THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) As I had both versions in my DVD queue, I thought both had arrived, but no, just the Heston version on 2 discs. A 3 1/2 hour run time made me glad I went the DVD way, rather than streaming, as 1.1x, 1.2x considerably shortened the run time.
Anyway, I recalled E.G. Robinson in the role of Dathan, but was pleasantly surprised Vincent Price had the role of Baka (which in Japanese, means 'fool') the guy in charge of construction, who also was the guy who abuses a Hebrew & is slain by Moses. Robinson's role was expanded to place him in many scenes that occurred before the Exodus, though as I recall, his name was not mentioned until after the crossing. As I understand it, this role made him lifelong friends with Heston, a friendship that endured until his death. Heston's tears were real in that scene in
Soylent Green.
John Carridine was Aaron; for a guy who is best known for silly B-grade horror/science fiction films (other than his most infamous role as R. Heinrich), 2 episodes of TTZ, this was a breath of fresh air. But his distinctive voice could, perhaps should have been the voice of God. He also portrayed a prison guard in a film about Dr. Mudd, who was caught in a torrent of arrests following. Lincoln's assassination. My memories are b-grade sci-fi.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke was the Pharaoh
Sethi, who adopted Moses and considered him his son, along with Ramses (Yul Brynner) . This guy was in few films I have seen. Much of the film's 1st 2 1/2 hours were embellished [is that the right word?], & CBD introduced the 'film' by stating that many of the scenes were from Roman historians, but, I doubt they provided anything anywhere near what was depicted here. I never watched
Gone with the Wind, which, I believe had a similar run-time. Just too long, for me, though TCM showed it more than a few times in the past year. I might try it on DVD, seeing how well this worked for me.
Yul Brynner was Ramses, whose role was greatly expanded/embellished to give him enough time in front of the camera to satisfy his ego. Very dramatic, indeed.
Oh, I was about to [submit] this, without saying anything about Heston! So, at the last minute, I place this here in the middle. Though the main Character, even his role was heavily embellished, his own son as infant Moses; good way to reduce costs, given the cast of thousands! This guy was the
Schwarzenegger / Stallone / big strong tough guy of his time, long before there was an action genre as we now know it. The films actually had plots that were not merely stitched between big action scenes in which the hero has to outdo everything the last guy did in the previous block-buster action film. Along with others, such as
Victor Mature and
Victor McLaglen, though the latter was at his prime during the 1930s, and end of career in the 1950s.
Demille spiced it up with romantic scenes that, in my opinion, should have been brief, if not cut altogether, since this film was about twice as long as most other A-grade films. But, I suppose CBD wanted to give all the big-name stars a good bit of screen-time.
Yvonne De Carlo, whose name I associate only with The Munsters, was Moses' wife. I am sorry, I just am unfamiliar with most other actresses in this film.
For a three and a half hour film titled
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS , it sure took its time getting around to the title scene. Make no mistake, I enjoyed it. I am not saying it should have cut to the chase the way that
MPFC did with
The Death of Mary, Queen of Scots,
!
Clearly, the most impressive scene was crossing the Red sea (or was it the Sea of Reeds?). When I was a Pentecostal, they encouraged us to read the Bible once a year, even gave us a bookmark with check boxes and chapters on it. Started with Gen. 1-3, etc. So, I am rather familiar with the Bible, after 20 years or so in that Church.
Anyway, now the silent version is at the top of my queue. Not sure I will run the commentary, though it will be interesting.
A great film, even for Agnotstics, such as myself!