7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
The life of Jesus Christ from the Nazarene’s humble birth to his nomadic ministry, from the teachings to murderous conspiracies, from death on a cross to resurrection.Filmed in Technirama.
Starring: Jeffrey Hunter, Hurd Hatfield, Siobhan McKenna, Ron Randell, Harry GuardinoHistory | 100% |
Epic | 56% |
Biography | 37% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Portuguese: Dolby Digital Mono
Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Nicholas Ray directed two of the most iconic films of the 1950’s, neither of which would seem to predict his ability to helm King of Kings, one of the more interesting depictions of Jesus’ life caught on film. Before Ray brought this gargantuan 1961 Samuel Bronston production to the screen, he made headlines in 1955 with his Rebel Without a Cause, one of the most iconic films of that sanguine decade, and a film which was notable for vaulting James Dean to superstardom, as well as its frank exploration of disaffected youth, including one of the first more or less “out” gay characters of that era, Sal Mineo’s touching Plato. A year earlier, Ray directed what has become one of the biggest cult films of the 1950’s, the infamous Johnny Guitar, a film which fairly bristles with political commentary, not to mention a not especially subtle lesbian subtext, that makes it one of the most unusual “westerns” to ever reach the silver screen. Ray, who was by all accounts someone who at least flirted with neurosis, may seem preternaturally ill equipped to manage a filmed life of the man seen by billion worldwide as their personal Lord and Savior, and yet that very odd temperament may be what makes Ray’s King of Kings such an unusual, and often extremely compelling, film experience. Unlike George Stevens’ overtly reverential The Greatest Story Ever Told (which I’ll also be reviewing soon for Blu-ray.com), King of Kings takes a more human approach toward its subject and in fact imbues the entire Christian movement with a bracing political context that makes supporting characters like Judas (Rip Torn in a semi-hilarious Dutch Boy haircut) and Barabbas (Harry Guardino) in their own way as important as Jesus (Jeffrey Hunter) himself.
While it may not qualify as being outright miraculous, King of Kings' brilliant AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1 is stunningly gorgeous and is one of the best big format transfers to Blu-ray that we've seen. For once, color timing is near perfect, with those deep Technicolor reds and blues that define this era of film. I took some brickbats when I argued the Blu-ray release of Quo Vadis was not color timed correctly, and all I can say is, compare the Technicolor reds of that film to this one to see what I mean. While color is amazingly well saturated and brilliantly robust, the overall picture simply bursts with sharpness and clarity, giving King of Kings an amazing pop and presence. This was originally presented in SuperTechnirama, a 70mm format which seems perfectly suited for a Blu-ray transfer, and this release should delight virtually all videophiles. Grain is intact, looking completely natural, and contrast and black levels are solid. There are a couple of extremely minor, niggling complaints the most persnickety viewers may have, including some brief (and I mean very brief) tendencies toward noise in some of the dustier, sandier sequences, but otherwise this transfer is a marvel. The SD-DVD of King of Kings looked pretty darn spectacular in its day, but this Blu-ray is, well, a revelation.
King of Kings gets off to a less than spectacular start, at least with regard to dialogue, on this generally brilliant lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Unfortunately it's always been evident that the prologue sequence was post-dubbed, and the very noticeable difference in ambience and even volume is even more marked in this new lossless track. This sequence also suffers from the same synchronization issues we've seen (heard?) in previous home theater releases. OK, that's the bad news. The good news is virtually everything else about this track is superb, from the opening swells of strings and brass that announce one of Rozsa's most epochal scores, to the bulk of the film, where dialogue is well represented. Surround channels are fully alive here with a nicely cinematic approach that recreates the original film's four track mix. There's not an overabundance of low end here, but there never has been. Fidelity is generally very good, though some moderate hiss and slight boxiness is still apparent from time to time, once again as it always has been on previous home video releases. But the trade-off here is more than worth these passing qualms. All sorts of interior lines of Rozsa's score are fully audible now for perhaps the first time, and the entire track sounds surprisingly spry, considering its age.
If you've never seen King of Kings, don't let the frankly scary cover art frighten you away. (What, is Jesus a zombie all of a sudden?) While this film has some of the problems that most Biblical dramas do, including a distant take on its supposed lead character, Yordan's screenplay is really one of the more interesting of films of this ilk, placing Jesus in a roiling sociopolitical climate that makes his entire "rebellion" come alive. Brilliantly staged by Nicholas Ray and featuring a simply gorgeous score by Rozsa, this is the sort of old school epic they simply don't make anymore, and it looks and sounds fantastic on this new Blu-ray. Highly recommended.
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