Joseph Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Joseph Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 6, 2017

Note: This film is available as part of the box set The Bible Stories Collection.

That oft quoted adage “the book was better” might never be more appropriate than in adaptations culled from the Bible. How can mere mortals hope to compete with what many believe is a Divinely inspired collection of writings? That of course hasn’t stopped a lot of mere mortals from trying, and Biblical stories have been a staple of first film and, later, television outings virtually from the time these media were invented. While the big screen Biblical epics of the 1950s and 1960s were often kind of silly ( David and Bathsheba), or alternatively overly reverential and therefore kind of stodgy (The Greatest Story Ever Told), they typically (though not always) brought audiences in to delight not just in the pomp and circumstance, but also perhaps to blandish any qualms of conscience that not going to church and/or shul “religiously” (so to speak) may have engendered. One of the more interesting films to come out of this adaptive fervor was the 1966 effort The Bible: In the Beginning..., a John Huston directed effort which presented several iconic tales from Genesis and which was initially planned as just the first installment for a whole series of Biblically oriented tales culled directly from scripture. Its failure at the box office put the kibosh on that plan, but several decades later, a similar plan was put into production, albeit on a much smaller scale, with a series of made for television films (many marketed as miniseries despite not being all that lengthy) that offered various Bible tales, usually with at least one marquee star attached. Many of the made for television entries included in this set were part of a series which ran on various Ted Turner owned networks starting in the 1990s, and some at least have long been favorites of those who like their Biblical adaptations on the more intimate and less epic side of things.

As commendable and even moving as some of the earliest miniseries and/or made for television movies in the Bible Stories collection are, and as wonderfully scenic as almost all of them are, they’re also curiously static at times and not especially “cinematic” in terms of presentational aspects or even story construction. It’s notable, then, that Joseph tends to be the first in this series that finally seems to realize that a straightforward, chronological narrative approach isn’t necessarily the smartest from a dramatic standpoint. Joseph breaks the mold in a way by joining the story at least part of the way in, if not exactly in medias res.

While many of the first character based Bible Stories (as opposed to Genesis: The Creation and the Flood which, despite its longish Noah sequence, tends to be more “event” oriented) tend to offer an opening glimpse of the appropriate titular character, Joseph begins in a gaggle of slaves beings sold, and in fact the first major character who is overtly identified is Potiphar (Sir Ben Kingsley). That said, it doesn’t take long before Joseph (Paul Mercurio) is brought out from the shadows in order for Potiphar to look him over, in a scene that may not have intentionally been meant to have homoerotic undertones, but which in fact does.

Anyone who is a fan of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, let alone the original Biblical tale, is of course going to know the broad outlines of the story, and this particular Joseph doesn’t really stray very far from its source (which is a good thing), even if it plays with how that story is unfolded, in this case through elements like flashbacks to supposedly happier times in Joseph’s relative youth. The gambit tends to both work at times and also offer occasional narrative hurdles, but it invests this version with what is arguably one of the more intrinsically cinematic treatments in this entire series.

Kingsley and Mercurio are quite effective in their roles, but as tends to be the case in quite a few of these offerings, some of the supporting actors seem to be miscast. In this case it’s Lesley Anne Warren as Potiphar’s wife, who’s called upon to be both a vixen and a scheming harridan, never really connecting with either element. Much better is Martin Landau as Jacob and Alice Krige as Rachel. As with most of the Bible Stories offerings, locations are utilized quite effectively, and this particular outing has one of the more resplendent physical productions of the entire series (something it shares with Moses), though nothing approaches the grandeur of the best big screen Biblical epics of the 1950s and 1960s.

Joseph Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All of the films in The Bible Stories Collection are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.78:1. While most (perhaps all) of these efforts were broadcast in the United States in 1.33:1, it looks from scouring through the IMDb that many (perhaps all) of them did in fact have theatrical releases in various foreign markets, meaning they were most likely all shot with "safeties" and/or "shoot and protect" regimens in mind. That said, those who have seen the 1.33:1 versions which were released on videotape and DVD will no doubt notice quite a few "tighter" framings, framings which often tend to lop the tops or bottoms off of heads and/or faces, at least intermittently.

Joseph exhibits many of the same qualities I discussed in my Abraham Blu-ray review, where grain is at least apparent if minimized and virtually negligible in many bright outdoor scenes, but where detail levels and fine detail levels are at least acceptable and at times quite good (especially in close-ups). While the palette can be relatively fresh looking and nicely saturated in some bright outdoor scenes, overall this has a somewhat drab, brownish appearance (and not just due to what euphemistically used to be called "Egyptian" makeup, something that has been used to alter flesh tones in this production). As with several other films in this set, crush intrudes in some very dark scenes (e.g., when Joseph is thrown into the pit).

Joseph Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Joseph's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is able to provide good immersion in several crowded scenes like the opening slave trading bazaar or, later, a trip through an Egyptian "urban" environment. This miniseries also has one of the more evocative scores in this set, one which also spreads quite nicely through the surrounds. As with most of the others in this set, though, dialogue is anchored fairly consistently up front, though it's always presented cleanly and clearly.

Joseph Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplemental material of any kind on this Blu-ray disc.

Joseph Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Joseph seems to be the entry where this series figured out they were making adaptations and could actually tweak the story to be more "cinematic", and that gives this miniseries a kind of interesting structure and sweep that some of the others in this set are lacking. Kingsley makes a convincing Potiphar, but Warren is fatally miscast as his wife. The emotional dividends of this piece are ultimately quite considerable, despite occasional missteps. Recommended.