JESUS OF NAZARETH on Blu-Ray

[AndyDursin]

Yes, both of those are there. What's missing is one long chunk this post at the Blu-Ray.com board describes:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... stcount=88

What's funny is, if you didn't know about the edits, you wouldn't know something was missing there.

[Eric Paddon]

Well it's too late for me to do anything about a viewing this season so I will likely watch the Artisan one more time so I can also see this scene in context and then a little later, maybe get this one for comparative purposes overall. It's always frustrating a bit when things can't come together to settle all of these matters and get it right on all levels but maybe one day we'll get a truly definitive deluxe DVD release that does full justice to it (supplements and commentary for instance; you could easily get a fascinating talk from both a film buff and a Biblical scholar to run the whole length).

The announcement that the "Masada" CD is about to go OOP reminds me that it would also be great to have a new CD of Jarre's score for this but I guess that's never going to happen.

[AndyDursin]

Very doubtful we'll see a superior release than this, because ITV remastered it for HD, and it's a fully restored print that is from a much healthier source than the DVD. Reality for catalog titles isn't good, and Lionsgate I'm going to wager will have little interest in releasing it in the U.S. (Maybe it'll happen, but I doubt it).

I'd like to hear the Jarre score on CD too!

[Paul MacLean]

I'd like to hear the Jarre score on CD too!

I'll second that. James Fitzpatrick has been trying to track-down the master tapes for years. Apparently they were stored somewhere at Heathrow airport but he's no idea where.

The (now out-of-print) CD release of the score was mastered from an LP (and the last 20 or 30 seconds of the main title were missing).

[Eric Paddon]

After spending all day today revisiting my Artisan copy I have decided I will not get the Mexican release because the eight minute missing scene is just too critical from my standpoint. I'm not thrilled with the conceit of the fictional Zerah as the prime instigator in Judas's act of betrayal and in being the prime mover and shaker before Pilate but since they establish this for the through-line the missing scene is very important to understanding why Judas acts and to not have the opening part of the Last Supper sequence also damages the narrative too much from my standpoint. I've always preferred having a stronger narrative with lesser picture to better picture and missing scenes so there's for now no reason for me to switch versions.

Revisiting this for the first time in a couple years, it also strikes me that the final act from the time Rod Steiger makes his entrance as Pilate to the end is not aging well. There's too much of an abruptness with critical sections of the Passion narrative missing (the appearance before Antipas; there is no Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross because in his effort to be more naturalistic, Zefirelli becomes the only director I know of to stage Jesus only carrying the beam on his back like the other two which isn't how it's described) and I also think that while Steiger acts brilliantly the interpretation of Pilate is just way off. Plus, knowing what I do about how much Zefirelli was anguishing over how to end the film and properly show Jesus resurrected, he should really be grateful that he found that one scene by happenstance to use for the ending because to be honest, the scene of Mary Magdalene being abruptly dismissed by the Disciples followed by Peter's decision to believe after she's gone along with the angry remarks to the other ten doesn't come off very well. The last scene with Powell really in effect saves the whole ending of the piece.