Film Review: The Ten Commandments (1956)
Cecil B. DeMille, one of the giants of 20th Century American cinema, is revered not for his groundbreaking work but as one of the founding fathers of Hollywood. Throughout his illustrious career, spanning nearly half a century, he dabbled in different genres with remarkable finesse, consistently showcasing evolving Hollywood technology in spectacular fashion. As his career neared its close, DeMille's penchant for grandiosity manifested in biblical epics, which have since become his most enduring legacy. The last of such films, 1956's The Ten Commandments, stands as the crowning jewel, an opulent testament to the heights of Hollywood craftsmanship.
DeMille drew inspiration for this film from his own work, namely the immensely successful silent epic of the same name released in 1923. While the Exodus served as a prologue to contemporary drama, the 1956 version discarded the modern story and focused solely on its biblical source material, with DeMille incorporating additional material from apocryphal sources and contemporary books authored by Joseph Jolt Ingraham, Arthur Eustace Southon, and Dorothy Clarke Wilson.
The plot of The Ten Commandments is set in Ancient Egypt roughly 3,000 years ago. Ruled by the mighty Pharaoh Rameses I (played by Ian Keith), the country's wealth and splendour are built on the backs of slaves, including the Hebrews who have been in captivity for centuries. They dream of a "Deliverer" who will return them to freedom. Hearing this prophecy, Rameses orders all first-born sons of Hebrew slaves to be killed. Yochabel (played by Martha Scott) saves her son by setting his newborn adrift in a basket on the Nile, which is picked up by Pharaoh's childless daughter Bithiah (played by Nina Foch), who adopts the baby boy as her own and names him Moses.
Years later, Moses (played by Charlton Heston) is a successful general and prince, with a love interest in Princess Nefretiri (played by Anne Baxter). His successes incite resentment from Prince Rameses (played by Yul Brynner), who covets both the throne and Nefretiri's affections. While supervising the building of a new city, Moses accidentally meets his mother and begins to learn about his true identity. He ultimately renounces his status as prince, killing cruel Egyptian overseer Baka (played by Vincent Price) for mistreating his people. As a result, Pharaoh Seti (played by Cedric Hardwicke) proclaims Rameses as sole heir, while Moses is banished to the desert.
After a perilous journey, Moses arrives in the land of Midian, where he meets the nomadic tribe led by Jethro (played by Eduard Franz) and marries Jethro's daughter Sephora (played by Yvonne De Carlo). At the summit of Mount Sinai, Moses hears the word of God instructing him to return to Egypt and command Pharaoh Rameses to free his people.
Comparisons between the 1956 film and its silent predecessor reveal how quickly film technology advanced during that time period. The new version adds not only sound and colour but also a widescreen format, with DeMille opting for the more manageable VistaVision instead of the wider and more "epic" Cinemascope that was becoming popular in Hollywood's 1950s epics. This choice slightly detracts from the film's ability to showcase the might and splendour of Ancient Egypt, especially in the first half, when compared to Land of the Pharaohs made one year earlier.
However, DeMille compensates for this with meticulous production design, props, elaborate sets, locations in Egypt and Mount Sinai, and the use of ten thousand extras provided by the Egyptian military. In the second part of the film, DeMille also employs special effects that were at the top of their game in the mid-1950s, including the famous parting of the Red Sea – one of the most dramatic and best-remembered scenes in the entire film.
The length of The Ten Commandments is another aspect that makes it an epic. At nearly four hours long, much of this can be attributed to a script that attempts to fill gaps left in the Old Testament and portray Moses' early life. This has led to criticism that the film strays from its religious source material and the first part appears less like a religious drama and more like a soap opera. It is only in the second half, which actually depicts Exodus, that the script becomes more focused.
DeMille's efforts have been aided by not-too-memorable but nevertheless strong music score by Elmer Bernstein. However, the work of the cast – particularly Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses – is more important. Heston, who was given the role mainly due to his physical appearance and resemblance to Michelangelo's famous statue of Moses, delivers a strong performance in what would be one of his most iconic roles. Heston, however, later said that he wasn’t completely satisfied with the role and that he would have been much better if he had played Moses while being much older.
Heston also stated that he considered Yul Brynner’s performance much better. Brynner, who had worked very hard to put his body in shape in order to play charismatic villainous ruler, brings complexity and nuance to his portrayal of Rameses, conveying jealousy, arrogance, and ultimately grief. Anne Baxter also shines as Nefretiri, portraying her character's determination and ambition with great skill. The rest of the cast is mainly serviceable, like John Derek as Joshua or Debra Paget who provides something of an eye candy in the role of Lila, Hebrew water carrying slave coveted by film’s villains.
The Ten Commandments was, like its 1923 predecessor, a product of its time and an opportunity for DeMille to espouse his conservative right-wing views. In the 1950s Hollywood was under the shadow of the Cold War, and DeMille, a staunch anti-Communist, made his message very clear in the foreword of the film, describing it as depicting the struggle between liberty, embodied by contemporary West, and despotism, with Pharaonic Egypt obviously standing in for Soviet Communism. Interestingly, DeMille cast Edward G. Robinson, an actor known for his left-wing views and accused of having Communist sympathies, in a prestigious role as villainous Hebrew taskmaster Dathan. In his memoirs, Robinson thanked DeMille for saving him from being blacklisted during the McCarthyist purges, thus allowing him to continue his career.
In the end, it was the film's religious theme that mattered most. While many of Hollywood's biblical epics tried to find the perfect sweet spot between providing escapist spectacular entertainment to audiences on one hand and conforming to the conservative worldview on the other, few succeeded as well as The Ten Commandments. Critics were mostly positive but not too enthusiastic about it. However, it was the audience flocking to theatres years after the premiere that cemented the reputation of the film. It became the biggest commercial success of the 1950s and then the biggest commercial success of all time, only to be dethroned by a re-release of Gone with the Wind a few years later. Although many grand Hollywood epics and summer blockbusters were made in subsequent decades, The Ten Commandments, despite its flaws and limitations, still remains one of the grandest films of all times.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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