And it works, mostly.Īlas, even though they did a fine job, the audio (DTS HD-Master Audio, no Atmos required) is the weakest part of the restoration. They managed to find effects and stuff like that that they needed, and put the film back together that way. "So, for instance, the crashing of the Red Sea or any loud passages or effects were distorted and very painful," he said. Not only was the dialogue track sounding thin, but the effects track – particularly the louder the effects – had deteriorated as well. Smith, continuing, "noted that they also took a whack at upgrading the audio tracks, which had deteriorated to the point that they needed a lot of work. Smith noted that since they scanned the film at such high resolution, it's ready to go for whatever higher definition format might come along next. It just wasn't possible to do that 10 years ago the technology didn't exist." "We take a large snapshot of each film frame and basically work on it frame by frame for restoration," Smith said, "And scene by scene for color correction.
#Wonderwoman real or fake 4k movie
"Basically, what happens is that with a new movie and an old movie that you're restoring the first step is you actually scan the film and turn it into data files, so we scanned it at 4K VistaVision, which is roughly 6000 pixels by 4000 pixels, about double the resolution at which most new movies are scanned. "It's funny because restoration and modern postproduction are now on the same track, " Smith told me. "We had to go back to the original negative and until now it wasn't really possible to do what we did." Smith says they approached the job in the way modern moviemaking is done.
"There was really no quick fix for this film," Smith said. That's how quickly technology marches on these days. "I spoke with the head of Paramount's restoration team, Ron Smith, about bringing The Ten Commandments into the 21st Century, and he told me that even though the film had been worked on in 1997, it still needed a full, top to bottom restoration to do it justice. But the parting of the Red Sea and some of the shots of Egypt at the height of its glory are really worth seeing, especially in 4K.Īs I mentioned in my review of the Blu-ray back in the day, the excellent restoration isn't perfect, but it's darn fine and the process by which the film was restored is fascinating. The sets and the special effects are also top notch, though the effects are limited by 1950's technology. I'm not going to be bogged down recounting a story nearly everyone knows suffice it to say that this "cast of thousands" epic motion picture is not only a moving and powerful religious epic but it's also a story of the best – and the worst – of what makes us human beings. Naturally, that'll come back to bite her a couple of hours of running time later.
Except one baby is saved and adopted by an Egyptian princess to raise as her own. The meandering storyline starts with Pharoah's order to kill all the new-born Hebrew children to prevent one of them from growing up and delivering his people from that bondage. This is typical, however, and the overall film looks so good it's almost as if it were shot yesterday (except the performances from the mostly-dead cast might be a tad more wooden…).Īs nearly everyone knows by now, Charlton Heston stars as Moses, the Hebrews' eventual deliverer from bondage in Egypt. And the colour! And the black levels! This really is a transfer for the ages, though I must admit that some of the longer shots – and many of the blue screen shots – aren't nearly as good. In the meantime, check out the fine detail here, especially in close up shots. Doesn't matter, but it does make me wonder if they'll have to upconvert it to 8K from 6K when the time comes (assuming it does). The remastering/restoration of the film for its 2011 Blu-ray turned the film into a 6K file, so even in the 4K version it's "dumbed down" a tad. Yeah, as someone who watches this movie every year around this time, this is the version to cherish. It's kind of analogous to the 4K Lord of the Rings trilogy, which looked tremendous in its DVD and Blu-ray versions, but then the 4K version came along and blew them right out of the water.Īnd, funny, while upping the video ante often makes the seams, the flaws, show up more, here, the obvious blue screen shots are still obvious, but appreciably smoother than they appeared on the Blu-ray version (which also accompanies this new 4K pressing in the box – along with a digital code).
It may have been created from the same master as the 10-year-old Blu-ray, but the extra resolution and High Dynamic Range allow for a spectacular "new" version of this spectacular film. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments looked great in its Blu-ray version, wait till you get a view of the new, 4K disc version.
#Wonderwoman real or fake 4k upgrade
The Ten Commandments 4K disc is a serious upgrade
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