The Ten Commandments
Saturday, April 11, 2009


Cecil B. DeMille's massive film spectacle, The Ten Commandments, one of the most popular box-office movies of all time, will air as an ABC Special Presentation, SATURDAY, APRIL 11 (7:00-11:44 p.m., ET), on The ABC Television Network. (Rebroadcast. OAD: 3/26/89)

Starring Charlton Heston as Moses, this dramatic Biblical epic is presented with an all-star cast, including Yul Brynner as Pharaoh, Anne Baxter as Queen Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as the overseer of the slaves and Yvonne DeCarlo as Moses' wife.

The film traces the story of Moses, from the time his mother set him afloat on the Nile, through his years as a young commander in Pharaoh's army to his betrayal and exile and, finally, his deliverance of the Israelites and the receiving of God's Commandments.

The Ten Commandments won the 1956 Academy Award for Best Special Effects and received nominations for Best Picture, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Sound.

This film carries a TV-G parental guideline.
http://a.abc.com/media/_global/images/ratings/tv-g.gifhttp://a.abc.com/media/_global/images/gallery/hd08_logo.jpg

http://abc.go.com/specials/thetencommandments/index?pn=index

Yes, that ABC HD logo was part of the description on abc.com about this year's showing of The Ten Commandments. Will it be HD this year? I hope so. Been waiting for this for years.

NO HD this year!

ABC: For disappointment, Start Here. :p

Will it be HD this year? I hope so. Been waiting for this for years.

Doubtful. I'd rather watch the SD DVD, upconverted with Anchor Bay processing with no commercial interruptions and nothing loped out of the movie.

The note that it is a rebroadcast with an original air date would make me think that it is not different than what we have previously.

I'm doubtful, but hopeful. One thing I noticed about the ABC Specials category is the "ABC HD" bug is not 'blanketed' across all show descriptions. The Charlie Brown specials(normally not HD) do not have the ABC HD bug.

Has the 1956 version been shown in HD anywhere? (Well, other than in the theaters, but that was analog film, not digital HD as we speak of it). The SD version that ABC has been showing for years has pretty poor picture quality, must be an decades old transfer. A movie this over the top in style and acting and cheesy should be shown in HD. But ABC will probably grab the old SD version from the video library and show that - again.

No HD again!

:(

My guess is that the original elements could be in really bad shape. It was shot on Vista-Vision in the mid 50s--ground zero for Eastman color fade. It was probably shot on 5248, and that would be bad news.

In glorious SD

:mad: All I can say is....

Where's your HD nnnnnnnooooowww!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_my7ZnBE-2Ao/Sawgpy_NhYI/AAAAAAAABhQ/5wdvcXFKl9I/s400/2391805367_a60956a264_o.jpg

:mad: All I can say is....

Where's your HD nnnnnnnooooowww!

http://www.clipartof.com/images/emoticons/xsmall2/1231_hysterically_laughing.gif

Wow. It suddenly just came on; not only is it not in HD, but it's already an hour into the movie......what_th_..

I will give ABC credit and thanks on one thing: no obnoxious snipes and popup ads during the movie. I don't recall seeing any in the past, and I'm glad that tradition continues.

Wow. It suddenly just came on; not only is it not in HD, but it's already an hour into the movie......what_th_..

The movie was scheduled to start at 7pm ET. Maybe the affiliate 'forgot' to flip over to the ABC feed at 7pm. :confused: What station and city?

....maybe next year....:mad:

WRTV6-HD (Indy). On Saturday evenings, there's usually infomercials from 7 to 8, with ABC's Movie of the Week (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=834451) starting at 8PM. I was thinking an Eight O' Clock start wasn't enough time for this movie; somebody here majorly goofed. But no HD, no big deal.

Yeah, maybe next year; maybe the Great Pumpkin will show up also.....:mad::p

FWIW, my tuner and video processor show it as 720p.
Obviously not OAR.

Anyone want to take bets for next year?

My guess is that the original elements could be in really bad shape. It was shot on Vista-Vision in the mid 50s--ground zero for Eastman color fade. It was probably shot on 5248, and that would be bad news.

I always thought it was one of the last movies shot in Technicolor using the full Technicolor process? I need to go back and double check. You have got me wondering now. The colors were VIVID in the presentation, particularly the dancers in the scene where Moses is "outed" to Pharaoh and then when he is out in the wilderness and meets Sofia, her sisters multicolor dress was also extremely vivid even in SD.

It could also be the estate of de Mille (or who ever owns the rights now) wants too much for the HD version. There are still some who think HD is a premiere presentation, not the norm.

No, it was still pan and scan SD. My fiance' stayed up to watch it. I was too annoyed, as the upconversion was rather poor.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049833/

It was shot on 70mm? Paramount, this needs at least a 6k scan to do it justice. Let it be written. Let it be done!

