Not Enough People Care

Yesterday Paramount and Warner Home Video released a 4-disc Bluray package containing the perfectly remastered high-def version of The Ten Commandments (originally issued in March 2011) as well as the magnificently remastered Bluray of Ben-Hur (originally issued in September 2011). The Amazon price is $14.99. Bluray discs are often repackaged and remarketed — I get that. But the 2011 Blurays for these large-format ’50s epics were a big whoop-dee-doo and their original prices were fairly high. It seems odd that they’re now comprising a two-for-one Bluray cheapie in the bargain rack.

I’m calling this Bluray Ten Ben. Lo, how the mighty gave fallen.

Warner Home Video’s original 4-disc Ben-Hur Bluray collector’s edition is now going for $39.95 on Amazon, but I think it cost a lot more when it first came out. There’s also a 2-disc Ben-Hur Bluray that’s selling for $10.09. Amazon is now selling Paramount’s original six-disc Ten Commandments Bluray for $66 and change. There’s also a more modest package that came out a year ago, selling for $14.99.

I know, I know — physical media is dead, right? Wrong. Not until digital delivery systems can handle much greater amounts of data in order to provide true high-def versions to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other content providers. I realize that 95% of the movie-downloading public doesn’t care if they’re watching Bluray-quality or regular DVD- or analog-broadcast quality, but the minute you start saying “well, what can I do?…the lowest common denominator crowds wants what it wants,” you’re dead. You’ve surrendered your soul. You’ve become a rug merchant.

There’s a moment in Who’ll Stop The Rain when Tuesday Weld‘s Marge says “we can still make a deal!” to Nick Nolte‘s Ray Hicks, and Nolte replies “No! They’re animals! You can’t make a deal with animals!” You have to address the better angels and the finer manifestations. Bluray is heaven, the peak, the way movies should look. To hell with Joe Download and his basement vistas.

I acknowledged the writing on the wall in April 2011 (“End of an Era“) but let us never forget the words of Father Martin Scorsese — “We Have An Obligation.”

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  • dryer

    i agree with you in telling joe download to fuck off but the problem is the studios alone. they choose to saturate the market with multiple editions of the same library. there’s no reason to sell a title at $25 when in six months you’ll allow stores sell for $10, it only infuriates your true purchasing base which is cinephiles. but then again they’ve been catering to the lowest common denominator ever since DVDs started becoming cheap entertainment. the decline was obvious once trailers started appearing and special editions became a cheap title ploy for quick cash.
    i doubt the bluray format will be eliminated in the near future, there’s always going to be a market for the home theater and bluray is the top of the line. plus licensing difficulties alone will prevent streaming from taking a total takeover.

  • algarciashead

    Lawrence of Arabia is already 9 bucks! You can’t get people to buy older unfranchisey movies at gunpoint.

  • jedgeco

    In the last few months, I’ve bought Blus of Lawrence, Double Indemnity, Passion of Joan of Arc, The Lodger, The Man With No Name trilogy ($5, natch), Meet Me in St. Louis, Chinatown, Rebecca, Notorious, Casablanca, Indiana Jones, Brazil, In the Mood for Love, Trilogy of Life, Heaven’s Gate, etc., etc.

    If this is what’s available on a “dying” format, I wish more formats would die.

    If this makes me a dinosaur, I’m one well-fed T-Rex.

  • hupto

    (aka Cadavra)
    I’m guessing this new release is movies-only, minus all the extras (including the silent versions).