Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

"THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" A Commentary ... by Martin Quigley In "The Ten Commandments" C. B. DeMille has brought to the screen a production of massive proportions — in theme and execution. It will establish the whole world over not only attendance records but, more importantly, it will bring to vast millions of people as a living reality an understanding of human destiny and purposes without which humanity must inevitably wander aimlessly in a morass of confusion and disappointment. This production is the master-work of a long career of preparation and experience. It is hardly conceivable that it should have come from any source other than C. B. DeMille because probably no other person has been in a position to exert the free and untrammeled hand without which "The Ten Commandments" in its present chcracter and scope could not have been realized. It is a presentation of heroic mold — in characterization, drama, movement and spectacle. It is overwhelming in its histrionic impact. Its three hours and thirty-nine minutes of screen time constitute a vivid and enduring experience. As a motion picture it is in that rcrefied area of the stratosphere of the screen where its companions are exceedingly few. And even in that superlative company it has attributes that give it a very special place and significance. "The Ten Commandments," while being a motion picture attraction, is at the same time something very much more than a motion picture attraction. This unique achievement has been wrought by the sagacious showmanship of DeMille, who set out to bring to mankind that message which transcends all others in its significance: It is that mankind faces inexorably the alternative of a good life under the laws of God or tyranny and oppression. Lest anyone jump to the conclusion that "The Ten Commandments" is a preach ment, he is to be reminded that despite whatever ultimate purpose and intentions were in the mind of DeMille in making this picture he is and has been all of his working life a showman — a showman superlatively equipped with an understanding that when the public comes to a theatre it is seeking to be interested and entertained. His newest production is no less an exemplification of this kind of showmanship than those that have gone before. This production comprises a notable inventory of dramatic and pictorial values. An impressive list of personalities find themselves in an arena of competition which summons them to give the best they have. Intimate and poignant scenes are intermingled with broad and awesome sweeps of action and spectacle. It is, on the whole, a production which in all of the elements of popular entertainment may only rightly be discussed in superlatives. rushes and adopts him as a Pharaoh’s son, a fact known only by Judith Anderson, as the embittered servant; John Derek, as Joshua, who stood by Moses’ side in the deliverance, offering the strong right hand of reality to Moses’ visionary leadership; John Carradine, as Aaron, Moses’ brother; Debra Paget, as Lilia, pawn of Dathan, who sacrifices herself that Joshua may live; Vincent Price, as the master-builder for Pharaoh, heartless, vicious; Martha Scott, as Moses’ real mother; Olive Deering, as Moses’ sister. The listing could, and should, go on, down to the bit played emotionally during the exodus by H. B. Warner of warm memory. All merit praise. With occasional moments of narrative which are delivered in the sure, strong voice of DeMille and which serve to tie together some threads which otherwise might go astray in this vast tapestry, the chronicle opens with the decree of the first Rameses that the first born of the Children of Israel shall perish by the sword of his soldiers. To save him, a child’s mother sets him adrift on the Nile in a covered basket, while his sister watches. The basket drifts to the feet of the Pharaoh’s daughter, she takes it as her own, seeing in it an answer to her own widow’s sorrow. She names the child Moses. The story moves now to the young manhood of Moses, Prince of Egypt, and favored of Sethi, the Pharaoh, even over the latter’s real son, Rameses. And here is told in magnificent picturization, and splendid color, the story of the Hebrew slaves, who toil to death to build by hand the treasure city which Pharaoh desires. Rameses cannot succeed in the building, since his inhuman treatment brings death, not work, but Moses succeeds despite Rameses’ attempt to mark him a traitor in the eyes of his father. But eventually Moses’ true origin is revealed, first by Nefretiri, from whom Moses forces the truth, then to the court, by Rameses, after the treacherous Dathan has used the accidentally-won knowledge to make himself governor over Goshen, where the Hebrew slaves toil. So Rameses sets Moses out on the desert to die, rather than make him a martyr to Nefretiri’s love. Then begins the wandering of Moses, seeking the word of God, now feeling he is the “deliverer” for whom the slaves have long prayed. He comes to the well of Jethro, a sheik, and among his seven daughters he finds Sephora, whom he marries. She tells him that the mountain high above their pasture, Mount Sinai, is the Holy Tabernacle of their God of Abraham. When Joshua, escaped from the mines, finds him, what he had sought to forget returns, and Moses climbs to the mountain top, where the voice of God, in his mind’s ear, comes to him, urging his direction. From that point is told the story of Moses’ titanic struggle with Rameses, now Pharaoh, for the deliverance of the People of Israel. Moses’ ringing cry: “Let my People go!” is answered with scorn and oppression by Rameses. It is a struggle of might and right, a struggle of the oppressed and the oppressor, but through the hand of Moses, God .brings down upon the Egyptians the plagues of which the Scriptures speak. But Nefretiri, incensed as Moses spurns her, hardens Rameses in his arrogant, stubborn refusal to accede, until the first born of the Egyptians are smitten in the night, and with them the Pharaoh’s son. Seeking to save the child, Rameses lets the Hrebrews go, but when the boy dies, he calls for his soldiers and goes in headlong pursuit, vowing vengeance. And here are two of the outstanding scenes of motion picture history, first the marshalling of the great horde of slaves as they prepare to make their exodus, and seen as they stream across the desert, and then the parting of the Red Sea as the pursuing chariots are halted by a pillar of fire, while the slaves pass through. Here is a triumph of motion picture technical achievement, which must draw gasps from any audience. And as the chariots resume the pursuit, the sea closes over them and Rameses, watching from the far shore, knows he is beaten. The freed slaves, when Moses does not return from Mount Sinai, where he had gone to seek God’s word, corrupted by Dathan, make a golden calf which is their idol, forsake God and Moses and are goaded into wild and sinful revelry, with ( Continued on jollowing page) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 6, 1956 19