It was shot on 70mm?

It was VistaVision. It went through the camera sideways. I imagine that means it had to be Eastman film for the negative.

Surely they have the Tech separations somewhere. But I believe that means the seps would be 35mm, as Technicolor couldn't do anything larger than 35mm. I'd rather have good color than the utmost in resolution if the negative has gone bad.

I always thought it was one of the last movies shot in Technicolor using the full Technicolor process? I need to go back and double check. You have got me wondering now. The colors were VIVID in the presentation, particularly the dancers in the scene where Moses is "outed" to Pharaoh and then when he is out in the wilderness and meets Sofia, her sisters multicolor dress was also extremely vivid even in SD.

It could also be the estate of de Mille (or who ever owns the rights now) wants too much for the HD version. There are still some who think HD is a premiere presentation, not the norm.

Nope, I'm 100% sure that it was shot in VistaVision on Eastman Color. Virtually nothing that was meant to be widescreen, which means just about any Hollywood film after 1953, was shot using the 3 strip process.

Now, Ten Commandments was probably printed using the Technicolor process, but that's neither here nor there from an HD transfer point of view. there's the good chance that the sep masters made for the process (especially the large format ones) are junk too. Remember that this was all done pre-wetgate.

Nope, I'm 100% sure that it was shot in VistaVision on Eastman Color. Virtually nothing that was meant to be widescreen, which means just about any Hollywood film after 1953, was shot using the 3 strip process.

Now, Ten Commandments was probably printed using the Technicolor process, but that's neither here nor there from an HD transfer point of view. there's the good chance that the sep masters made for the process (especially the large format ones) are junk too. Remember that this was all done pre-wetgate.
On the other hand, there was no good print of "To Kill a Mockingbird" - not a single one. They combined several prints (still having to do extensive restoration on top of that) to get the excellent result they did for the last DVD release.

I'm thinking they could at least make an attempt to do something, especially if they're going to continue to show it every year. Even just rescanning the dirty old print at HD resolution with no cleanup would at least be an improvement.

On the other hand, there was no good print of "To Kill a Mockingbird" - not a single one. They combined several prints (still having to do extensive restoration on top of that) to get the excellent result they did for the last DVD release.

I'm thinking they could at least make an attempt to do something, especially if they're going to continue to show it every year. Even just rescanning the dirty old print at HD resolution with no cleanup would at least be an improvement.TKM was B&W. that makes a big difference, because dealing with yellow layer fade can be an order of magnitude more difficult.

Anyway, I'm sure that Paramount is on the case.

:mad: All I can say is....

Where's your HD nnnnnnnooooowww!Yeah.

Nope, I'm 100% sure that it was shot in VistaVision on Eastman Color. Virtually nothing that was meant to be widescreen, which means just about any Hollywood film after 1953, was shot using the 3 strip process.

Now, Ten Commandments was probably printed using the Technicolor process, but that's neither here nor there from an HD transfer point of view. there's the good chance that the sep masters made for the process (especially the large format ones) are junk too. Remember that this was all done pre-wetgate.

You are right. I checked and it was indeed shot with VistaVision. Here is the Wiki on Vistavision for those who want to know.

VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format which was created by Paramount Pictures in 1954 and based on the Glamorama and Superama widescreen systems.

During the 1950s Paramount did not buy into anamorphic systems such as CinemaScope but rather, for competitive reasons, sought to produce finer-grained images by shooting onto a larger film negative which when printed and projected on the screen in the new flat widescreen formats, would preserve the high level of clarity seen at that time only in formats which were not magnified for variable widescreen ratios.

Owing to much higher film stock and projection costs the format was not profitable. Paramount dropped the format after only seven years, although for another forty years old VistaVision cameras were used by some European and Japanese producers for feature films and by American film studios for notable, high resolution special effects which were blended into Panavision films.

VistaVision Specs (8/35)

* spherical lenses
* 8 perforations per frame
* horizontal pulldown, from right to left (viewed from base side)
* slightly less depth of field than vertical pulldown 35 mm
* camera aperture: 1.485" (37.72 mm) by 0.981" (24.92 mm)

