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about 1 month ago

The Ten Commandments

a review by CinemaSerf

Until very recently, I had never actually made it all the way through this Cecil B. De Mille marathon. It is a glorious piece of cinema but no amount of beautiful colour and costumes can detract from what is really rather a staid, over-egged production. Sir Cedric Hardwicke helps open the proceedings as Seti, but once he has gone the film loses much of it's class and just becomes a vehicle for Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner to play Moses and Ramses as this overly scripted tale of frail brotherly love becomes enmity and ultimately open hostility. Edward G. Robinson and Vincent Price present us with a bit of menace; the special effects are cleverly applied - giving the plagues an extra bit of potency and Elmer Bernstein provides a strong score but basically this is just one long story more of biblical, than, epic proportions.