Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: SAMSON & DELILAH. (1949)

This is topic SAMSON & DELILAH. (1949) in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-11-2014, 07:21 PM:

I was only ten years old when I first saw Cecil B. DeMille's SAMSON & DELILAH during it's first run theatrical showing and I always remembered the film to this very day. It was not an outstanding films but it was loaded with all kinds of special effects that looks dated today but it was impressive at that time. I think the movie won Oscars for Best Custume Design and Visual Effects.

I do not remember the movie on Laserdisc but SAMSON & DELILAH was never released on DVD until recently. Beside the DVD, the movie was also released on Blu Ray a few weeks later and it is what I just watched ladt night. When i watched it with my sister, it seem it was 1949 again because it looked like we were watching a original dye transfer print with it's gorgeous Technicolor photographic brilliance. The movie was restored in 4K from the original three strip separation elements and that is why it now looks so good on Blu Ray.

-Claude

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 05-30-2014, 12:20 AM:

I remember seeing "Samson and Delilah" around 1959.As a little Kid you were always arguing who was tougher HERCULES(Steve Reeves) or SAMPSON. When I watched it a number of times as an adult,I could never understand why SAMSON(Mature) would pick "Angela Lansbury over Hedy Lamar who was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood.

I always liked anything that DeMille did because he wanted his Films to be Spectacular so he used the Special effects of the Day
to enhance his Films.If you watch many of DeMille's Films you will Spot Actor HENRY WILCOXSON in a number of them.He was DeMille's Pet Actor using him clear back to the Original Silent Version "TEN COMMANDMENTS"(1925)as well as the 1956 Version.
S&D is one of those Films you like to watch at least a couple times a year and it's just as enjoyable each time to watch...

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 05-30-2014, 04:26 PM:

Glad you like SAMSON & DELILAH, Steve.It looks you you were introduced to the movie ten years after it was released and the time I first saw it. Yes, I agree with you about Angela Langsbury and Hedy Lamour. The next film Cecil B DeMille made was set in the modern era with the circus film GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. and that along with THE TEN COMMANDMENTS are my favorite DeMille films. SAMSON & DELILAH, GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS first played in Honolulu at the Kuhio as reserved seat engagements. I only saw THE TEN COMMANDMENTS at the KUhio because I was older in 1956 but the other two I saw at my hometown theatre, the Waipahu when it had finishers it's Road show run sat the Kuhio.

-Claude

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 05-30-2014, 10:53 PM:

"Claude"..."The Ten Commandments"(1956) IMHO was Demille's Greatest Film. Even the special effects which had to be done with optical printers back then verses everything today being computer generated still hold up well.I have never seen the Silent Version of TTC's complete but I've seen bits and pieces and the Set Pieces back then were as spectacular or more so than the 1956 Version. When I heard that after filming in 1923 all the sets were buried in the Desert I couldn't believe it. Supposedly some years back a Group was looking for these old Set Pieces buried under the sand for decades;but I never heard any followup if they ever found anything. One Neat thing about watching IB TECH Films is that rich vibrant color is still like the way you originally saw it back in the 50's.

The Greatest Show on Earth was another one I was too young to remember although my Mother said she took me to it when I was three.I remember seeing it at a Drive-in right around the time I saw "Sampson and Delilah" Emmett Kelly(the clown) was still popular in the later 50's and I remember my cousin getting a look-alike Doll of him for Christmas 1959(probably worth some money today)The scene that still stands out is when the Villian Character "Klaus" played by actor Lyle Bettger has a change of heart and tries to stop the Train with his car on the tracks. The moment of impact probably would have made a good 3D Scene.This movie I'm sure had to appeal to Kids as anything to do with a Circus for a Youngster was neat back in the day.

I would like to see all 3 of those Demille Films again on a 50ft Screen or IMAX would be even better but I'll probably have to settle for Blu-Ray on an 84inch FS instead... [beer]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-01-2014, 12:25 AM:

The "IB" prints of "Ten Commandments" was a feature to behold!