Films shot with Vistavision

* White Christmas (1954)
* 3 Ring Circus (1954)
* Richard III (1955)
* Artists and Models (1955)
* The Desperate Hours (1955) (first b&w film shot in VistaVision)
* The Rose Tattoo (1955)
* Strategic Air Command (1955)
* To Catch a Thief (1955)
* The Trouble with Harry (1955)
* We're No Angels (1955)
* You're Never Too Young (1955)
* War and Peace (1956)
* High Society (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956)
* The Court Jester (1956)
* Away All Boats (Universal Pictures, 1956)
* The Searchers (Warner Bros., 1956)
* The Ten Commandments (1956)
* The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
* Funny Face (1957)
* Loving You (1957)
* The Delicate Delinquent' (1957)
* Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
* Hell Drivers (1957)
* The Pride and the Passion (United Artists, 1957)
* The Sad Sack (1958)
* Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot (1957) (first documentary shot in VistaVision)
* Vertigo (1958)
* Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
* The Geisha Boy (1958)
* Desire Under the Elms (1958)
* North by Northwest (MGM, 1959)
* The Five Pennies (1959)
* Last Train from Gun Hill* (1959)
* One-Eyed Jacks* (1960)
* Death by Hanging (Japan, 1968)
* In the Realm of the Senses (Japan, 1976)
* In the Realm of Passion (Japan, 1978)
* Vengeance Is Mine (Japan, 1979)
* Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Universal, 1983)
* Venus Wars (Japan, 1989)

Films using VistaVision for special effects process work only

* Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
* Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
* Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
* Tron (1982)
* Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
* Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
* Back to the Future (1985)
* RoboCop (1987)
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
* Back to the Future Part II (1989)
* The Abyss (1989)
* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
* Forrest Gump (1994)
* Apollo 13 (1995)
* Jumanji (1995)
* Twister (1996)
* Contact (1997)
* Men in Black (1997)
* Meet Joe Black (1998)
* The Matrix (1999)
* The Mummy (1999)
* Gladiator (2000)
* The Perfect Storm (2000)
* Pearl Harbor (2001)
* The Mummy Returns (2001)
* Men in Black II (2002)
* 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
* Spider-Man 2 (2004)
* Batman Begins (2005)
* Flightplan (2005)
* Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)
* Spider-Man 3 (2007)
* The Dark Knight (2008)
* Blindness (2008)

To get an idea of what dire shape many Eastman Color movies from the 50s are in, take a look at what they had to do to save Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot (http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/summer04/patriot.cfm), also shot in VistaVision.

Films using VistaVision for special effects process work only

* Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
* Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
* Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
* Tron (1982)
* Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
* Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
* Back to the Future (1985)
* RoboCop (1987)
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
* Back to the Future Part II (1989)
* The Abyss (1989)
* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
* Forrest Gump (1994)
* Apollo 13 (1995)
* Jumanji (1995)
* Twister (1996)
* Contact (1997)
* Men in Black (1997)
* Meet Joe Black (1998)
* The Matrix (1999)
* The Mummy (1999)
* Gladiator (2000)
* The Perfect Storm (2000)
* Pearl Harbor (2001)
* The Mummy Returns (2001)
* Men in Black II (2002)
* 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
* Spider-Man 2 (2004)
* Batman Begins (2005)
* Flightplan (2005)
* Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)
* Spider-Man 3 (2007)
* The Dark Knight (2008)
* Blindness (2008)

can u imagine the total box office $$ receipts for that list !! :eek:

can u imagine the total box office $$ receipts for that list !! :eek:

Quite a list.

One more thought on the Vistavision to HD. I was looking again at the list of films shot in Vistavision (not used for SPX). I don't remember ANY of those films being transferred to HD yet. Is that right? They ALL can't have bad negatives. If so, maybe because of the projected to telecine cost, (having to use a special horizontal projector) none of them have been transferred to HD and that is why TC wasn't in HD? Just a thought.

One more thought on the Vistavision to HD. I was looking again at the list of films shot in Vistavision (not used for SPX). I don't remember ANY of those films being transferred to HD yet. Is that right? They ALL can't have bad negatives. If so, maybe because of the projected to telecine cost, (having to use a special horizontal projector) none of them have been transferred to HD and that is why TC wasn't in HD? Just a thought.

My Network TV showed White Christmas in HD.

One more thought on the Vistavision to HD. I was looking again at the list of films shot in Vistavision (not used for SPX). I don't remember ANY of those films being transferred to HD yet. Is that right? They ALL can't have bad negatives. If so, maybe because of the projected to telecine cost, (having to use a special horizontal projector) none of them have been transferred to HD and that is why TC wasn't in HD? Just a thought.

The next time you have a chance, take a look at the DVDs of any of the Hitchcocks on the list. With the exception of Vertigo, which had an expensive restoration, and North by Northwest, which was one of lowry digital images's first projects, they were almost all taken from reduction internegatives made from crummy separation masters made in the 1980s. And most of them look pretty terrible.

All of the negatives might not be bad, but I'm pretty sure that most of them are.

One more thought on the Vistavision to HD. I was looking again at the list of films shot in Vistavision (not used for SPX). I don't remember ANY of those films being transferred to HD yet. Is that right?
Besides White Christmas, The Searchers has aired on HDNet Movies and has been released on Blu-Ray. Vertigo and other Hitchcock flicks have aired on HDNet Movies; don't recall if HDNetM showed other Hitchcock movies from the Vistavision list.