Wow! Such a good movie.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Like a handful of reviewers here, I first encountered "The Ten Commandments" in the theater on a parochial school class trip to the movies. As a Catholic, we had already been instructed on the life of Moses and how he rose to prominence to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and slavery. As a kid, I would have been eight or nine years old at the time, and was looking forward to seeing how the baby Moses was found floating in the river, and how the adult Moses turned his staff into a snake. It goes without saying that the burning bush scene and parting of the Red Sea had to be in the picture as well. I recall some disappointment that there were no plagues of frogs or locusts on screen, but after all, the film ran over three and a half hours as it is.Watching the movie the other night brought back a lot of those reminiscences, and I was pretty amazed at how colorful and full of pageantry the picture was. The cast of thousands was indeed a cast of thousands, epic in scope of course, and one of those reminders that 'they just don't make 'em like that any more'. But with an adult eye, some of the film's glaring downsides are more than noticeable. Like the stilted dialog that hearkens all the way back to the birth of talkie films, and the wooden performances of characters portrayed by the likes of John Derek (Joshua), Vincent Price (Baka) and John Carradine (Aaron). I also had to laugh during that scene when Sephora (Yvonne De Carlo) and her sisters met Moses (Charlton Heston) for the first time. The goo-goo eyes directed at Heston were embarrassingly anachronistic even for the 1950's; why director Cecil B. DeMille allowed that to stand I'll never know.But the story pretty much kept faith with the Biblical version of Moses, and gives a good accounting of his break with the Pharaoh and the wandering in the desert on the way to Sinai. Upon studying the opening credits, I had my eyes open for appearances of unlikely actors like Mike (Touch) Connors and Clint Walker but they apparently weren't sharp enough. It's my understanding that Walker got his 'Cheyenne' gig on the basis of his appearance in this film. It was easy to catch Woodrow 'Woody' Strode though as the Ethiopian King bearing gifts for Rameses I (Cedric Hardwicke). And what can you say about Edward G. Robinson? On paper, his casting in a Biblical epic seems rather mindless, but by the time Moses' followers languished in the desert, he really hit stride trying to undermine the whole enterprise. And for cinema fans, the coup de grace of course is the parting of The Red Sea in all it's pre-CGI glory. I read about how DeMille did it once, using combined footage of the Red Sea with scenes from the Paramount backlot using a huge water tank split by a U-shaped trough. It was the most difficult special effect ever to be attempted at that time, and to it's credit, is still impressive to watch today. It's got 'how did they do that' written all over it.

"The Ten Commandments" was Producer/Director Cecil B. DeMille"s 80th and final film in the Director's chair. In a career that began in 1914 with "The Squaw Man", this was arguably his best film. It tells the biblical story of Moses with all the spectacle and glamour one could expect. The special effects, including the parting of the Red Sea are legendary. The film runs almost four hours and is divided into two main parts.The first part deals with Moses' life as an Egyptian prince and ends with his first encounter with God on the Mount Sinai. An edict issued by Rameses I (Ian Keith) decreed that all first born Hebrew children were to be slain in order to kill the promised deliverer of the Hebrew people. Moses is saved by his mother Yochabel (Martha Scott) who places him in a basket and sets it afloat in the Nile. Egyptian princess Bithiah (Nina Foch), the daughter of the Pharaoh saves the Hebrew baby, names him Moses and takes him as her own swearing her sinister servant Memnet (Judith Anderson) to secrecy.Moses grows to be Charlton Heston having distinguished himself in battle and winning the favor of the new Pharaoh, Sethi (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) over his natural son Rameses (Yul Brynner). Both men seek the favor of Princess Nefretiri (Anne Baxter) who is to marry the next Pharaoh. When Moses builds Sethi's new city and gains further influence with Sethi, Memmnet decides to expose Moses as a Hebrew. Nefretiri intercedes and kills the old servant but leaves Moses' swaddling blanket in full view. Moses discovers his heritage and renounces his privileged position. Rameses is now the new Pharaoh as Rameses II and banishes Moses to the desert.Moses manages to cross the desert and comes upon the camp of the shepherd Jethro (Eduard Franz) and his seven daughters one of whom, Sephora (Yvonne DeCarlo) Moses marries and with whom he has a son. Life goes on until Moses is drawn to Mount Sinai where he encounters a burning bush through which God directs Moses to return to Egypt and free his people.Part 2 of the story follows Moses' efforts to free his people. To do so, He causes the Nile river to turn red, brings several plagues upon the Egyptians and finally causing the first born of every Egyptian family, including Rameses II' s own son to die. Moses and his people are released from bondage and begin the pilgrimage to the Promised Land. However, Rameses decides to send his chariots after the group to slay them. But following the celebrated parting of the Red Sea, they are swallowed up and drown. Rameses then decides to let the Hebrews go their way even though Nefretiri maintains her love for Moses.When Moses and the Hebrews reach Mount Sinai, Moses goes up the mountain for 40 days and nights to await God's further direction. Meanwhile the slimy Dathan (Edward G. Robinson) fires up the crowd convincing them that Moses has abandoned them. With the help of Moses' brother Aaron (John Carradine). they build a golden cow as a false god. Moses is meantime receiving the ten commandments of God from the master. Moses decends the mountain and is furious when he sees the Golden Calf and all the sinful activity around it. He loses it and....................................................................................................This film made star Charlton Heston a major star and cemented his career as a biblical/ middle ages type leader. Brynner is excellent as Rameses and conveys a certain regal quality in his role . Robinson is good as the evil Dathan who takes the young Lilia (Debra Paget) unto himself in order to free Joshua (John Derek) from death. Anne Baxter is suitably seductive as Nefratiri.Other notables in the large cast include DeMille regulars Henry Wilcoxen, Julia Faye, Francis McDonald and Olive Deering as well as, Vincent Price as the Master Builder Baka who also covets Lilia, Douglas Dumbrille, Frank DeCova, and John Miljan as the blind man.It is interesting to note that Marsha Scott played Charlton Heston's mother both here and in "Ben-Hur" (1959) while Olive Deering played a character named Miriam both here and in "Samson and Delilah" (1949).

This is a contender for the title of 'Most Overrated Film Of All Time'. It is a blatant propaganda piece attempting to sell outdated morality to the masses. I could go into great detail about the lack of evidence for the existence of 'god' or the fact that he comes across as a mary-sue space fascist, but I won't. I will briefly state that this is why I hate 'historical' (used loosely here) epics, and that this gets all the attention for the year that gave us more enduring classics such as 'the she-creature', 'the mole people', 'the creature walks among us', 'it conquered the world', 'invasion of the body snatchers', 'earth vs the flying saucers', 'x the unknown' or my personal favourite: 'uchūjin tokyo ni arawaru'. 0/10. would not recommend; watch 'cecil. b. demented' instead

I have learned through the years to remit myself to facts. The Ten Commandments has been shown on ABC for almost 35 years .....most of the times beating all the other spectacles shown at the same time . It has become an Easter tradition . And this last year (2017) , it has been seen by 20 % more people than last year . The highest audience in the last seven years ! So .................what does this mean ? Just one thing ...........it is indisputably a movie people loves ........and there must be something to it for this to happen after more than 60 years....... Conclusion , who are we to judge works of art that have endured time ? We may like Ten Commandments better than other movies ,or not , just as we prefer some paintings or sculptures to others ..............but in the long run.............it is the public s acceptance ......and time who decide what is worthy or not. I think we should face reality.............something our opinions cannot change.