The Bible Stories Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The Bible Stories Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 6, 2017

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.

Reviews of the twelve stories in this collection can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood Blu- ray review

Abraham Blu-ray review

Jacob Blu-ray review

Joseph Blu-ray review

Moses Blu-ray review

Samson and Delilah Blu-ray review

David Blu-ray review

Solomon Blu-ray review

Esther Blu-ray review

Jesus Blu-ray review

Paul the Apostle Blu-ray review

The Bible Stories Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each release is assessed in the above referenced reviews.

The Bible Stories Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each release is assessed in the above referenced reviews.

The Bible Stories Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on any of the discs in this set.

The Bible Stories Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In a set this large, there are bound to be high points and low points, but rather commendably the bulk of these treatments are often quite effective, if intentionally small scale and intimate. Aside from the lamentable Paul the Apostle, most of the other entries in this set offer at least something of interest, and many of them are very well done. Video quality has some issues, but audio is fine. Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features. Recommended.