The King of Kings (1927)
Drama, History • 2h 35m
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Cast: H.B. Warner, Dorothy Cumming, Ernest Torrence, Joseph Schildkraut, James Neill, Joseph Striker, Robert Edeson, Sidney D'Albrook, Jacqueline Logan, Charles Belcher, Victor Varconi, Montagu Love, William Boyd, Julia Faye, May Robson, Sidney Franklin, John George, Rex Ingram, Ruth Miller, Ayn Rand, Sally Rand, Mark Strong, David Imboden, Clayton Packard, Robert Ellsworth, Charles Requa, John T. Prince, Rudolph Schildkraut, Sam De Grasse, Casson Ferguson, Majel Coleman, Michael D. Moore, Theodore Kosloff, George Siegmann, Josephine Norman, Kenneth Thomson, Alan Brooks, Viola Louie, Muriel McCormac, Clarence Burton, James Pier Mason, Dot Farley, Hector V. Sarno, Leon Holmes, Otto Lederer, Bryant Washburn, Lionel Belmore, Monte Collins Sr., Lucio Flamma, Sôjin Kamiyama, André Cheron, Willy Castello, Noble Johnson, Jim Farley, Winifred Greenwood
Best English-friendly & video release
Flicker Alley Blu-ray (encoded by FiM) has much better encoding than Lobster Films Blu-ray, see DVDBeaver caps
Updated 10 months ago
About the film
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.
- Alternative Titles
- King of Kings
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Kino Lorber Blu-ray with Photoplay 4K restoration
Kino Lorber Blu-ray with Carl Davis score
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Germany Plaion Media Blu-ray is marginally better than Kino Lorber which suffers a little dark crush: https://slow.pics/c/BME05Jlw
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Universal Blu-ray better, MoC over-sharpened https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=19993011&postcount=53
Director: Marcel L'Herbier
Same 4K restoration but no comparison available
Director: Frank Urson
Older Restoration: Flicker Alley Blu-ray
2026 Restoration: YouTube 4K Streaming
Older Restoration: Lobster Films DVD
2026 Restoration: YouTube 4K Streaming
Older Restoration: Lobster Films DVD > Flicker Alley Blu-ray (Flicker Alley Blu-ray/DVD has every 25th PAL frame deleted)
Director: Lewis Milestone
2K scan of a surviving 35mm safety fine grain provided by the Academy Film Archive
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Flicker Alley Blu-ray new 4K restoration
Director: Harry O. Hoyt
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Upcoming Flicker Alley Blu-ray Focus on Clara Bow according to their calendar
Director: Herbert Brenon
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Upcoming Flicker Alley Blu-ray Focus on Clara Bow according to their calendar
Director: James P. Hogan
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Flicker Alley Blu-ray Focus on Clara Bow according to their calendar
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Director: Compton Bennett
4K restoration from original technicolor negatives
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
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