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

So let it be written. So let it be done! But it won't be your great-grandfather's Ten Commandments....

Ridley Scott's Exodus: God and Kings, is scheduled to be released in December of this year.

Bale will star as Moses in the film. Last year he told HitFix to expect "shocking stuff" from the film. "It's an intriguing piece, because it's very few people that I've met that have actually read the Torah, the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, all the way through," he said. "Most people read snippets. If you read it all the way through, it's harsh. It's really 'Old Testament.' And violence in the extreme. He was not a man of any half measures whatsoever."
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention...-bale-gets-a-title-change#7UmU2xM56k5SjR7L.99

 

Most of the old school fx in this film look pretty good imho. They have some "lines" for the rear projection, or whatever it was, that are sometimes distracting, and perhaps could be digitally smoothed out a bit?

 

I'm amazed at how well the "parting of the seas" effect holds up. Must have been quite the feat in its day.

 

No "digital smoothing" please. When does restoration turn into cartooning a classic?

Planning to seeing it a theater tomorrow night. Have never seen it on screen, & I am an old f**t.

 

It's already been remade twice in the last ten years. In 2006 with Dougray Scott as Moses and again as an animated version in 2007, with Christian Slater as Moses.

 

I meant currently in production. Aparently it is from Ridley Scott as mentioned in another post.

 

Anyone else notice how there was a rash of horror films and now a flock of bible movies? I wonder if this is a shift in public consciousness. Let's see. What historically comes next? I remember the biblical movies of the sixties were followed by the rebellious films of the 60s. So maybe that's the next trend: Socio-political commentary. It's about time. Except what do you do? Mr. Hipster Goes to Washington or Easy Rider in Smart cars? I'm so pissed off, I told my agent 2 years ago I wanted to do a bible story and got poo-poohed as "not commerical."

 

Look forward to hearing how it looks in the theater. I'm assuming it's digital and not film.

 

Fine theatrical digital showing today. Ran as a 2010 restoration, or so the end credits stated. Overture, DeMille introduction/speech, intermission & all other music was included, as, I guess, the bd is presented. Not much stereo separation, if any, was evident. Large screen fill, though it was showing in AMC's smallest room. Probably 10 folk in attendance. A hoot, as it was my first complete viewing, I think.

 

Ah, but how was the "digital smoothing"?

 

Like all other "films" these days, it's projected digitally. But I caught a showing yesterday and it looks fantastic. In fact, it looks better than most films shot today because of the large format VistaVision source material.

It's really like two films in one. DeMille was good at giving bang for the buck.

 

10 Fascinating Facts About The Ten Commandments (The Movie)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sr-hewitt/the-ten-commandments-movie_b_5169884.html

 

Yep, different look and at times kinda creepy esp in closeups. Glad to see it sans commercials.

 

I still see grain in the film, so my opinion is that you're mistaken. What monitor are you watching it on, and how is it calibrated?

 

AMC 30 Covina..not a whiff of grain. Nice tatas, for '56, though.

 

"Mmm yeah... where's your messiah now, seeeee?" <in Edward G. Robinson's voice>

 

A good little article on the amazing restoration for this film. Since it's large format and extra high-rez, VistaVision just "naturally" has very little film grain. In other words, it's not that film grain was removed, it was just very subtle to begin with….

http://www.technofile.com/bluray/ten_commandments.asp

"….I spoke with the head of Paramount's restoration team, Ron Smith, about bringing The Ten Commandments into the 21st Century, and he told me that even though the film had been worked on in 1997, it still needed a full, top to bottom restoration to do it justice. That's how quickly technology marches on these days.

"There was really no quick fix for this film," Smith said. "We had to go back to the original negative and until now it wasn't really possible to do what we did." Smith says they approached the job in the way modern moviemaking is done.

"It's funny because restoration and modern postproduction are now on the same track, " Smith told me. "Basically what happens is that with a new movie and an old movie that you're restoring the first step is you actually scan the film and turn it into data files, so we scanned it at 4K VistaVision, which is roughly 6000 pixels by 4000 pixels, about double the resolution at which most new movies are scanned."

This makes for huge files, as anyone who's stored digital media on a computer can imagine…"

 

Finally bought this blu-ray and must say this restoration was the BEST. I had seen the film in a 60s reissue on the big screen and loved it as a youngster. Seeing the Blu was like watching it for the first time.

 

For those who still haven't bought the blu-ray, ABC is showing this again on Easter Sunday April 5th, 2015 in 720p...the 1080p-resolution BD is still the BEST available home presentation of this nearly 4-hour-long Old Testament Biblical epic...

 

If you're a fan of this movie and you have a Blu-ray player, just buy the bloody thing already. It can be had for $15 or less, and is terrific.

 

I bought it recently as a two-fer with Ben Hur for about $12.

 

I was going to mention that two-fer, but I wasn't sure if that transfer of Ten Commandments is the same as the standalone version. I assume it is, but couldn't find the information anywhere.

If so, the two-fer is a steal.

 

I haven't watched it yet but I can't imagine it would be different.

 

Ben-Hur (1959) / The Ten Commandments (1956) [Blu-ray] $10.29 Amazon.

 

Both excellent restorations.