The Ten Commandments

Rating:
Summary: Much is dreadful, yet it is entertaining
Review: The acting in this film is beyond terrible, with the characters obviously so in awe of being in the presence of God (whether they are aware or not, since only Moses hears God's voice... a drawl that seems a record recorded at 78 rpm and played back at 33) that each word seems that of ancient folk aware there was a camera on them. Special effects are lavish and bizarre, with the parting of the Red Sea giving the impression that the Almighty, not contented to made death appear as a green infection spreading through the sky, had to constantly top his own showmanship. And one is left to wonder how Moses was passed off as an Egyptian prince, just by his foster mother's assertion that the babe in the basket was a consolation prize from the Nile god.

For anyone who's had even a cursory look at the book of Exodus, the source of this "historical" plot is a puzzlement, and one is left to gather that the Pharaoh's eventual insistence that Moses' name be struck from all records influenced everything down to the sacred scriptures. Though, for the uninitiate, I'll mention that Scripture, in one paragraph, takes one directly from Moses's babyhood to the exile when he (clearly aware he is Hebrew) murders an Egyptian, the DeMille version has the viewer puzzling why Moses joined the slaves and put the Almighty to so much bother when he was clearly about to become the next Pharaoh and could free all in Goshen on his own initiative.

This said, and though there is not one realistic moment in the entire action (except, perhaps, interaction between Vincent Price and Edward G Robinson, who'd seen worse), it remains a fun flick. Nostalgic baby boomers can have a relaxing few hours, remembering when these stock, overacted scriptural dramas seemed both historic and profound. Somehow, the repeated words of each Pharaoh, "So let it be written, so let it be done," never lose their prophetic and ominous quality.

This is a two-popcorn film, to be enjoyed when one is tired of relevance and just wants to relax.

Rating:
Summary: The best motion picture I've ever seen!
Review: This is a great show for people who like drama and visual effects. When I first saw the video, when I was five, I thought it looked boring, but now that I'm studying Moses, and all the things he did, I know that the next time I watch this movie, I will like it. I now am very fond of the story of Moses, and also a fan of the fabulous Yul Bryner, who is Ramses in The Ten Commandments.

Rating:
Summary: "His god IS God!"
Review: That's the last line Yul Brynner utters in "The Ten Commandments", and for me, that is really the end of the film; the whole rest of the Wandering in the Desert isn't all that interesting, compared with what had gone before. You might wonder why then a five-star rating, but that's how much fun I find all the "Egyptian" characters in the movie. They certainly have all the best parts: Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharoah Seti; Yul Brynner as Ramses, heir presumptive; Anne Baxter as Neferteri, the throne princess destined to marry solely a Pharoah; Dame Judith Anderson as the Memnet, Egyptian slave in on a big secret; Vincent Price as Baka, the Master Builder of Seti's treasure city. Throw in Edward G. Robinson as Dathan; even though he's a Hebrew overseer, he spends most of his time among the Egyptians. Star Charlton Heston as Moses is actually kind of boring--he's one-dimensional and has no character development. But every time one of those "Egyptians" comes along on camera--pow!--you've got some wonderful scenery chewing. Check out the great special effects, too.

Rating:
Summary: The Story Of Moses The Ten Commandments!!
Review: Awesome Movie! very powerful film The Ten Commandments is like reading the book of Exodus but watching it instead it's right down to what the Holy Word of God say's, The story of Moses is one of the best Storys in the Bible along with Christ Jesus and King David, The Ten Commandments is perhapes one of the best films i have ever seen, Also the effects that this movie has is awesome for the time it was made it seems like a 1970's Film when it's a 1956, Moses time takes place 1000 years befor Christ was born making it 3000 years ago, The word Exdous means A WAY OUT as Moses leads Israel out of Egypt in too the Holy Mounten Mount Sinai where The Ten Commandments is writen by the Finger of God!, I highly Recommand this movie it's a True Classic 5 Star, Remaber God loves you more then you could ever imagin God Bless.

Rating:
Summary: A great epic film -- in spite of some big bloopers!
Review: 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 American audiences back in the 1950s, but it's not authentically Jewish (or, for that matter, Middle Eastern) body language.

In fact, the only character in the film who seems "Jewish" to the average person's eye is the villain Dathan, played by Edward G. Robinson. Alone of all the Hebrew characters, Dathan speaks with a Yiddish accent and uses some Jewish body language. Problem is, he does it in an offensively stereotyped way. I absolutely cringe every time Dathan whines that "a god of gold will lead us back to Egypt" as he points to the statue like a midway circus barker hawking his wares. This scene evokes everything negative about how Jews are often portrayed in the popular culture (i.e., dishonest, gold-hungry, manipulating, self-serving, etc.), with the result that children watching this film tend to see Dathan as "the Jew" and everyone else as "good Christians," even though ALL the Hebrews in the story -- good guys and bad! -- are Jews. (I should also add that using a Yiddish accent at all is a big anachronism, since the Yiddish language originated during the European Middle Ages, many centuries after Moses.)

