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The Ten Commandments | Year: 1956 Classification: Drama Directed: - Cecil B. DeMille Actors/Actresses: - Robert Vaughn - Vincent Price - Charlton Heston - Yul Brynner A great epic film -- in spite of some big bloopers! They just don't make epic movies like this anymore -- probably because, among other things, the cost of hiring and costuming that "cast of thousands" would be so astronomical today. Those are all real people playing the crowd scenes, not computer generated images such as we see today in films like "Star Wars Phantom Menace" and "Titanic." For their time, the special effects in "Ten Commandments" were spectacular, and the parting of the Red Sea is still very impressive (I read somewhere that they did it with Jello!) Plus, the music is absolutely magnificent (see my review of the soundtrack CD). Now, having sung its praises as classic cinema, I must point out that this film is really more Christian than Jewish, even though the Exodus story is originally Jewish and remains the central theme of the Passover celebration. Jews and Christians (as well as Muslims and Baha'is) share the story of Moses, but their imagery is often quite different. Among other things, all the main characters in this movie are played by lily-white Caucasian actors, whereas the real Moses and his family were probably dark-skinned. In 1952, however, that was not the Hollywood standard of beauty for movie stars. Cecil B. DeMille started his career directing silent films, where melodramatic body postures and facial expressions, rather than spoken dialogue, were used to convey the action. He continued to use the same visual techniques here, with carefully-posed scenes that reflect biblical illustrations from the great religious painters like Rembrandt and Reubens. The result is a movie that looks just like the pictures in your Sunday school lessons -- if you're a Christian, that is. From a Jewish POV, the movie has quite a few anachronisms. For example, most Jews would not portray Moses as bare-headed after he received the Ten Commandments on the mountain, because Jews cover their heads during prayer. How much more so would Moses have covered his head when actually speaking with God! But Christians do portray Jesus and other holy men with bare heads, so that image of Moses was used here, too. Also, the way that Heston delivers his lines is reminiscent of a pulpit minister preaching the Gospel, rather than the way a rabbi (Jewish clergyman) speaks to his congregation. Ditto for many of the dramatic poses that Heston strikes. It made for good drama in a mode familiar to A ZZZZZ.jpg Buy The Ten Commandments at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Ten Commandments Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Ten Commandments This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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