The Ten Commandments

Like so many others here, I grew up watching TTC on television as a child and loved it more each time. A sensational film, it is touching, over-the-top-campy, and a wonderful record of a bygone era in Hollywood (and, indeed, America). I watch the film a few times a year and always find something in it I'd missed before. I was thrilled to have gotten these wonderful Blu-ray and DVD copies and have enjoyed the crisp, clear images and improved sound. Not incidental to this, there are many special features to dig into (some are repeats from the earlier DVD release, but interesting, nonetheless).I'd never listened to the feature-length commentary on the DVD before now, and was anticipating enjoying it at last. I was extremely disappointed and not-a-little annoyed by the egregious errors found there. The commentator was Katherine Orrison, a woman who, according to her Amazon.com blurb, has lived a very interesting life. She, too, was discovered TTC at an early age, and eventually grew up to interview people related with the movie. She seems to have been especially interested in Henry Wilcoxon, a Hollywood stalwart and fine actor who played pharaoh Rameses II's (Yul Brenner) captain of the guard in TTC, and, in fact, was a producer of the film, as well. He had a long and successful professional relationship with DeMille. Ms. Orrison gleaned a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes facts from him; she has even written a biography of Wilcoxon).The other cast/crew members Ms. Orrison quotes have their interesting moment, as well, she obviously became buddies with a few of the supernumeraries in TCC. While I'm sure they were nice people, a feature-long identification of these minor (I might say inconsequential) players was a distraction. Yes, it's interesting when she points out her friend who is carried around on a board during the bacchanal scene and who polishes the golden calf with her hair. Once, not over and over. Another of Orisson's fixations was Clint Walker, who plays a palace guard and was evidently much admired by Cecil DeMille, the director, who decorates many of the scenes with this hunky actor who went on to television fame on "Cheyenne". Considering the scope and (successfully achieved) ambition of TCC, one can't help but wonder what other fascinating tidbits never made it to the recording booth.Ms. Orrison is evidently a smart(ish) lady, but her comments are peppered (liberally) with unfortunate mispronunciations and downright misuses of words that all seem to have a few too many syllables for her to manage correctly. These occasions dull the gleam of the remainder of the commentary; I found myself waiting (wincingly) for the next blooper and, sadly, my wait was never a lengthy one. Surely, someone along the discs' production path should have caught and corrected these embarrassing slips.The most frequent mispronunciation of all was her inexcusable insistence on saying "Egyp" for Egypt -- not a final T to be found. And Egypt is mentioned A LOT in the commentary. I dare say even a first grader could clinch this word correctly. At best, these errors were distracting; at worst they were irritants. The commentary smacked of the unfortunate posture of an individual trying to sound smart by using big words and failing consistently and miserably. The TCC release is so professionally honed that the commentator's errors were all the more evident.For me, the worst thorn in the commentary was Ms. Orrison's misuse of her microphone time to preach and lecture the viewer on the religious nature of this movie. Of course, TCC's very essence is religiously-inspired. That is not a problem, and I'm not criticizing that aspect. Throughout the commentary, she offers her trite and uncalled-for personal interpretation of the film's holy tenets. Granted, a comment here or there regarding the miraculous events depicted are not out of bounds, but she prattles on and on about things she should not be including in a commentary for this film. Any respect or appreciation of her efforts diminished with every moment she continued preaching on the soundtrack. Her comments were flatly not appropriate or justified in this case.One would imagine that the world (especially Hollywood) is filled with experts who could have waxed loquaciously on the behind-the-scenes occurrences of TCC. One ends up disappointed that this was not the case. Perhaps, in a future release (possibly on a format as yet unimagined), another commentary will be readied - and edited - worthy of this legendary film.

We purchased this for our mom and dad as they recently moved on from Mormon to Christians. This has a good story of Moses and the Exodus. We bought the Steel box anniversary edition in 4K UHD and love it.Thanks for the gift of giving!

Picture quality good been one my favorites for lot of years

Classic ,been watching since I was 6 years old .Great movie for its time.

Still have great movie

Great quality product . Works great.

This is one that you definitely have to watch over every year.

