(Enlarge) The 1953 release of "The Robe" launched CinemaScope and became the fourth highest-grossing film of the 1950s.

Once upon a time, Hollywood cared about the persecution of early Christians -- or maybe it was just that studio chiefs then knew there were audiences waiting for historic spectacles of tyranny and redemption. Whatever the cause, the result was a golden age of biblical epics that lasted from "Quo Vadis?" in 1951 to "Ben-Hur" in 1959, and even a bit beyond.

Most were remakes of proven blockbusters from the silent era, and producers brought them to modern audiences using the best technology money could buy. The cameras were state-of-the-art, the lenses were revolutionary, and audio engineers navigated to the brightest star in the firmament, stereophonic sound.

Now, with TVs at last living up to their billing as "home theater," those big-screen marvels are looking mighty attractive once again. Two cornerstones of the golden age have been remastered in high-definition and are available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc: MGM's "Quo Vadis?" and 20th Century-Fox's "The Robe."

Both of these releases are timed for Easter in Maryland, though you needn't be a Christian to draw inspiration from the films' depictions of spiritual courage in the face of cruel adversity.

The two-disc DVD of "Quo Vadis?" came out in December and was superb, but it has been surpassed by Blu-ray (Warner Home Video, $28.99). There's noticeably less fuzziness in small details now, and the hues are a notch or two more true to life. The nearly three-hour film and all of the DVD's extras are contained on a single disc, including the roadshow overture and exit music by Miklos Rozsa, the commentary track by F.X. Feeney, and that documentary on the range of cinema's biblical epics.

The 1951 classic stars Robert Taylor as a Roman commander whose love for Christian slave girl Deborah Kerr leads him to question his allegiance to the state and its imperial mad man, Nero (Peter Ustinov).

The colorful Italian locations added greatly to the appeal of "Quo Vadis?," but they were eclipsed two years later when curtains parted on the first CinemaScope feature film, "The Robe" (20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment, rated G, DVD $19.95; Blu-ray Disc $34.95). It became the fourth highest-grossing film of the decade and sparked an industry rush to wide-screen processes that changed the face of cinema forever.

"The Robe" won the 1953 Oscars for art direction and costumes -- two design elements well served by the new high-def master. The colors aren't oversaturated as in past video editions, meaning more natural skin tones, truer reds and warmer golds. The 5.1 DTS-HD sound preserves the directional stereo of the soundtrack voices while enhancing the delivery of Alfred Newman's wonderful music.

Martin Scorsese bows in for a brief introduction about how CinemaScope wowed early audiences, and there are numerous extras for fans, including featurettes on CinemaScope and the production of "The Robe," as well as audio options for listening to a running commentary or for isolating the score.

Anyone who read Lloyd C. Douglas's 1942 novel will recall the engrossing page-turner about a Roman tribune (Richard Burton here) -- dispatched to Jerusalem by Emperor Caligula -- who oversees the Crucifixion at Calvary and is then overcome by madness at the touch of Jesus's robe. I, for one, didn't realize the plot was also rife with political agendas, however.

According to one documentary, director Henry Koster used the novel to decry Nazi tyranny over the individual, while screenwriter Albert Maltz saw it as a metaphor for the McCarthy-era push to weed out communist subversives. I'm not sure that communists even in the 1950s would have appreciated being likened to persecuted Christians, but thankfully, the story's spiritual values reigned supreme on screen.

Another round of Bond

What exactly is James Bond ready to die for these days? Queen and country? The EU? The British pound?

Neatly dodging that question is "Quantum of Solace," James Bond's 22nd film adventure, which comes squealing onto video this week (MGM/20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, DVD $28.98; Blu-ray Disc $39.95). We rejoin the British operative in mid car chase, pursuing bad guys who may have been behind the murder of Vesper in "Casino Royale."

If that last outing with Daniel Craig as Bond isn't fresh in your mind, you may have trouble following this one. It finds him no longer the cool customer he once was. He's drinking to excess now, and he's so impulsive about killing evil-doers that he's not so much efficient as utterly indifferent.

This has left him out in the cold with Q (Judi Dench) and sharing the path of vengeance with a determined beauty (Olga Kurylenko), who is out to dispose of a desposed Brazilian dictator on the comeback trail. The strongman is being aided and abetted by a Eurotrash commodities speculator played by big-eyed French actor Mathieu Almalric, who looks like a cat with its ears pinned back.

Both of the latter are operating in collusion with a crime syndicate called Quantum. If Mr. Bond is seeking solace, though, he won't find it there. The fights and chases come at a furious clip, and if there's any wit in the script it gets drowned out by the bad vibes and requisite anti-American jabs.

"Quantum of Solace" arrives in a good-looking, two-DVD edition with a digital copy and bonus features. It also comes in a single Blu-ray Disc with all the same extras plus a smashing picture and overwhelming DTS-HD audio designed to leave you both shaken and stirred.

MGM/20th Century-Fox is simultaneously releasing more vintage Bond films remastered for Blu-ray Disc: "Goldfinger," "Moonraker" and "The World Is Not Enough," priced at $34.95 each. They are sure to rack up big sales, as none has been available in high-def video before.

Also bowing on Blu-ray is the Bond anomaly "Never Say Never Again" Collector's Edition (20th Century-Fox, rated PG, $34.99). Due to a licensing loophole in rights to the novel "Thunderball," it was produced independently and lured the original James Bond, Sean Connery, out of semi-retirement. The title has never had a fair showing on video, but Blu-ray gives it that and more, plus extras on the 1983 film's troubled production history.

Connery is not in top form here -- indeed, the script toys with the idea that he is old and out of shape, though that's just one of the notes left undeveloped by the team of writers. The outline of "Thunderball" is the same, involving the hijacking of two nuclear warheads by SPECTRE, but the production, like the script, fails to deliver on the class of the franchise.

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