Lent Reviews Week 4: The Ten Commandments (1956)

     The Ten Commandments was released on October 5th, 1956. It is directed by Cecil B. DeMille and written by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss and Fredric M. Frank. It tells the story of Moses (Charlton Heston) from the book of Exodus, beginning with his birth and ending with God's giving him the covenant on Mount Sinai.

      The Ten Commandments is so ingrained in the American pop culture consciousness that reviewing it is almost a futile exercise at this point. But, having set out to review religious films every lent, I knew I'd have to tackle it sooner or later. Most of my readers are probably already familiar with Heston and Brynner's larger-then-life portrayal of Moses and Rameses, with DeMille's penchant for pageantry and spectacle and with the film's questionable fidelity to biblical and historical texts. Of course, almost everyone knows the basic story. The baby Moses is hidden in the Nile to escape the wrath of Pharaoh but is found by the monarch's daughter who raises him as her own son. After learning of his true heritage Moses is forced to flee Egypt when he kills the overseer. In the desert he encounters God, speaking through the burning bush, who tells him to return and free his people from bondage. Moses and his brother Aaron confront Pharaoh, there are nine plagues, and eventually Pharaoh allows the Israelites to leave Egypt.

     DeMille's film focuses on three characters: Moses, his cousin Rameses (Yul Brynner) and the Egytptian princess, Nefretiri (Anne Baxter). Moses and Nefretiri are in love with each other, but Rameses wants both the Princess and the throne of Egypt and he sees Moses as a rival. Rameses father, Sethi (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) favors Moses for the throne, as he is the more level headed and fair minded of the two men. This is displayed in the movie by contrasting the strategies Moses and Rameses use to build Sethi's great city. In order to thwart Moses, Rameses persuades Sethi to have his cousin oversee the building of a new city in honor of the Pharaoh's jubilee, a task that Rameses has struggled with due to the intractability of the Hebrew slaves. But Moses succeeds where Rameses failed by treating the slaves with dignity (as much as that's possible for a slave) and winning their respect.

     Despite this, Moses is doomed to fail. When his mother's servant, Memnet (Judith Anderson), attempts to reveal his true origins as a Hebrew slave, Nefretiri kills her to silence her. When Moses finds out he rejects his Egyptian upbringing and joins his Hebrew brothers as a slave, though he does not reveal his true identity to them. His true identity is eventually found out by Rameses when Moses kills the overseer, Baka (Vincent Price), to save Joshua (John Derek), a Hebrew stone-cutter, from death. Sethi, on learning of his sister's long deception and of Moses true origin, asks him if he is their promised deliverer. Claiming that he would deliver them from bondage if he had the power, Moses is banished from Egypt and Rameses becomes the new Pharoah.

     While Moses and Rameses are placed in contrast as examples of good and bad leadership, Nefretiri is caught between the two men. Her desire for Moses is slowly revealed to be an unhealthy one. First, when she kills Memnet to keep her from revealing Moses origin, thereby keeping him off the throne and out of her reach, we see how far she is willing to go to keep Moses by her side. When Moses returns from the desert with a newfound faith and devotion to God he rejects her. This turns her love for him into spite and she manipulates Rameses, now her husband, into rejecting Moses request to let his people go. Even then, however, she still hopes that Moses holds a place in his heart for her, refusing to believe that her son will die as Moses warns. When he is killed by the angel of God on the night of Passover, her feelings toward Moses turn to bitterness and hatred. When Rameses relents and lets the Hebrews go she once again "hardens his heart" persuading him to pursue them with his chariots.

     This idea, that God uses Nefretiri to harden the heart of Pharoah, is one of The Ten Commandments more novel interpretations of the scriptural story. Quoting (or rather paraphrasing) scripture the narration announces that "again, pharaoh's, heart was hardened" right before she convinces him to take his chariots and pursue the Israelites. DeMille takes many liberties with scripture, chiefly, his "Americanization" of the Exodus story. As he queries in his opening introduction, "Are men the property of the state?" "Or are they free souls under God?" This, he says, is the theme of the movie. He and the writers have, essentially, refocused the exodus story. Here, it is not so much about God delivering his chosen people from bondage, foreshadowing the spiritual liberation Christ would later bring about, but rather it shows the conflict between Moses and Pharaoh as one between a dictator and his enslaved people. In 1950's America, with cold war hysteria at a fever pitch, the parallels between this and America's fight against international communism must have been obvious.

