Masada coming to DVD!
Masada box art courtesy Koch Studios
Remember when a mini-series was a HUGE event?
Roots,
Shogun,
The Thorn Birds and
The Winds of War brought in huge network ratings, and they're all on DVD. Now
Masada will join the list of great mini-series' that you can own.
KOCH Vision will release
Masada on
September 11. The 2-disc set will retail for $29.99, but you can
preorder it from Amazon.com for $20.99.
Here's a description written for the VHS release by Tom Keogh:
This 1981 television miniseries, based on Ernest K. Gann's historical novel The Antagonists, is a dramatization of a documented revolt by nearly a thousand Jerusalem Jews against Roman oppressors in A.D. 72 to 73. Following a city-wide siege by Rome's soldiers, Jewish Zealots move into a fortress in the mountains of Masada, from which they present a defense strong enough to convince the enemy to negotiate. Peter O'Toole, in all his golden dignity, plays Cornelius Flavius Silva, commander of the Roman legions, and Peter Strauss is Zealot leader Eleazar ben Yair. Both are outstanding as representatives from each side trying, in good faith, to find a way out of the deadlocked situation. Unfortunately, neither realizes that Rome has no intention of yielding, resulting in one of the greatest tragedies in Jewish history. A strong cast of character actors - David Warner, Barbara Carrera, Timothy West, and Anthony Quayle - is rewardingly watchable, the action and sets are persuasive without overwhelming the story's human dimension, and direction by Boris Sagal (The Omega Man) is crisp and enthralling. This was a pleasure to watch when it was first broadcast, and it holds up very well today.
Did anyone else put this on their "must buy" list?
Gord
