Review: Ben-Hur 4K UHD
Ben-Hur (1959)
When you think of a film like Ben-Hur, you kind of get the watching TV on a Sunday afternoon at Easter Vibe (or is that just me?). A rollicking biblical epic in technicolour, the sort of film your granddad loved because Charlton Heston is the star, and you have NO idea what it’s about except, maybe… Jesus? But you’ve already made your mind up that it will be so boring and long, and you watch everything on your phone anyway….
It’s quite unlikely a 16 yr old will be reading this, as I don’t think they even read anymore, so let me address you dear reader. Have you seen Ben-Hur? Do you believe all of the above to be true? Well open your mind and read on.
I distinctly remember the first time I saw Ben-Hur, it was at Easter, on BBC2 and at 3 hrs 42 long, I must have had a numb bum. However, I was knocked out by it. The sort of knocked out reserved only for this sort of film. There’s a list: Cleopatra (not brilliant but…Burton and Taylor). Lawrence of Arabia (wow), El Cid, Dr Zhivago, The Ten Commandments, Spartacus, etc…all of them true Epics, most of them now deemed by modern audiences as unwatchable due to their content and length, and all of them fantastic.
When a film like Ben-Hur comes out on 4K it’s a celebration at 60MW Towers, because nothing compares to a 1950s/60s epic in glorious 4K UHD. Oh MY GOD! This looks absolutely phenomenal and the kind of release that is made for your big TV.
Yes, the story is biblical based on the 1880 novel Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ, and it does sway from that story, and its melodramatic and has that 1950s orchestral score that makes your ears bleed, but what a film. It’s grand, sweeping, all-encompassing and…. just magnificent.
My only complaint is, this release, unlike the deluxe edition, has the extras disc missing, and I would have loved to have seen them (documentary about Heston and a making of). But all in all, this is a SPECTACULAR release again from Warner Bros, and if you call yourself a film fan, a must buy.
Ben-Hur is released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, SteelBook, Collector’s Edition with SteelBook, and Digital.
The Digital and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc releases contain the following new and previously released special features:
- Ben-Hur: Anatomy of an Epic (NEW)
- The Cinematography of Scale (NEW)
- Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey
- Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic
- Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures
- Screen Tests: George Baker and William Russell
- Screen Tests: Leslie Nielsen and Cesare Danova
- Screen Tests: Leslie Nielsen and Yale Wexler
- Screen Tests: Haya Harareet and Make-Up Test
- Commentary by Film Historian T. Gene Hatcher with Charlton Heston (2 Parts)
- Music Only Track Showcasing Mikos Rózsa’s Award-Winning Score (2 Parts)
Review by Tina from discs kindly supplied by Warner Bros via Fetch Publicity.