That VistaVision process of taking the 8-perf negative and rotating it 90 degress for conventional 35mm screenings, it captured the extreme sharp detail of that wide negative. Never witness a more sharper image on the screen with conventional "IB" Technicolor prints.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 06-01-2014, 04:00 AM:

Steve & Monte, I have a piece of IBTech film from THE TEN COMMENDMENT with a scene showing both Debra Paget and John Derek and seeing the same scene on Blu Ray is startling. They are exactly alike indicating the BD is almost an exact. clone of the original IB Tech print. If you want to see Cecil B DeMille's first TEN COMMANDMENT film, it is available on Blu Ray as part of THE TEN COMMANDMENT collection. I saw it on sale at Costco not too long ago when Warner Brothers released it for Paramount. It was originally released by Paramount Home Video about two years ago and was also available at Costco and that was when I picked it up. The 1956 version is set entirely in ancient times but the original is set in both modern and ancient times. The original silent version is very good but I prefer the remake. The original sound track is one of my favorite movie music and was composed by the late Elmer Bernstein. I still have the original long play recording issued by a Dot Records but it is not in good condition because it was over played.

-Claude

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 06-01-2014, 07:08 AM:

I have the same Dot recording, also overplayed. WalMart had a $5 DVD of the 1956 version which I snapped up but still haven't opened it though. I saw the original at the Sheridan Theater (now a CVS drug store) in DC during its initial release. I still remember how the shot of Moses parting the Red Sea looked like an old master oil painting. Stunning!!!

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 06-01-2014, 06:13 PM:

I was somewhat a TEN COMMANDMENTS junkie during the time the movie first came out, Rick. Beside the soundtrack album, I still have the original souvenir program I bought at the Kuhio Theatre where I saw the movie during it's Road Show engagement. The BD collectors box set of the movie has a reproduction of this program book but the original is larger and printed on quality paper with vivid illustrations of paintings of scenes from the movie.

If you can do without the extra stuff in the collectors set, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS can be bought dirt cheap on Blu Ray with BEN-HUR thrown in for about $12.00 at places like Walmart.

-Claude

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 06-01-2014, 06:55 PM:

I was thinking what it would cost to remake "The Ten Commandments" today if they had to hire as many extra's as they did back then;Supposedly over 14,000 people. Figuring minimum Scale for Sag Member was over 700 bucks a day a few years ago,that would come to a tidy some per day. Fortunately today large Crowd scenes can be Computer Generated at no extra cost to the Production Company.Technology sometimes has it's positives for Filmmakers;Not so for struggling Actors looking for any extra part.

Finding out after seeing the Film that the Parting OF the RED SEA by MOSES was done on the back lot of PARAMOUNT was a little hard to swallow but this is what they supposedly did...

"The illusion of the Red Sea parting was achieved by large "dump tanks" on the Paramount Lot that were flooded, then the film was shown in reverse. The two frothing walls of water were created by water dumped constantly into "catch basin areas" then the foaming, churning water was visually manipulated and used sideways for the walls of water. A gelatin substance was added to the water in the tanks to give it more of a sea water consistency. Although the dump tanks have long since been removed, the catch basin section of this tank still exists today on the Paramount lot, directly in front of the exterior sky backdrop, in the central portion of the studio. It can still be flooded for water scenes, but when not being used in a production, it is an extension of a parking lot.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 06-01-2014, 07:26 PM:

The parting of the Red Sea has always been my favorite part of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and I am in awe every time I see the scene.

One of the most funniest part of Mel Books film HISTORY OF THE WORLD was when he did a parody of this scene.

-Claude

Posted by Harry Robinson (Member # 265) on 06-28-2014, 04:24 PM:

I was a Ten Commandments junkie too. My mom took me to see it on a school day in 1956-57. At the Warner theater in Pittsburgh, which was a Cinerama. I still have the program too.
It's past corny today, but there are some great set pieces.

One time my hipster son and I watched it while he gave it the Mystery Science Theater treatment.
My favorite line my son said while watching Moses returning from the Burning Bush, carrying his staff: "This is the longest par four I have ever seen!"

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 07-01-2014, 12:24 PM:

quote: Steve Matz
the catch basin section of this tank still exists today on the Paramount lot, directly in front of the exterior sky backdrop, in the central portion of the studio.

It was still there when I toured the Paramount lot back in 1996.