Cecil B. DeMille's - The Ten Commandments - DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston Cecil B. DeMille The Ten Commandments DVD Review Charlton Heston

directed by Cecil B. DeMille
USA 1956

It takes something special for a motion picture to enter the Biblical canon. But ask any Christian what happened to Moses before age 30, and they'll likely relate to you the plotline of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments.

Surprise! As DeMille himself tells us in a (somewhat silly) opening narration -- where he comes out from behind a curtain and addresses the audience -- the Bible skips Moses' formative years altogether. One minute, as a baby he's fished out of the Nile by Pharoah's daughter, the next he's banished to the desert for killing an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew man. There's certainly no talk of Moses' rise to power under Pharoah -- which comprises the first two hours of this nearly four-hour film. In DeMille's rendition (based, he says, on the works of ancient scholars), Moses (Charleton Heston, in the role that would define his career) toils under Pharoah (Cedric Hardwicke) as his adopted grandson, working hard building a treasure city for his glory. His rival is Pharoah's son Rameses (Yul Brynner), who isn't only also up for the future job of Pharoah, he's also competing for the hand of Nefretiri (All About Eve's title character Anne Baxter).

Eventually Moses discovers his birthright -- or lack thereof -- and sends himself to the slave pits of Egypt, then out to the desert. He comes back after a time to find Rameses risen to Pharoah, and lets loose with the "Let my people go," plagues of hail, water turns to blood, death of the firstborns, and so on. Then it's out to the desert for the parting of the Red Sea after Rameses has a change of heart once he finally gives in.

Shot in widescreen Technicolor, The Ten Commandments remains the standard by which Biblical epics -- and many epics in general -- are measured. DeMille is heavy handed, but that's DeMille. Heston scowls and Brynner emotes; they are archetypal versions of themselves. Many of DeMille's sets and stunts are obvious fakes (that animated pillar of fire wouldn't scare a house cat), but most are impressive even today. When Moses turns his staff into a snake and back again, the effect is seamless. His turning of the Nile into blood is an impressive camera trick, but his parting of the Red Sea is one of Hollywood's most famous stunts. It's worth sitting through the 220 minutes of movie for this alone.

Excerpt from Christopher Null's review at filmcritic.com located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 5, 1956

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DVD Comparison:

Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Henrik Sylow and Gary Tooze for the Screen Caps!

(Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Paramount Home Entertainment Region 2 - PAL	Paramount Home Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	3:41:53 (4% PAL speedup)	2:15:36 + 1:35:42 = 3:51:18
Video	1.74:1 Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.60 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - PAL Disc 1
Bitrate: Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - PAL - Disc 2
Bitrate: Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - NTSC Disc 1
Bitrate: Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - NTSC Disc 2
Audio	5.1 Dolby Digital English, 2.0 Dolby Digital Italian / German / Spanish / French Mono (dub)	5.1 Dolby Digital English, 2.0 Dolby Digital, DUB: French 2.0 Dolby
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and More	English, French, none.
Features	Release Information: Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.74:1 Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Katherine Orrison • Disc 2 • 6-Part documentary (37:36) • - Moses (7:27 / 4:3) • - The Chosen People (7:33 / 4:3) • - Land of the Pharaohs (6:10 / 4:3) • - The Paramount Lot (6:51 / 4:3) • - The Score (2:49 / 4:3) • - Mr. DeMille (6:43 / 4:3) • Newsreel New York premiere • 1959 featurette: The Making of 'The Ten Commandments' (9:37 / 16x9) • The 1966 re-release TV Trailer (0:51 / 16x9) • The 1989 Theatrical re-release Trailer (1:32 / 16x9) • 12 page booklet DVD Release Date: Double Keep Case Chapters 48	Release Information: Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.74:1 Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Katherine Orrison • Disc 2 • 6-Part documentary (37:36) • - Moses (7:27 / 4:3) • - The Chosen People (7:33 / 4:3) • - Land of the Pharaohs (6:10 / 4:3) • - The Paramount Lot (6:51 / 4:3) • - The Score (2:49 / 4:3) • - Mr. DeMille (6:43 / 4:3) • Newsreel New York premiere • 1959 featurette: The Making of 'The Ten Commandments' (9:37 / 16x9) • The 1966 re-release TV Trailer (0:51 / 16x9) • The 1989 Theatrical re-release Trailer (1:32 / 16x9) DVD Release Date: Double Keep Case Chapters 48

Comments

The two editions are virtually identical excepting that the PAL edition obviously has the 4% speed-up and, as usual, more audio DUB and subtitle options (as well as a different color font to the NTSC counterpart). Image quality has no extensive differences and extras are duplicated.

Gary Tooze

****

The Image
There are two different versions of this film. One is the 35mm VistaVision print with the OAR of 1.85:1, the other is the 70mm re-release print with the OAR of 2.20:1.

The DVD doesn't say what its AR is, only that its "Widescreen prepared for 16x9 Television", and as such one would expect 1.78:1, but the frame is actually only 1.74:1 in AR, with black bars left and right. How this format related to the OAR I cannot say, as I have no source for comparison. While the Laserdisc was 1.66:1 (actually 1.69:1), it was not because it contained more frame details, but because it was cropped left and right, actually having less image than the DVD.

Apart from heavy macro blocking, the transfer displays surprisingly little compression artifacts, and while details aren't as strong as one could wish, the image is at times a bit soft, the transfer simply looks incredible. The colors are saturated, strong and vibrant, which they really have to be to give full justice to this exceptional beautiful Technicolor film.

The Sound
The 5.1 Dolby Digital track sounds very much like the 2.0 Dolby Digital track, except that some effects and the score are spread over the entire soundstage. It is very "mono-ish" center and for today's standards of sound restoration, it is a bit flat.

The Extras
Almost the entire four hours are covered by an audio commentary by Katherine Orrison, author of the book "Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic - The Ten Commandments". It is one extremely insightful and entertaining commentary. Orrison never goes tired and never runs out of something to say. One of the best commentaries I've heard so far.

Six small featurettes form a documentary running about 40 minutes. Its very light, very headlines and big words. As a documentary for one of the greatest epics ever made, it is quiet frankly dull and thin. Based on the commentary and Orrison's book, it really should be no problem to make a 2 hour documentary about the production. But sadly no such thing.

The extras are concluded by two trailers, the 1966 TV release trailer and the 1989 theatrical re-release trailer, and a 1959 TV featurette on making of the film. Curiously the original trailer is missing.

- Henrik Sylow

DVD Menus
(Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)
subtitle sample (English only)
Captures resized to 800px from 1016px

(Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Paramount Home Entertainment (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

DVD Box Covers

Distribution

Paramount Home Entertainment

Region 2 - PAL

Paramount Home Entertainment
Region 1 - NTSC

Report Card:

Image:	tie
Sound:	PAL has more DUBs
Extras:	tie
Menu:	tie

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