Spellbinding. . .

Okay. I admit it. Watching this Biblical epic, when it was a mainstay on ABC each Easter evening for some 30 years, I practically had the whole script memorized. . .even knew when Anne Baxter, as over-eager Nefretiri, would slide into a wickedly wonderful pattern of over-acting. ("Moses. . ." she would coo, "take me in your arms. . .") I must have seen THE TEN COMMANDMENTS dozens of times, and yet, each year, I plopped my carcass on the couch on Easter evening, popcorn and suds in tow, and watched Cecil B. DeMille's 4-plus hour epic, completely mesmerized and entertained.

All of us know the story: a once-great Egyptian prince leads his true people, the Hebrews, into freedom from four centuries of slavery and bondage. It is a great story, as four books of the Old Testament aptly, well, attest. Yet what makes this flick truly wonderful, impressive, and fun to watch, is the scope and grand scale of DeMille's 1956 epic--from the awesome vistas of Egypt, portrayed on a blue screen in some Hollywood studio, to the blatantly corny, often laughable, dialogue and actions of its characters (a distant reflection of the silent film icon who dominates this picture). Accordingly, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, in particular, this DVD Special Collector's Edition, is an absolute blast for film buffs thirsty for more trivia and knowledge regarding one of Hollywood's alltime classics.

Here, in the wonderful commentaries that accompany the film, "The Ten Commandments" student and author Katherine Orrison furnishes an incredible, interesting, and overwhelming avalanche of information. For instance: Did you know that DeMille's first choice for Queen Nefretiri was not Anne Baxter, but Audrey Hepburn? Yet, unfortunately, Hepburn lacked the figure to fill out the silk gowns so prevalent for her character, so Baxter got the nod. And. . .William Holden, not Yul Brynner, was pegged to play Rameses. . .yet Bill didn't want to have his head shaved, while Brynner was an international star following his clean-shaven skullcap in the "King And I." Brynner looked "Egyptian"; he got the part, Holden was dispatched.

And I loved the "diaper pen" disclosure of infant Fraser Heston, who, of course, is Charlton Heston's son, and who played the baby Moses. I've watched this movie, again, dozens of times, but I never noticed the glistening diaper pen on sturdy Fraser's diaper, as the baby laid in his willowy basket, until a giggling Orrison brought it to my attention. Yep, there it is; yet DeMille was on a tight schedule. No time to go back and correct.

In fact, I did not realize that DeMille, 75 when this film was made, suffered a devastating heart attack during production--a setback that threatened to bring the entire project to its knees, before his ambitious daughter filled in for her father, for three short days, before DeMille returned to navigate THE TEN COMMANDMENTS to its historical conclusion. This is good stuff, and Orrison furnishes minute details of just about everything in spellbinding fashion.

So, although Chuck and the gang no longer dominate ABC entertainment on Easter evenings, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS still dominates the hallowed tier of epic lexicons. This movie, after some 50 years, continues to uplift and entertain; and this collector's edition, with its objective grasp of the facts, merely enhances the viewing experience.
--D. Mikels, Author, WALK-ON

Alot of performances deserved an Oscar.

This is one of those nearly flawless movies that come along every once in a blue moon. I've had a love affair with this movie since watching it for the first time on Easter Sunday, 1979. It's number 4 on my list of all time favorite movies. I say nearly perfect as DeMille took a little bit too much creative license when doing this movie. Moses in the movie is awestruck, but seems raring to go when faced with the Burning Bush, but in reality Moses didn't want this assignment, and was trying to bargin with God to send someone else, in the movie it shows Moses married only to one wife, but there's some notations in the Bible that this wasn't true. Dathan is in this picture, but in reality he wasn't mentioned until the book of Numbers, and finally the real biggie is where when Moses kills Baca in the movie he's brought before Pharoah then exiled, but in the Bible he runs away to the desert of Midian. Anyway, now that I've nitpicked some here I still say it's a wonderfully made film where just about everyone and anyone was in this picture. Of course Charlton Heston never looked so majestic before, or after for that matter, Vincent Price in one of his more villianous roles as Baca, one who I feel should've been nominated for an Oscar, and that was Edward G. Robinson for his portrayal of Dathan, but of course Edward is one of my favorite actors, but here he really hoofed it up. Then there's Yul Brenner as Ramasees, and Anne Baxter as Nefreteri, and don't forget the special effects, and wonderful direction, and narration by DeMille himself, so it really is one of Hollywood's masterpieces, and will never be duplicated, or remade to be this majestic ever again. It's inspiring to watch many times over and over again.

Excellent DVD Transfer

This is not a review of this film, as it is completely familiar to almost everyone. However, I highly recommend this DVD for its quality. I have owned three different VHS versions of this film and a laser disc edition. This DVD transfer is, by far, the best ever offered to the public. The image is sharp and
well defined and the sound is first rate. One minor flaw is that the "entr'act" music is not in stereo. When viewed on my computer screen, the image is the the widest I have ever seen of the VistaVision film offering the most complete frame image I have ever seen of this film on video.

One final note, the commentary track by an author who wrote a most inadequate book on the making of The Ten Commandments, is
filled with errors, lacks commentary during scenes that cry out for it and contains comments unrelated to the scenes being shown. Other than that I highly recommend this DVD.

Matt