I have to admit, before watching this DVD, I had never watched more than 10-20
minutes of The Ten Commandments. It’s on once or twice
a year, and despite this fact, I still hadn’t watched it. I had always
meant to, but sitting through a 220 minute film has never been that appealing
to me. So, after a few days of passing out during it, I finally built up my
stamina and watched the whole epic film in all its glory, non-stop.
The film opens with the saying of a prophecy, that one person, a “deliverer,”
will lead the Hebrew people to freedom from slavery and into the “promised
land.” With this being said, the Pharaoh of Egypt sends out his men to
kill all of the newly born boys in the city. Unfortunately, one mother is smart
and puts her child into a basket, sailing it down the river in hopes her son
will be spared. He gets picked up by the Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah (Nina
Foch), and is taken in as her son. This is the beginning of the main character,
Moses’ (Charlton Heston), life.
He is raised as a Prince of Egypt, and we are directly taken to a time in
his 30's. He, and his adopted brother Ramses (Yul Brynner), are set to be chosen
to take over as Pharaoh when the current one passes on to the next life. The
one who does would also take the Pharaoh’s daughter, Nefretiri (Anne Baxter),
as the new Queen and their wife. A bit of a love triangle emerges briefly here,
as Nefretiri and Moses both love each other, but Ramses also longs for Nefretiri.
As the movie progresses, the fact that Moses is really a Hebrew rears it’s
head and changes everyone’s lives. Nefretiri commits murder against the
maid who told her, Moses does not know what to do with himself, Bithiah is in
risk of being exposed for allowing him into the kingdom and Ramses is poised
to take over as Pharaoh. Through another murder, Ramses learns of Moses’
real ethnicity and takes him in shackles to the current Pharaoh. He is obviously
deeply distressed with this new development, and banishes Bithiah and sets Ramses
as the new Pharaoh as well as allowing him to do as he pleases to Moses. With
this new power, Ramses exiles Moses to die in the desert.
That’s about the first hour and a half of the film, and just going over
the rest would be spoiling key plot points and events in the film. The art direction,
cinematography and score are just beautiful in the film. It makes you think
you are really in early Egypt and not just watching a movie. The performances
are all very good as well, but unfortunately, the supporting cast really outshines
Charlton Heston. Yul Brynner is said by many to have been “born to play
Ramses,” and it shows here. He is absolutely perfect in the role and is
the true standout in this epic film. Another one that comes close is Anne Baxter
as Nefretiri. Her evolvement throughout the entire film from a sweetheart to
a cold-hearted monster is really well played out.
The only bad thing to be said about the film is it’s running time. 3
hours and 40 minutes is a bit much on any movie, even with intermissions and
2-minute score clips. If they had curbed it down just a bit, maybe cut out a
bit of extra material that isn’t useful much later on, or just cutting
down the length of certain scenes, it would make for a much stronger picture.
Despite being almost 50 years old, the film looks and sounds very good. The
transfer is quite sharp looking, although it doesn’t look all too great
during scenes involving special effects. There’s a bit of grain here and
there during other scenes as well, but it isn’t particularly noticeable
unless you are intentionally looking for it. The sound holds up quite well in
almost all of the scenes, only faulting in scenes with God where the voice seems
to go much lower than the rest of the sound.
This Special Collector’s Edition comes as a 2-disc set, with a very
crappy packaging design. The discs overlap each other, and require force to
be taken out of position. There is a full length Audio Commentary by Katherine
Orrison, author of the book, “Written in Stone – Making Cecil B.
DeMille’s Epic, The Ten Commandments”. The track has interesting
insight on the entire production, from casting, to the story, to the special
effects, everything is covered. The only thing bad about it is that at various
points, it gets quite boring and bland in content. Next, there is a 40-minute
documentary that can be viewed all at once, or in 6 part featurettes. “Moses”
focuses specifically on Charlton Heston, and his role in the film. “The
Chosen People” focuses on the supporting characters. “Lord of Pharaohs”
gives us a look at the production of the film in Egypt and some problems that
arose during filming. “The Paramount Lot” shows us the filming done
on the Paramount Lot in Los Angeles. “The Score” is specifically
on Elmer Bernstein and how he was chosen to compose the score for the film.
The final featurette, “Mr DeMille”, is specifically on the director
himself, and how much of an impact he himself, and the film had on the people
working on it. Each featurette includes recent interviews with cast members
that are still living and some candid footage/photographs from the production
of the film. Also included is the Newsreel of the film’s red carpet gala
premiere, a “Making-of” trailer with mainly just Cecil talking about
the film, and 2 re-release trailers.
Overall the package isn’t too bad. There could have been a few more
extras, but the ones included are very good. As long as you can bear the film’s
run time or already are a previous fan of the film, then this new Special Collector’s
Edition is definitely worth a purchase.
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