Released: October 1956
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Rated G
Run Time: 220 Minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Cast:
Charlton Heston: Moses
Yul Brynner: Rameses
Anne Baxter: Nefretiri
Edward G. Robinson: Dathan
Yvonne De Carlo: Sephora
Debra Paget: Lilia
Cedrick Hardwick: Sethi
Judith Anderson: Memnet
Vincent Price: Baka
John Carradine: Aaron
There are movies, and there are MOVIES. The difference between the two is that movies are there mostly just to entertain. Nothing wrong that. MOVIES, by contrast, push the boundaries of what is possible within conventional cinema. Every once in a while, you come across a piece of film that is so profound and so memorable that there is no possible way you can forget about it. How many times can a movie like that come around? We saw it with The Birth of a Nation in 1915, King Kong in 1933, and Casablanca in 1941. These movies were very unique in how they were made and what they gave us. During the 50’s, we saw a lot of great science fiction pictures and westerns. But the one genre that really blew the lid off of conventional cinema was the Biblical epic. Let me define what an epic film is. An epic film is a movie that is made on such a scale that it draws not only stars and audiences, but it also portrays a story that is grand and powerful. Usually it involves grand warfare involving thousands of people. A Biblical Epic is a story that is set during Biblical times. This is about up to 3,000 years ago. Some of it takes place before Christ was born. These movies are usually influenced by the Old Testament. Stories such as Noah’s Ark and Samson and Delilah are just some of the many stories that the Bible holds. But the most famous and arguably one of the most important stories in the Old Testament was that of Exodus, or the story of Moses. You know, the guy that parted the Red Sea? There have been many movies about Moses over the decades: The animated Prince of Egypt in 2000, Exodus: Gods and Kings earlier this year, but the most important and most well-known film about the legendary hero is Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments.
For all three of you living under a rock, the story of Moses is this: After being floated down a river as an infant, Moses is discovered by the sister of the Pharoah Sethi, and adopted. Along with his adopted brother, Rameses, Moses became a legendary warrior and strategist. Discovering that he is of Hebrew birth, Moses is driven out of Egypt into exile. After falling in with a group of nomads, Moses climbs the mountain of Sinai where he is spoken to by God in the form of a burning bush. He is then charged with saving his people from slavery and leading them out of Egypt to their Promised Land. At this point, everybody should know how the story goes. It’s been told to us time and time again. It is quite possibly one of the most important stories in not just Christian, but Jewish mythology as well. This is a story about freedom and a man’s struggle to free his people from slavery. I’m not going to get into a debate about religion or the influence of the Bible. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to tell you that the story of Moses is one of the greatest and most powerful stories ever told. You don’t have to be a believer to understand that. It’s hard to say if The Ten Commandments is historically accurate or not as records from the period of history may have been lost, so we will never know. But is it accurate as to how it is told in the Bible? I’m no Bible scholar, but I would argue that it is not only a very commendable adaptation, it is quite possibly the finest.
Epic films over the past decade have been reliant on computer technology to enhance the amount of people that are seen on screen. I’ll be honest: It’s impressive how they get the details right in CGI. But remember; in 1956 they didn’t have any of that. For special effects, they had to rely on stop-motion and hand-drawn animation as well as miniatures. For movies like The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, there was no CG to show the amount of people involved in those stories. No, they actually hired thousands of extras. That is what makes movies like The Ten Commandments epic. What you get is what you see. If you see over a thousand people fleeing a city, that’s actual people that are moving around. They don’t make movies like this anymore. That is why these older epics are so important. It’s a lost art of film-making. With all that in mind, the movie is incredible. It is incredibly well-acted. Charlton Heston is absolutely phenomenal as Moses. Not just as the prince as he was raised as, but the humble Hebrew that he becomes. Not only is Heston physically built for the role, he has a very commanding voice and we get to see him really delve into the role the likes of which no one else has ever achieved. Heston was at the top of his game when he starred in this movie and Ben-Hur. This is an ensemble cast with Judith Anderson as the lowly servant, the legendary Vincent Price as the harsh taskmaster and Yul Brynner as Rameses. If there is one downside to The Ten Commandments, it’s that the relationship between Rameses and Moses was always antagonistic, even before Moses discovering his heritage. In later adaptions, such as The Prince of Egypt, the two came across as real brothers. That’s the only real nitpick I have with the film.
Everything else is simply amazing. Now, I recently watched this film on Blu-Ray, so I can tell you, the picture is gorgeous. The colors really pop out, with the reds and the greens catching the eye. The sound design is phenomenal. The sets and the costumes are second-to-none. The Ten Commandments is one of the most detailed movies I have ever seen. The blue-screen effects really stand-out, and not in a good way. But that is the product of the time, and I forgive the film-makers for that. The tech simply wasn’t there. They put every penny they had into the film and it really, really pays off in the end. The plague sequences are well-done, even though we don’t see all of them, due to technology and time constraints, but the ones they do show are spectacular. The green mist that represents the Angel of Death is extremely ominous. That particular scene where all the non-Hebrew first-born children die is very unsettling, as it was intended to be. But the real centerpiece of the film is when Moses parts the Red Sea. This was absolutely mind-blowing. The Ten Commandments won an Oscar for best effects, and it’s not hard to see why. The film is incredibly well-paced. The nearly 4-hour run-time feels like half of that. It’s efficient film-making.
As I said earlier, you don’t have to be a believer in order to appreciate a film like The Ten Commandments. It’s simply great film-making in nearly every way. As far as I’m concerned, The Ten Commandments is one of those rare movies that is beyond reproach. I don’t say that about movies often, but films like Enter The Dragon and the original Star Wars are so good that they transcend any complaints that I could throw at them. Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments is one of the greatest movies ever made. Period, end of story. I had never actually seen the film in its entirety before a couple of days ago, but I can tell you this: I will be watching it again. And again. This is a classic film in every way. Honestly, it’s so good, that I can’t give it a score. But this one definitely comes highly recommended. If you do see it, see it on Blu-Ray.