Solomon and Sheba (1959) - March 10, 2015

[Professor Echo]

I'm interested in having all the historical epics on Blu. It's why I got into Blu in the first place, to try and recreate the theatrical experience of seeing the cinematic spectacles that came before my time. So I want this one, but will probably wait until next year's TT sale unless quantity is running low or a good version is released in Europe.

[Widescreenfilmguy]

I watched it this morning, did def notice a few blips on both the left and right sides of the screen but it didn't take away my enjoyment of the film at all. While I do imagine it would look better if was scanned from the original large format negative it still looks pretty good, was impressed by the saturated colors and grain composition.

[roundasapound]

I love my Biblical epics and this one is on pre-order with Amazon US as they are out of stock.


I've never before placed an order of $50+ for a single film, well today is that day

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by roundasapound

I love my Biblical epics and this one is on pre-order with Amazon US as they are out of stock.


I've never before placed an order of $50+ for a single film, well today is that day

Why not just order it from Screen Archives for $30.00

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by Banned User

Why not just order it from Screen Archives for $30.00

You can buy it from Screen Archives who for the longest time had been Twilight Time's sole seller.
Direct link

Or you can buy it directly from Twilight Time now.
Direct Link

Buying from Amazon means you're buying from a 3rd party taking you for a ride. Since you're international, shipping costs might bring it closer to $40 but both sites should ship internationally (someone else will need to confirm).

[roundasapound]

Banned User - thanks!!

Originally Posted by deltatauhobbit

You can buy it from Screen Archives who for the longest time had been Twilight Time's sole seller.
Direct link

Or you can buy it directly from Twilight Time now.
Direct Link

Buying from Amazon means you're buying from a 3rd party taking you for a ride. Since you're international, shipping costs might bring it closer to $40 but both sites should ship internationally (someone else will need to confirm).

thanks very much, I have saved $11.57 and will now have the item sent to me rather than waiting for Amazon to receive new stock.


It was actually an order from Amazon.com direct rather than the marketplace, but they didn't have it in stock so were going to email when it was dispatched and then take payment.


At least now I will have it.. Thank you both.

[HDTV1080P]

Solomon and Sheba (brief user review)

This 1959 Solomon and Sheba movie on Blu-ray was an excellent faith based movie (This is the very first time I have seen this 1959 movie). People with a Judaism belief and Christian worldview will most likely enjoy this movie since the movie is very faithful to the Old Testament scriptures (however other scenes in the movie are fictionalized when compared to the historical record). The historical record of Solomon is located in 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and is even briefly mentioned again in the New Testament in Matthew and Luke.

Solomon and Sheba is unrated, however it appeared to me to be more like another Biblical family movie from the 50’s similar to the 1959 Ben Hur and the 1956 Ten Commandments. Solomon and Sheba had an estimated 1959 budget of 5 million dollars with over 12.2 million dollars in sells. This Solomon and Sheba movie was very enjoyable to watch (I enjoy watching classic Biblical movies like the Ten Commandments and Ben Hur).

This movie attempts to recreate the look of ancient Israel and the city of Jerusalem. Jehovah the God of both Israel and the entire Universe is sometimes heard verbally during prayer in certain scenes in the movie (The Ark of the Covenant scene and one other scene). According to the historical record and during the movie Jehovah is shown as the all-powerful one and only true God that protects the nation of Israel and the people of Israel as long as the people of Israel obey God’s commandments. This movie storyline even shows Jehovah performing a physical healing miracle on a person that was nearly stoned to death. Another one of my favorite parts in the Solomon and Sheba movie is the battle scenes with the horses and chariots.

The Solomon and Sheba movie is another unique faith based movie that is faithful to the Old Testament historical record for some scenes in the movie (however other scenes in the movie are fictionalized when compared to the historical record). While some people do not consider this movie to be a Biblical classic, it is on my list of favorite classic Biblical movies from the 50’s.

Video comments

This Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray disc uses a total of 36.6GB of space out of 50GB on the dual layer disc. The main movie, extras, and disc menu is 1080P quality using the MPEG-4/AVC codec. Many scenes in the movie had MPEG-4/AVC bit rates between 32Mbps-38Mbps+ range (very rarely did this high bit rate movie release drop below this range). Overall color quality and facial resolution detail was excellent. At times I even saw some natural film grain on the screen. Perhaps one day a 8K or 6K restoration from the original film negative will be performed on this movie to bring the quality level up even higher. Overall, I was happy with the video quality of this 1959 movie. This movie is also encoded with English SDH subtitle option.

Audio comments

Solomon and Sheba contains an English 2.0 DTS-HD Master audio stereo soundtrack that is bit for bit exactly the same as the studio master (There is suppose to be a 6 track studio master sound mix that was originally created for this 70mm movie, however no such track was ported over to this Blu-ray release). Overall, the English 2.0 DTS-HD Master audio stereo mix was excellent. Sound effects and dialogue was easy to understand.

Special Features

Twilight Time produced a nice little color booklet for this Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray. I found the information in this booklet to contain some enjoyable information about the movie. When it comes to Blu-ray disc based bonus features, this Blu-ray uses 1080P quality with the MPEG-4/AVC codec. A nice interactive Twilight Time Catalogue is included on the Blu-ray disc with a catalog of movies released from Twilight Time between the years of 2011-2015. There is also an original theatrical trailer #1 that lasts 4 minutes and 1 second (English 1.0 DTS-HD Master audio mono that plays from the center channel). The original theatrical trailer #2 lasts 3 minutes and 15 seconds (English 1.0 DTS-HD Master audio mono that plays from the center channel). Then there is the MGM 90th Anniversary trailer that lasts 2 minutes and 6 seconds that contains an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack.

This Blu-ray disc also contains an isolated music and effects track that is bit for bit exactly the same as the studio master (2.0 DTS-HD Master audio). I enjoyed this track and I appreciate Twilight Time attention to detail by offering extra features with lossless audio.

Conclusion

This Solomon and Sheba movie on Blu-ray has many scenes that are faithful to the Old Testament record (however other scenes have been fictionalized). Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and it felt like another classic Biblical movie from the 50’s. The video quality in terms of natural film grain, color quality, and facial detail was excellent. Also the English 2.0 DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack had a good stereo mix. The colorful booklet and disc based bonus features was enjoyable to watch.

[Clark Kent]

Thanks for the review. I've been meaning to pick this BD up from Twilight Time.

[Swissangel4616]

german bluray/DVD MEDIABOOK-Set recently released with some bonus-Features (ca. min documentary: "Königin der Karawanen - Das Geheimnis von Saba).

[thisis2]

..the German digibook/blu-ray of this movie has a terrific transfer starting from the credits..however its a pity that neither the TT nor this edition have included clips of some of the Tyrone Power scenes in the extras..reportedly 75% of the movie had already been shot before he passed away..i wonder what became of all that footage..there are some scenes viewable on u-tube...

[Nori]

I know this thread is a bit old, but has anyone been able to compare the Twilight release to the German one? Was the German release a new transfer?