This classic movie occupies at least 3 levels of meaning, which is why I call it a nexus. It is a religious statement, it is a historical drama, and it is just plain Hollywood entertainment. It works so well on all three levels that, particularly at the very reasonable price of this 2-disc version, it is worth owning for anyone with even the slightest interest in any of those levels.From the religious point of view, the movie has the strength (or perhaps weakness) that the producer, the famous Cecil B. DeMille himself, deliberately hewed to the Biblical account, and furthermore, that he occasionally brings in the magisterial wording of the King James Bible in the voice of a narrator. Not for him the revisionist views of so many of today's clergy, who explain that Moses was "inspired" by a mysterious divine force and thereby wrote the tablets. No, Mr. DeMille has the Deity Himself speak directly to Moses in a loud, clear voice. I did not find this annoying; rather, I thought it was a reassuring rock of certainty among today's shifting moral sands. In the commentary on the second disc, which is worth listening to, the narrator makes it clear that Mr. DeMille believed in God's Law, and our moral worth being measured against it; those who don't measure up would be punished, in this world or the next. If you don't have doctrinal prejudices against those beliefs, they make for excellent theater.While Mr. DeMille was certainly a Christian, if you're Jewish, you will not be offended by this movie. In fact, you will find it both educational and inspiring. Without making you sit through a seder, it will painlessly tell you the whole Passover story, including all that's essential in most Haggadahs, such as the Ten Plagues and even the Four Questions, cunningly worked into a meal Moses presides over. The miracles such as the burning bush and parting the Red Sea happen exactly as you'd expect from the Biblical account. In the credits you'll find a Hollywood rabbi, and the Mishnah, one of the Jewish religious texts, listed as references. Mr. DeMille tried hard to be consistent with Jewish lore.The movie is history, also, albeit with a twist. Biblical scholars do not agree when the Exodus actually took place; with so many details in the Bible it does not seem there is much doubt it actually happened, but there is little internal evidence with which to date it. Even worse, there are no corroborating Egyptian records, which is odd, because Egypt was one of the world's first literate societies and their records, carved on stone or painted on papyrus and preserved by the hot, dry climate, have often survived. Therefore, it was necessary for Mr. DeMille to pick a time period, and because he wanted a glittering spectacle in his movie, he picked the height of Egypt's power and glory, the reign of Ramses II (1279-1213 BC). Most historians think that's unlikely, because Egypt was so powerful in that period that having a bunch of slaves rebel and run away successfully strains the bounds of probability; but of course with God helping, the problem is solved, and it makes a much better story. It is a fact that Ramses attacked Nubia at the very beginning of his reign, just like in the movie; likewise, he married Nefertari (Nefertiri in the movie) when he was quite young. She died some years later and he lived on to be about 90, Egypt's longest reigning Pharaoh, marrying other women, but Nefertari was his favorite wife and their relationship in the movie might be close to historical reality.Likewise, the costumes and architecture are straight out of archaeology, making use of materials excavated from tombs and the Ramesseum, the huge temple the historical Ramses actually built. The construction site in the movie not only had thousands of extras moving materials around in a very authentic way, but its design corresponded to one of the monuments known to have been built in that time period. In short, Mr. DeMille made sure his details were as good as they could be within the knowledge of his time period. The Egyptian archaeological service is also listed in the credits.Finally, the movie is a love triangle with Ramses and Moses competing for the attentions of Nefertiri. That Moses has a mission from God that transcends his attraction for Nefertiri is something she doesn't understand till near the end of the movie, and of course Ramses doesn't either, fuelling his jealous rage. That Moses isn't seriously tempted by her is another measure of how old-fashioned this movie is. No shades of gray here! The miracles, especially the death of the first born children, are carried out with special effects that are still rivetting, although not as overwhelming as those in more recent movies; remember, when this movie was made there were no computers. Animation had to be by cartoonists painting frame by frame. Anyway, the story reaches its destined conclusion, and although it's quite a long movie, it doesn't seem to drag.If you haven't seen it, a treat awaits you; if you have but it was a long time ago, you might still enjoy watching it again, perhaps with your children.