DeMille even took the time to delve into the romance of supporting characters like Joshua and Lilia. I appreciated the epic feel of DeMille's movie, as he guided audiences into Moses' life - from Moses' birth to his glory years as an Egyptian prince, to his years as an outcast and shepherd and finally to his years as a prophet and conflicts with Rameses - all in great detail and glorious Technicolor. However, my re-watch of "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" made me appreciate it a lot more.
THE NEW TEN COMMANDMENTS MOVIE MOVIE
And to think, movie fans had to endure this ponderous style and turgid dialogue for slightly over three-and-a-half hours. Robinson, Vincent Price, Debra Paget, John Derek, Judith Anderson, John Carradine, Martha Scott, Nina Foch and Sir Cedric Hardwicke - spoke their lines with a ponderous style that left me wondering if this movie had been shot at a slower speed. Even the other performers - including Charlton Heston, Yul Brenner, Yvonne DeCarlo, Edward G. After hearing her spout lines like - "You will be king of Egypt and I will be your footstool!" - throughout the entire film, I am beginning to suspect that I may be right. I cannot help but wonder if the screenwriters had disliked actress Anne Baxter or her character, Nefretiri. But the one thing the movie is known for it is the turgid dialogue that seemed to permeate the film. "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS", quite deservedly, is known for its over-the-top melodrama, bombastic style and preachiness. I am not saying that "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" is one of the best films ever made. My refusal to watch the movie for so many years had nothing to do with its quality.
I now realized why I had stopped watching "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" for so many years. Despite being on top of the world following his construction of the new city, Moses' privileged world is threatened when Nefretiri learns from a royal slave named Memnet that Moses is the son of a Hebrew slave. Moses responses by showing the completed city and claiming that he wanted the slaves more productive in order to finish the project. But when his rival for the throne and Nefretiri's hand, Prince Rameses accuses him of being the Hebrew slaves' "Deliverer" after he institute reforms in regard to the slaves' treatment. He also becomes in charge of constructing a new city in honor of Pharoah Sethi's jubilee. Moses falls in love with loves Nefretiri, who is the throne princess and must be betrothed to the next Pharaoh. He becomes a successful general who wins a war against Ethopia and forms an alliance with the country. Prince Moses grows up to be a part of Egypt's royal family. The Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah, who recently lost her husband, finds the child and adopts him as her own, despite the protests of her servant Memnet. A Hebrew woman named Yochabel saves her infant son by setting him adrift in a basket on the Nile River. Pharaoh Rameses I of Egypt orders the death of all firstborn Hebrew males upon hearing a prophecy in which a "Deliverer" will lead Egypt's Hebrew slaves to freedom. But out of curiosity, I decided to watch "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" first.Īnyone who has seen or heard about "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" knows the story. I eventually plan to watch "EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS". Both the 19 movies pretty much told the same story - the exodus of Hebrews from Egypt, under the leadership of Moses.
what led me to change my mind for a recent viewing of "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS"? To be honest, the recent release Ridley Scott's Biblical film, "EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS". By the time, I reached my thirties, I came to the conclusion that it was an overrated film. And three, my opinion of DeMille's movie had pretty much sunk over the years. Two, I had very little interest in Biblical films. One, I had pretty much burned out on the 1956 film by then. I spent the next decade or two deliberately ignoring "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS". By the time I reached my early to mid-twenties, I stopped watching the movie. When I was young, my family and I used to watch the film on television, every Easter Sunday. DeMille's 1956 movie, "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS". It has been a long time since I saw Cecil B.