There's another major anachronism at the end of the film, too. Moses, just before his death, hands Joshua a BOUND BOOK of God's teachings that looks suspiciously like a King James Bible. Sorry folks, but the Torah (Five Books of Moses) was originally a scroll, not a modern book with bound pages. Bound books were not even invented until around the third century A.D., which is why the Talmud has standardized page numbers, but the Bible does not. (Chapter-and-verse numbers were not added until the Middle Ages.) Jews today still use hand-written Torah scrolls in the synagogue rituals, and the idea of scrolls in general was certainly familiar to most viewers, if only because the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered only four years before this movie and were all over the news. So, it beats me why a scroll was not used in this scene instead of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular
Review: When I was a very small child, my rabbi took the Sunday School class to see this great movie at the local movie theater. As a gullible child, I asked how the movie makers got God to make the Red Sea part again and to actually recarve the Ten Commandments out of stone for the camera. The Rabbi's answer, "God can do anything." Finally, when I was about 30 or so, I developed the concept of special effects and began to understand how it was done. Seriously, the effects in the 21st century seem a little cartoonish but at the time they were spectacular. A great cast recreates the story of Moses delivering his people from slavery in an entertaining manner which is reasonably close to way it is told in the book of Exodus. Please read your Bible carefully, however, because I said "reasonably close" not "meticulously adhered to." There is some license taken. For example, Heston's Moses is a commanding speaker whereas actually, Moses was slow of speech and his brother Aaron was often the spokesman for him.

Another example of license taken is Joshua's prominence in the movie. Actually, Joshua was Moses' successor after 40 years of wondering in the desert. Joshua is included to spice up the story, not to provide historical accuracy.

As to the quality of the dvd, it plays well on a television screen despite the fact that the movie has a cast of thousands. great scenery and spectacular effects. Nontheless, if you ever get the opportunity to se it on the wide screen, do so since that is how the movie is seen in it's fullest glory.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Easter Tradition
Review: "The Ten Commandments" is the Easter movie we look forward to in our family, just as "White Christmas" is the one we wait for in December. I'm not sure why we love this movie so much....the acting ranges from competent (Sir Cedric Hardwicke, in his subtle portrait of the Pharaoh Sethi) to really irritating (Charlton Heston, who takes himself much too seriously in the role of Moses). The script is also horrendous in spots; the most memorable lines are Yul Brynner's deadpan "So let it be written, so let it be done!" and Anne Baxter's overly dramatic, "Oh Moses, Moses! You stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!" But many of the great classic movies have poor acting and weak scripts. This movie is still a lot of fun to watch. Even young Sunday School children are familiar with the story of Moses, and they will perhaps enjoy this film even more than an adult. There is literally a "cast of thousands," gorgeous spectacles, heros, villains (Edward G. Robinson as a corrupt Hebrew overseer is believable!), and some fun special effects. This is a movie I definitely want in my collection of classics!

Rating:
Summary: Under Rated
Review: This biblical film is very under rated, and to me it is at the same stature of Ben-Hur and Spartacus. With the authentic locations and sets this really is a legendary motion picture, for over the years it has captured the hearts of many on it's annual showing on ABC. This is an epic that's worth buying.

Rating:
Summary: Save Yourself...
Review: Horribly acted, written, produced, and filmed; half the time you can here the echo from the sound stages. But that is only a minor criticism as many films from that era were as overacted and poorly filmed as this one. It is the literal interpretations of mythology like those found in this film that perpetrate crimes on humanity, thus proving the axiom: tell the lie enough times and the masses begin to believe it. Normally garbage like this would be laughable, but this is seriously horrifying since so many sheep actually believe this stuff really happened.

Rating:
Summary: Great epic film!
Review: When I heard about this movie I thought I wouldn't like it because it's a long movie. I hate long movies and the only long movie that I liked before I saw this was Saving Private Ryan. But when I saw this movie I enjoyed every minute of it. It's an important movie to watch. It comes on ABC every year on Palm Sunday so don't miss it. Yeah, as I said it is a long movie but you would learn about what Moses did in his life. There's also a cartoon movie that came out a year ago it's called The Prince of Egypt and it's similar to this but not as long as this movie.