The Ten Commandments (1956)

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, John Derek, Debra Paget, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Yvonne De Carlo, Martha Scott, John Carradine, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, Douglas Dumbrille, Olive Deering, Eduard Franz. [G]

Brawny, gargantuan biblical epic from Cecil B. DeMille, as allergic to subtlety and nuance as ever, dramatizing (and altering) the story of Moses and his efforts to free the Hebrew people from enslavement through the will and word of God. Princely ham Charlton Heston is a good choice for this interpretation of Moses, as is Yul Brynner as the stubbornly proud Pharaoh Rameses II, but most other casting choices range from questionable to foolhardy—Edward G. Robinson in an ancient world drama, anyone? Meanwhile, the only thing more embarrassing than lines of dialogue like “Oh, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!” is hearing an actress like Anne Baxter deliver them. It’s as artless a spectacle as DeMille’s earlier megaproductions (or, for that matter, Gone with the Wind), but a spectacle it is, and even at just shy of four hours, there are very few dull stretches. Its storytelling priorities are faulty, however, glancing past most of the plagues, and squeezing the creation of the tablets detailing God’s laws (right there in the title) into what amounts to a dramatic denouement, all so there’d be more room for an overwrought love triangle and lengthy shots of immense Hollywood sets. Some of the action and Oscar-winning special effects sequences, most notably the famous parting of the Red Sea, hold up surprisingly well today as stylized celluloid sorcery. Majestic score by Elmer Bernstein. Woody Strode can be spotted briefly as the Ethiopian king, and baby Moses is played by Heston’s son, Fraser, the future filmmaker. DeMille’s final film; he previously directed a silent film version of the Exodus fable in 1923, but it was a very different storytelling concept.

55/100