I found a dvd edition by amazon prime. Euro17,00. This confirm the existence of a DVD release.

From the late sixties till very recently, film producers had a very pro-Atheist agenda, and contrived most stories to fit into that narrow spectrum. This is one such example.The story is fairly well known. A Jimmy Jones style mass suicide of maniacs, the leaders of whom had as little to do with Jewish religion as today's suicide bombers have to do with the mosques they would only attend for rare occasions to persuade others to join their cause. It is where we get the word "zealots", which has come to connote more religious groups.The film does make it clear, however, that the leading zealots were not religious, and had issues with the spiritual ones who joined them.The leader of the group, played by Strauss, is a maniac from beginning to end. We are given enough of his personality to see why feeble minds would believe him, and we can interpret his nature pretty accurately. It boggles the mind as to how the Roman commander is fooled by him. He clearly uses his family man position to further his lust for power and blood. He is a true rendition of a homicidal maniac. The film tries to make it look as though he may have turned into a maniac when he got religion, but in real life, he is truly just a monster who only uses religion for his blood-lust. He has no real faith. One scene shows him supposedly crying for the innocent, and praying, but in real life, this would be completely for show, and would never fool a true Roman military mind.The Roman commander seems to be the sanest, and thus is viewed as an Atheist. His barbaric acts are done unwillingly. This fits in with the true Hollywood agenda of making people believe no one is ever killed by Atheism, which makes the film laughably ridiculous.However, the performances are great. Most of the minor characters are very good. The Jewish mistress is very believable.The fight scenes with Struass look poorly done, but not as poor as later movies in which we are expected to believe men loaded with full armor can move like acrobats, and no one ever has the Sun in his eyes.The contrived point of view cheapens what could have been a great movie.

**Spoiler Warning** This series was very informative and spellbinding. It gave me insight to the Romans' technological abilities, for example, the assault tower which could be adjusted to tilt straight up while being drawn up the ramp.The engineer who designed it would have been quite at home in the US Army Corps of Engineers, in terms of using science and engineering know-how to accomplish military objectives. His dying words included vital information about the moon, reminiscent of D-Day being planned for the right tides and moonlighting for the Normandy assault.One person commented about the zealots blowing a good deal. This is the nature of zealots: to want it all, or at least to have more than they now have. The zealots didn't want Rome in their land at all, not now, not when Christ came (Judas Iscariot was a zealot). Eleazar was willing to cooperate with Rome, asking for home-rule during his hillside late-night meeting with Silva. Silva could not get the Caesar to agree.It must have been galling, when Silva was sitting in with the Senate, to have critical questions asked about him but he could not speak to them because he was a guest, not a member of that legislature.I eagerly await this series' uncut release onto DVD for Region 1. I don't have the VHS, simply because I expect a DVD release. If the miniseries "The Martian Chronicles", "V" and such merit a DVD release, then the true history of "Masada" is at least ten times worthier.

This story brings out the idealist and the need for faith in me whenever I view it. The historical accuracy and the sheer information provided about the Roman Empire, the province of Judea circa 70AD, and the Roman Legions, are truly astonishing. Every semester, whenever I teach World Civilizations I at Essex County College in Newark NJ, I always include a classroom viewing of the 2 hour version for my students (and lament not time enough to show the full saga). Peter O'Toole's performance as the competant but troubled Flavius Silva I humbly believe is his masterwork and the life he places in his character is thought provoking and emotionally stirring. The music, the material, the true story and the detail from building the ramp to the costumes and location re-create what actually happened better than any textbook or lecture could. By the way, Barbara Cararra almost steals the show from Peter O'Toole and her acting performance also deserves special mention. I proudly own the full saga on VHS and eagerly await the DVD edition. This is a must-see for anyone interested in Roman, Israeli, or general history.