Cult Camp Classic 4 - Historical Epics

Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics
The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) Land of the Pharaohs (1955) The Prodigal (1955)

The Colossus of Rhodes DVD is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

The Colossus of Rhodes: Rory Calhoun wears the hero's toga, and spectacle rules this tale of the strife-torn ancient isle and the gargantuan, human-shaped edifice/fortress striding its harbor. Sergio Leone's directorial debut.

Land of the Pharaohs: The building of the Great Pyramid teems with secrets--and the deadliest is a plot to kill the king! 9,753 players in one scene. 1600 camels in the production. Howard Hawks directs. With Joan Collins.

The Prodigal: A story told for millenia--but never like this! Pagan princess Lana Turner eyes the adventurous youth who arrives in the big city with his inheritance in hand.

Titles

The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)
By the time Leone was thirty, he'd worked on well over 50 muscle-and-sweat sagas, including Helen of Troy, Quo Vadis? and the chariot scene in Ben Hur. The Colossus of Rhodes was his first attempt at direction, and it was a film remarkable enough, at a time when the peplums had just about reached the end of their particular line, to warrant good notices for its crowd and spectacle scenes. (The Colossus itself is a sophisticated torture chamber hidden behind a persuasively artsy exterior.) After the film's success, Leone turned down attempts to channel him into the manufacture of superman heroics in the Maciste mode, and went back to 2nd Unit work on Aldrich's Sodom and Gomorrah.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
Howard Hawks's only attempt at a wide-screen blockbuster (1955), much disparaged afterward by Hawks and many others, is actually fairly awesome if you can get beyond the clunky dialogue (some of it written by William Faulkner, as well as Harry Kurnitz) and the campy evilness of the Joan Collins character. An epic about the building of the pyramids, it comes a lot closer to Red River than some critics would care to admit; Jack Hawkins is the pharaoh, and Hawks discovery Dewey Martin and James Robertson Justice fill out the cast..

Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's capsule at The Chicago Reader located HERE

The Prodigal (1955)

Lana Turner plays Samarra, the high priestess of a pagan cult in this colourful Biblical epic. Edmund Purdom falls in love with Turner and, taking the family fortune, follows her to Damascus. After falling into the clutches of the ruler of Damascus,played by Louis Calhern, Purdom manages to escape and leads a rebellion against the tyrant.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Releases: 1955 - 1961

DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Warner Home Video (3-disc) - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC
Time:	Respectively - 2:00:20 + 1:44:00 + 1:52:20
Bitrate: Colossus of Rhodes
Bitrate: Land of the Pharaohs
Bitrate: The Prodigal
Audio	English (1.0)
Subtitles	English, English (HOH), French and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: All Original Aspect Ratios - 2.35:1 for Colossus and - 2.55 for Pharaohs and Prodigal Edition Details: • The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) Commentary by film historian Christopher Frayling Theatrical trailer • Land of the Pharaohs (1955) Commentary by filmmaker/historian Peter Bogdanovich with interview excerpts of director Howard Hawks Theatrical trailer • The Prodigal (1955) Commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper Theatrical trailer DVD Release Date: June 26th, 2007 3 Standard Keep Cases in cardboard box Chapters: 27, 26, 24

Comments:

The Colossus of Rhodes DVD is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

Sounds, on the surface, like the deal of the year! - 3 separate film/DVDs, 2 by renowned directors (Leone, Hawks) - all are progressive and anamorphic in impressive widescreen ratios - and each has a commentary! It's about $20 ! $7/DVD!

This Warner boxset features 3 dual-layered DVDs containing The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) in anamorphic 2.35 widescreen, Land of the Pharaohs (1955) and The Prodigal (1955) both in glorious anamorphic 2.55 widescreen. All three are progressive and have optional English (HOH and without) or French subtitles. They are coded for regions 1 thru 4 in the NTSC standard.

The Colossus of Rhodes starts off fairly dirty and cleans up a bit as the picture rolls. Colors aren't bad at all but there is a little-more-than-average digital noise. The film was enjoyable. When it comes to sword and sandal epics this may be the best out of Italy that I can recall. The commentary is Criterion level - Christopher Frayling is Leone's biographer and imparts some detailed knowledge. Really worth listening to. There is also a trailer. Thumbs up for the film and supplements - but the transfer is only acceptable with thanks to the cinemascope ratio.

Land of the Pharaohs has a bit better transfer. The digital noise is finer and appears as grain. Colors may have had some manipulation but it still stays within the parameters of acceptableness. Detail has some strong moments and contrast is fairly decent. Some poetic license was used on the Hollywood script but the ending is a pleasant and memorable surprise. Extras give us a trailer and a Peter Bogdanovich and Howard Hawks commentary (really it's interview bites spliced into the his soliloquy on the film). He is always enjoyable to listen to - extensive knowledge with curious gossips details that occasionally pop up. Great fun!

The Prodigal - the best transfer of the three with the least noise and a wonderful soft color palette. That and the 2.55 ratio gives it a strong filmic feel. I've never been over-the-moon about Lana Turner, but she was quite good here and uses her abundant beauty and charm very well in the part of Samarra - high priestess of Astarte. Finally we have another fine commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper. He is another commentarist that I have always enjoyed and his knowledge fills the film experience better than the film by itself!

This is really worth the price even if you aren't overly keen on the genre. Bravo to Warner for this particular Classic Camp Collection!... and the films kind of compliment each other to a certain degree. Strongly recommended!