Movie Review: The Ten Commandments (1956)

The Ten Commandments (1956) directed by Cecil B. DeMille

In his final film, Cecil B. DeMille returns to the story of Moses with a second version of The Ten Commandments (the first one being a silent picture from 1923). The story follows the basics from the Book of Exodus, filling in a lot of details to make the story more cinematic. As a baby, Moses is put in a basket and set adrift on the Nile River to escape the murder of all the recently-born Hebrew males. The basket is found by Bithia, daughter of the Pharaoh who was recently widowed. She takes the child as her own and raises him in the royal court. Moses (Charlton Heston) grows to be a smart, tough, and kind-hearted man. He works as the Pharaoh's son (even though the new Pharaoh (Cedric Hardwicke) is his uncle), making treaties with other countries. He is rivaled by Rameses (Yul Brynner), the actual son of Pharaoh. Rameses has had trouble getting the Hebrew slaves to build a treasure city, so he is less favored. Both men are enamored of Nefretiri (Anne Baxter) who will marry the next Pharaoh. She wants Moses and is willing to connive to get him. Rameses connives to get rid of Moses. Once the true origin of Moses comes to light, everything changes. Moses is cast out of Egypt. He makes it to Median, where he finds a new life among the shepherds. But then he sees the Burning Bush and is soon on his way back to Egypt to free his people with the help of their God, the true God of all.

The movie is a lavish spectacle. Occasional special effects look dated (some of the green screen work and the column of fire in the desert). But many still hold up quite well. The turning of the Nile into a blood-red river looks great as does the parting of the Red Sea. The costumes are wonderful. A lot of location shooting went on, as well as location construction. The Hebrews leave Egypt down an avenue of the sphinxes that looks splendid. The cast of thousands really looks like thousands and some long shots of the crowds are amazing, especially realizing they are not CGI-generated.

The movie is also a faith-filled retelling of the Exodus story. The expansion of the story allows some very credible hardening of Pharaoh's heart. The angel of death sequence includes Moses's family having the first Passover meal with a lot of the details explained for the viewer. When the Hebrews leave Egypt, they take the bones of Joseph, the son of Jacob who brought the family to Egypt, with them to be buried in the Promised Land. Certainly that was not necessary to the story but it shows how much the filmmakers paid attention to the details. The depiction of faith is serious and genuine.

A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #203 gives a fun commentary and good insights on this movie.

Highly recommended.

Movie Review: The King of Kings (1927)

The King of Kings (1927) directed by Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil B. DeMille is the king of classic epics. His color, talkie version of The Ten Commandments (yeah, he also made a black and white, silent version thirty-three years earlier) was a staple of Easter viewing when I was a kid. He also made a biopic of Jesus Christ called The King of Kings thirty-four years before the color, talkie version by some other director. How was DeMille's take on the gospel narratives?

The production values are classic DeMille. In addition to the lavish sets and costumes, two sequences are shot in color--the opening sequence showing the opulent lifestyle of Mary Magdalene and the resurrection sequence near the end of the film. Jesus is often depicted as shining or glowing, which is a bit cheesy to me. Other special effects are amazing, like the casting out of the seven demons from Mary Magdalene and the earthquake at the end of the crucifixion scene. The acting is typical of the silent era with the occasional affected melodramatic pose. H. B. Warner's performance as Jesus is a bit too detached and otherworldly for my tastes but is a choice I understand even if I don't find it inspiring.

The story is mostly faithful to the Scriptures, even using quotes for the dialogue/title cards with chapter and verse cited. The movie is intentionally reverent and an early title card notes Jesus's call to His disciples to spread the news of His life, a mission which this film also wants to serve. The movie's focus is solely on Jesus's public life (so no nativity sequence, alas). Some artistic and narrative liberties are taken. Events are put together in logical rather than chronological sets--when Jesus has to pay the tax (and he has Peter go fishing for a fish that just happens to have a coin in its mouth!) is joined with a pharisee questioning whether it is proper to pay the taxes. The scene concludes with Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector to be an apostle. The biggest creative licenses are Mary Magdalene as a wealthy and independent courtesan who becomes a follower of Jesus and the evangelist Mark being a child whom Christ cures and who follows the Savior throughout the movie. High Priest Caiaphas prays in the temple after the crucifixion that the crime of killing Jesus only be blamed on him and not the Jewish people, mollifying his villainous behavior earlier. These choices are interesting and certainly inoffensive to Christian sensibilities.

The pace of the movie is slow but not boring. I watched the premiere cut that played at Grumman's Chinese theater in 1927 which is 155 minutes long. The Criterion Collection DVD includes that version and the 112 minute general release version of the film.

Recommended.