The Ten Commandments (1956)
For his last film director Cecil B. DeMille directed a partial remake of his own earlier silent film of the same name which this time stars Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter. Moses grows up an Egyptian prince but finds out he is a Hebrew and is then charged with freeing his people from slavery by God.
Everything about this film encapsulates the word epic, from the cast of thousands, scope of the piece to the near 4 hour run time. The special effects still hold up for a large part with is very impressive given the limited technology and the integral part they play to the film. Some of the early sequences involving the building of the Egyptian city are especially impressive. About the only downside to the production of the film is that some of the acting is a little hammy, especially from Anne Baxter.
When it comes to the subject matter what you get here is a biblical story rather than maybe a more polished piece of entertainment. The narrative takes a meandering path that is not based solely on the bible but also on other sources such as information from the Qur'an. This is clearly an amazing achievement in film making but the content is not necessarily to everyone’s taste.
4/5
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