STUFF YOU GOTTA WATCH - The Ten Commandments (1956)

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

(1956)
With Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne DeCarlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, John Carradine,
Directed by Cecille B. DeMille
Reviewed by JB

When movie fans think of Biblical epics, it is most often THE TEN COMMANDMENTS which they are really thinking of. Producer-Director Cecille B. DeMille's final and most successful film, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS was the culmination of a 42-year career behind the camea. Hugely successful in its time and still much beloved today, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is a curious mixture of epic wonder and stagebound melodrama.

Aside from its colorful spectacle and special effects, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS' greatest strength lies in its cast. The parade of stars is headed by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, two gentlemen who could recite Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" and make you believe you were listening to Shakespeare. Charlton Heston became Moses for years in the eyes of the public, while Yul Brynner has one of his most famous roles in Rameses, the Egyptian pharoah who refuses to free the Jewish slaves despite Moses's many pleadings, threats and God-created plagues. Despite the sometimes overwrought dialogue, it is hard to fault anybody in the cast, even if they approach the material with reverence that sometimes borders on camp.

Special effects have advanced over the years, so THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, like THE WIZARD OF OZ and the original KING KONG, is one of those films that is fun to watch to see the way Hollywood used to tackle sticky problems like how to part the Red Sea or have staffs turned into serpents. Overall, the effects Even Edward G. Robinson, whose performance became something of a joke many years later thanks to an amusing Billy Crystal routine ("Where's your Moses NOOOOW?"), does fine work as Dathan, a Jewto go free. from Egypt.It is impossible to think of BEN-HUR without thinking of Charlton Heston. Yet Heston was a last-minute thought by director William Wyler, who had worked with the actor previously on THE BIG COUNTRY. With a face and physique that could have been carved by Michaelangelo himself, an uncanny knack for composing his body inside of a film frame as carefully as a director would compose every other element, and an authoritative voice and vocal cadence that made every word from his mouth sound important, Heston was perhaps the only actor who could star in a film featuring over 300 sets and thousands of extras and not be dwarfed by all the spectacle. The character of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince whose heart is filled with hate and vengeance, is one of the signature roles for which Heston will always be remembered.

BEN-HUR is best known for its chariot race, believed by many to be the greatest action sequence of all time. Heston and co-star Stephen Boyd spent months learning how to drive chariots, thankfully doing away with the need for process work and back-projection. The scene, nearly twenty minutes long, certainly set a new standard for action sequences, and features several heart-stopping stunts performed by almost undetectable doubles and dummies. However, It should be noted that the 1959 chariot race owes a lot to the original 1925 film directed by Fred Niblo.

Heston is supported by a superb cast, including Stephen Boyd as Messala, Judah's childhood friend who imprisons most of the Hur family on false charges, Hugh Griffith as gambling Arab Shiel Ilderim who backs Judah in the chariot race, and Haya Harareet as Esther, Judah's long-suffering yet ever-faithful wife.

The film was made at a time when reverence for Jesus Christ was a given in Hollywood (times have changed), but the film tones down the element of Conversion found in the original book by General Lee Wallace, as well as in the earlier stage and film versions of the tale. Yet the redeeming power of Christ is still an essential theme. The film begins with a pre-credit sequence depicting the birth of Christ, and throughout the film, Judah Ben-Hur has several contacts with Christ figure, whose face is never shown. At the same time, although the film is subtitled A Tale of the Christ, Christ Himself appears only a handful of times in three and a half hours. The main story is driven by the history and politics of the era in which Christ lived, and centers on Judah Ben-Hur's quest to remain alive long enough to exact vengeance on his boyhood friend Messala, now a Roman tribune. It is Christ's crucifixion, however, and His dying words on the cross, that finally drive the hatred out of Judah Ben-Hur's heart.

Portentious in every sense of the word, occasionally stilted, and overtly reverent as all good Biblical epics should be (helped by an outstanding score by Miklos Rozsa), BEN-HUR remains a superb, impressive film and one of the screen's greatest epics. ½ - JB

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ADD ANOTHER QUOTE AND MAKE IT A GALLON

"Behold His mighty hand!"

THE ACTOR'S BIBLE

Several actors from BEN-HUR are associated with other classic Biblical epics. Charlton Heston, of course, played Moses three years earlier in Cecille B. DeMille's overblown THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and would go on to play John the Baptist is 1965's THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.. Martha Scott, who plays Judah Ben-Hur's mother in this film, also played Moses's mother in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. And Frank Thring's portrayal of Pontius Pilate was merely a runup for his more memorable turn as King Herod in 1961's KING OF KINGS.