...as part of the 60th anniversary re-release to theaters courtesy of TCM. And I was almost blown away how different it seems on the silver screen! As opposed to all those Easter weekends I watched it on TV, growing up, of course. My only nitpick? The glitch that blacked out the visual portion of Cecil B DeMille's preamble.
Did anyone else get deprived of that at their local Fathom-participating movie theater?
On a whim, my youngest (9 years old) and I saw it on Sunday as part of the Fathom re-release and were definitely not disappointed! Luckily for us, the preamble was shown in complete form. All you missed visually was Mr. DeMille standing in front of a theater curtain with a microphone on a stand, talking to the camera.
I too was impressed with how different it is on the silver screen. I own the DVD and we have watched it commercial free on my flat screen at home, but I noticed so much more in the theater. Things I hadn't noticed before included the fine details of the costumes, facial expressions, background conversations (like the two ladies commenting on "poor Nefertiri" just ahead of the jubilee celebration), and even the tears brimming in Charelton Heston's eyes during his prison farewell to Anne Baxter. It made me truly appreciate Mr. DeMille's painstaking attention to every single detail. What a masterpiece.
I'm looking forward to seeing more Fathom releases.
-Cindy
I found out only today that the movie screened on Sunday and Wednesday. I would gladly have seen it since there were two theaters within 8 miles of me showing it. How much was an adult ticket?
It was $12.50 regardless of age.
I saw it last night, too. I hadn't seen it on a big screen since I was in high school. You definitely also watch it differently in a movie theatre where there are no distractions and you look for certain things.
Of particular note is how carefully the scenes of Heston and Brynner were done to mask their difference in height. Also the furniture, prop, costume, and jewelry details were fabulous.
I could see where chromo-key was used, but except for that there were no flaws. Pity that if this were made today all the crowd scenes would be CGI'd.
The Fabio Principle: Puffy shirts look best on men who look even better without them.