     There's a subplot involving the romance between the stone-cutter and later the lieutenant of Moses, Joshua (John Derek) and Lilia (Debra Paget). Their love for each other is thwarted by the cowardly Egyptian collaborator Dathan (Edward G. Robinson) and the overseer Baka, both of whom  lust for Lilia themselves. Joshua is saved from death by Moses when he is caught trying to save Lilia from Baka's advances. When Dathan witnesses this, he informs Rameses, who has Moses arrested and awards Dathan with the Governership of Goshen. Dathan uses his new found power to pressure Lilia into becoming his mistress, threatening to have Joshua executed if she refuses. When the Hebrews are freed from bondage, Dathan is forced to go with them as Joshua has placed the blood of a lamb on his door to protect Lilia from the angel's wrath. Dathan plots to turn the Hebrews against Moses and persuade them to return to Egypt. It is he who pressures Aaron to make the golden calf while Moses is on Mount Horeb, hoping to present it to Rameses as a gift. He also wants to sacrifice Lilia to the calf. In this way DeMille connects the giving of the Ten Commandments with plot threads from earlier in the film. Otherwise it would feel out of place after so much focus on the conflict between Moses and Rameses.

     DeMille's direction is fairly restrained, using close-ups and camera movement very sparingly. He was an old school director and his visual style, preferring sweeping vistas and painterly wide shots to more intimate closeups, evolved little since his early silent pictures. This style is complemented by the films vibrant production design. From the ostentatious garb of the Pharoah and the royal family to the exotic clothing of the Ethiopians who come to pay tribute to Ceaser, the wardrobe department really outdid themselves for this film. Similarly the sets are magnificent, bringing Ancient Egypt to life. The groundbreaking special effects add to the film's visual power. Some of the blue screen effects no longer hold up but the nine plagues are wonderfully realized, especially the Nile turning to blood. The film's centerpiece, the parting of the Red Sea, is absolutely breathtaking. Combining actual footage of the Red Sea with special effects shots done on the Paramount backlot, the sequence is considered the most difficult special effects ever done up to that point. Elmer Bernstien's bombastic score is not one of his best but its quite good none-the-less and certainly fits the over-the-top nature of the material.

     The performances, like Demille's direction, are decidedly old school and would feel right at home in a silent film. Charlton Heston, who reminded DeMille of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, was born to play the part. His commanding voice and physical presence are brought to full bear to bring the patriarch to life. Early on, his character is not unlike those he would later play in films like Ben-Hur and El Cid, a just, honorable man in a corrupt and unjust world. After receiving the vision of God in the desert he changes, both physically and emotionally. Aging many years and growing a long grey beard, he is the Sunday school image of Moses brought to life. His personality too becomes unbending, as he takes up God's call with a fiery determination. Yul Brynner's Rameses is more subdued. Cold, calculating and absolutely sure of himself at the beginning of the film, we slowly watch the man break as his world crumbles around him. Brynner and Heston have great chemistry together and the two character's disdain for each other bleeds off the screen. Anne Baxter is also perfectly cast as the shrewd, manipulative Nefretiri. Caught between two acting legends she holds her own as the woman who seems to inadvertently bring about God's vengeance on Egypt.

     The supporting cast is equally strong. Sir Cedric Hardwicke brings a tragic quality to Sethi, the Pharaoh who sees his house torn asunder. Nina Foch as Bithiah, the women whose compassion and genuine desire for a child starts Moses on his path, is quite good, bringing a vulnerability and also a quiet dignity to the role. Judith Anderson's Memnet, on the other hand, is filled with bitterness and spite, she can't stand the fact that a slave like her might ascend the throne of Egypt. Martha Scott is heartrending as Yoshebel, the mother who gives up her son out of love for him. Edward G. Robinson and Vincent Price are their usual slimy, despicable selves as Baka and Dathan. Yvonne De Carlo brings a quiet contrast to Baxter's over-the-top performance, winning Moses heart through her sense of self worth and dutifully following along once he sets out on his holy quest. John Derek brings an almost swashbuckling quality to Joshua, the brash, rebellious Hebrew slave who becomes Moses friend and follower. Debra Paget's Lillia and John Carrdine's Aaron are somewhat lost among all the other characters, but that's to be expected in a huge epic like this.

     The film is not without its flaws. The Sunday school nature of the proceedings clashes with DeMille's predilection for lust and pageantry. The film almost revels in Ramese's and Nefretiri's spiral of destruction. This, in some ways, is reflected of the contradictions present in Cecile B. DeMille's own life, deeply religious but worldly and adulterous. This may have been alleviated if some of the more pure female characters, like Yoshebel and Sephora, had more prominent roles. As I said before, not all of the special effects hold up. Even compared with other films of the period, the blue screen is often badly composited and animated effects for the pillar of fire and the burning bush are quite fake looking, though in some ways this adds to the storybook quality of the film.

     Despite these flaws (or perhaps, in part, because of them) The Ten Commandments remains an vital piece of film history, the ultimate biblical epic.

Score: 9/10