by many as the worse of the Ten Commandments to break. In the movie the brother also gets leprosy which according to the audio commentary and other sources was a major problem in the United States in the 1920’s and other parts of the world. It was not until the 1940’s was leprosy starting to have a higher percentage of cure rates. During the movie the one Christian brother that believes in the existence of a God tries to get his atheist brother to repent and follow God’s Ten Commandments. To make a long story short by the end of the movie the one brother in modern day 1923 who does not repent and who does believe in God, ends up being judged and punished by God after he breaks all the Ten Commandments. The movie also shows a woman repenting of her sins after hearing the scriptures being read to her and the story of Jesus healing a person of leprosy. Cecil B. DeMille was a Christian that believed that Jesus Christ is the Messiah (Yahweh in the flesh). The 1923 version of the Ten Commandments is very preachy in its second half with a strong Christian worldview, and therefore was used as a witnessing tool in churches with film projectors in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The 1956 version of the Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille decided to make the movie entirely based on the life of Moses as mentioned in the Torah, Old Testament, and Quran. For many reasons the 1956 version of the Ten Commandments is more popular. The main reasons is it’s a rated G family movie that is in color with sound. The other reason the 1956 Ten Commandments is so popular is because the prophet Moses is liked by people in the Judaism, Christianity, and Islam religions. In fact, some atheists enjoy the 1956 Ten Commandments movie for its high quality with memories of growing up watching the movie with family members. So, the Ten Commandments is for everyone, since even some non-religious families enjoy the movie.
Conclusion
Cecil B. DeMille’s created many popular movies. The Ten Commandments 1956 version was his most popular movie created during his lifetime. It’s a classic faith-based movie that many families have enjoyed watching for the past 66 years. The Ten Commandments is faithful to the historical record located in the Torah, Bible, Quran, and other historical texts (with a small amount of artistic license). Yahweh hates the sin of slavery and using the Prophet Moses along with supernatural miracles, Pharoah ends up freeing all the Hebrew slaves. The 4K Ultra HD resolution with Dolby Vision HDR is reference quality and the lossless 5.1 DTS HD Master audio sounds very good for a 1956 movie. The extra features were good also. I highly recommend the Ten Commandments movie for all faith based families to watch. In addition this version of the Ten Commandments on 4K Blu-ray also includes a massive amount of bonus features including the 1923 version of the Ten Commandments. (This is a 4 disc set in a nice collectable Steelbook packaging style).
Aspect Ratio Question : Wasn't this film wider than 16x9 ? I am just trying to figure out why its filling my TV when I feel like it should be letterboxed.
Aspect Ratio Question : Wasn't this film wider than 16x9 ? I am just trying to figure out why its filling my TV when I feel like it should be letterboxed.
The film was shot in VistaVision, so the correct ratio is more like 1.66 which is less wide. Paramount recommended that all VistaVision films be projected at 1.85:1
The film was shot in VistaVision, so the correct ratio is more like 1.66 which is less wide. Paramount recommended that all VistaVision films be projected at 1.85:1
The 4K appears in 1.78:1
Ahhh therein lies my confusion .... 1.85 would have a slight letterbox , but 1.78:1 = 16x9 so there is no letterbox ... thanks so much for the quick answer.
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