Cecil B. DeMille "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" (1956) in HD on ABC. It's so clean!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Steve Hoffman, Apr 3, 2010.

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  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    ON ABC Network right now. It's freaking me out. Is it freaking anyone else out?

    It's a campy movie but we love it.

    "Oh, Moses, Moses"....

    They must have gone back to the VistaVision neg to do this. It's pretty neat if you like that sort of thing. Remember the old ABC print they used to broadcast year after year? Grainy, faded, cropped, weird, funky.

    Not any more! This is a full scale restoration, both sound and picture. Fits the newfangled TV screens just right. I had an IB Technicolor 35mm 1956 print of this movie at one time and let me tell you, this is very close. I'd like to shake the hand of the engineers who mastered this one.

    Best 10 seconds in the movie: H.B. Warner's cameo. "I am poured out like water....."

    Eye candy! (It better be, 1/2 of the movie is process/optical shots and they always look poor, even here!)

    Ear candy! (One of the greatest musical scores in the movies.)

    Nice to hear C.B. DeMille's voice again. He was without a doubt the most well-known (by the general public) movie director of the 20th Century. His riding boots, his voice on radio programs, the hype when his films were released. He was a star himself. That catch phrase "Ready when you are, C.B." still rings today.

    My one beef with the HD restoration is they removed those little crosses up at the top right of the screen like the Laserdiscs had. Those were so cool..
     
    Steve Hoffman, Apr 3, 2010
    #1
  2. Doug Sclar

    Doug Sclar Forum Legend

    Location:
    The OC
    It's about frigging time. The last few years it was not shown in HD. I do think it was on in HD once maybe four years ago.
     
    Doug Sclar, Apr 3, 2010
    #2
  3. kevinsinnott

    kevinsinnott Forum Coffeeologist

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    I prefer DeMille's King of Kings, but I enjoy this film, and will have to check it out. Thanks for the heads-up. I didn't know they'd restored it.
     
    kevinsinnott, Apr 3, 2010
    #3
  4. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    When I saw the headline about 'clean,' I thought for a minute you were talking about Paul's father in Hard Day's Night.........
     
    The Panda, Apr 3, 2010
    #4
  5. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Location:
    Niagara-(Way south of the Canadian shield)

    Hey, don't mock Anne Baxter. She's the sexiest thing about this movie.:winkgrin:
     
    Karnak, Apr 4, 2010
    #5
  6. AKA

    AKA Senior Member

    Location:
    Spokane, Washington
    So wait - is this OAR?
     
    AKA, Apr 4, 2010
    #6
  7. Indy500

    Indy500 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rural Oklahoma
    Great cast with lots of hammy lines.

    "Where's your Messiah noowwwwwwwwww?"
     
    Indy500, Apr 4, 2010
    #7
    GTOJUDGE likes this.
  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Location:
    Southwestern United States
    Damn! I missed it! I guess i'll have to find it on blu-ray.
     
    Grant, Apr 4, 2010
    #8
  9. Larry Naramore

    Larry Naramore Bonafied Knucklehead

    Location:
    Sun Valley, Calif.
    Your tongue will dig your grave, Memnet.
     
    Larry Naramore, Apr 4, 2010
    #9
  10. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    I think they did pretty good considering they were working with 4,000-year-old source material. :D

    But the Biblical Babe with the Bronx accent was a bit much. Cecil B. should have brought in a vocal coach for that girl!
     
    JBStephens, Apr 4, 2010
    #10
  11. ziggysane

    ziggysane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX
    It's not currently out on Blu-Ray. I wonder if this is a preview of the new HD master?
     
    ziggysane, Apr 4, 2010
    #11
  12. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Location:
    Marysville, WA, Salina, KS, Los Angeles, CA
    Steve, do you have your Perspecta decoder hooked up??? ;-)

    Matt
     
    MLutthans, Apr 4, 2010
    #12
  13. Slipperman87

    Slipperman87 Active Member

    Location:
    Fremont, California
    It brought tears to my eyes when my dad saw the opening of the red sea on the HD print. He is the worlds biggest fan of the movie (he's seen it more than 100 times) and I am so glad me and him were able to see it. This truly was a masterful restoration of the film.:righton:
     
    Slipperman87, Apr 4, 2010
    #13
  14. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yeah, I checked that out (accidentally) myself just tonight on ABC. I'm not sure if they used the VistaVision neg or not, but that would sure make sense. What surprised me is how little fading and density flutter was in the image -- they definitely cleaned this up quite a bit.

    VistaVision is a real pain to scan -- I've actually done it, and it requires a lot of very careful tweaking on the film transport. I'm hopeful that maybe Paramount and Viacom are actually starting to try to digitally preserve more of their vast film library with classics like this.

    I'm also curious to see if the composition was any wider than the old home video releases from the past. As far as I know, everything always used for transfer was a conventional 4-perf 35mm reduction IP -- no VistaVision.
     
    Vidiot, Apr 4, 2010
    #14
  15. JerolW

    JerolW Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Oswego, Oregon
    We watch it every year. It looks great.

    jerol
     
    JerolW, Apr 4, 2010
    #15
  16. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    I was also very impressed with ABC's presentation in HD on my SXRD. I came in just as the last plague ends and the Pharoh finally gives in and let's Moses leave.

    Debra Paget looked absolutely beautiful in HD with her very blue dress.

    Fun campy stuff. Always love that orgy scene. They say it took 3 weeks to film. In Heston's book it is written that one of the female extras was fed up and said "who do I have to f to get out of this movie" :D
     
    JohnG, Apr 4, 2010
    #16
  17. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    Aw man! I wish I remembered it was on. Our ABC affiliate has finally converted to full-HD this year, it would've been fun to see the restoration.

    Oh well, next year. :)

    dan c
     
    Dan C, Apr 4, 2010
    #17
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Yeah, I heard that as well! That last large orgy shot, the scene fades in BEFORE the director yells "action" and they are still for a second. Then they come to life magically. I always thought that was a mistake in the editing but now I'm not so sure.

    "Almost ready when you are, C.B.!"


    I knew this ABC broadcast was going to be something when I saw the opening credits and heard that powerful opening note of the music score. The Paramount logo with Mt. Sinai replacing the usual Paramount Mountain gave me giant chills down my spine.

    My wife walked by and when she saw E. G. Robinson's glittering gold bracelets, etc. she went "Woah, this is like watching in a theater". (A real compliment of picture quality from her). The HD commercials played with the broadcast paled in comparison.

    Arggh, don't remind me. I could never get that ****ing thing to work right.
     
    Steve Hoffman, Apr 4, 2010
    #18
  19. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    DAM! I was watching Dirty Harry.
     
    shokhead, Apr 4, 2010
    #19
  20. Texastoyz

    Texastoyz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas, USA
    It was pretty good, however, my stupid station would show too many commercials so it would come right back on with the characters just starting to speak dialog, as if they missed a couple of seconds from when the original feed would come back on.
     
    Texastoyz, Apr 4, 2010
    #20
  21. filper

    filper Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wasaga Beach, Ontario


    It really did look great.
     
    filper, Apr 4, 2010
    #21
  22. rmos

    rmos Forum Resident

    Location:
    NW Indiana by the Lake

    + 1 :righton:
     
    rmos, Apr 4, 2010
    #22
  23. benjaminhuf

    benjaminhuf Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY, USA
    So let it be written! So let it be done!
     
    benjaminhuf, Apr 4, 2010
    #23
  24. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    His God is God. Love that line.
     
    JohnG, Apr 4, 2010
    #24
  25. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    Location:
    Somewhere in the middle
    indy mike, Apr 4, 2010
    #25
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