So I love Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston as Moses. For me, it is pure cinema. It's got drama, spectacle, and sensationalism. Intellectualism and subtlety? Not so much... DeMille was criticized in his day for being too bombastic and vulgar with his films, but that's what sold them. DeMille knew that audiences love sex (or rather, the suggestion of sex), so he bathed his movies in it. Several times DeMille made movies based off of biblical themes, and he always inserted sex into them--as much as he could get away with.
One of his movies--The Sign of the Cross--was about Christian persecution at the hands of the Romans. Haf of the movie shows the piety of the stoic Christian martyrs. The other half shows the revelry of Rome. The big scene that was promoted was when Claudette Colbert bathed naked in goat milk. DeMille reportedly showed as much of her breasts as he could without showing the nipples. When the Catholic Church reviewed the movie, they called it schizophrenic. But it sold!
Which brings me to his Moses flick that is shown on TV every Easter/Passover. Is it outdated? Kinda. Is it obsessed with its own importance? Yep. Is it overly long? I once printed out the screenplay, and it was thicker than the actual Bible!
But I want to shift gears and talk about how to movie deals with the "history" of Moses. The movie deviates largely from the Bible. DeMille claimed he was following ancient sources. He was really doing what he had to do to make it into a sexy melodrama. DeMille invents a love story between Moses, Pharaoh, and an Egyptian princess named Nephritri who makes no appearance in the Bible. This gives DeMille free reign to put a lovely woman in dipterous gowns and have her spout declarations of love. It's stuff like this that gave DeMille the ability to sell his Bible movies to both sides of the isle. Secular people came to see spectacle. Religious people came to see God. DeMille welcomed them all.
One interesting thing the movie does reference the works of Jospehus--a famous Jewish historian who lived about 60 years after Jesus. Josephus wrote, among other things, a history of the Jewish people for a Roman audience. Josephus presents Moses as a war hero. He makes no mention of Moses' speech impediment, which he has in the Bible. Instead, Josephus writes that when Moses spoke, it was as if God Himself spoke. Jospehus also describes Moses winning a war in Ethiopia and taking an Ethiopian wife. The war is referenced in the movie when the Adult Moses makes his first appearance. He enters the Egyptian throne room and presents Pharoph with the spoils of the Ethiopian conquest. Moses' Ethiopian wife is present in the scene. Josephus and DeMille paint their Moses with similar brushes.
DeMille sets his movie during the reign of Rameses. the Bible laves the pharaoh of the Exodus unnamed. DeMille chose Rameses because of scant archeological Exodus that shows that Israel existed as a nation during his reign. So he was the best possible choice.
Historically, Ramses built elaborate moments and cities with much slave labor. he also had a brother whose name and face have been etched off of every momument and wall. For Egyptian culture, this was worse than a death sentence. Removing a man's name was to remove his place in the Afterlife. Whatever Ramses' brother did to have his name and face removed, it must've been terrible. According to DeMille, Ramses' brother is none other than Moses himself. His crime? Wanting to free the Hebrews. This is clever for another reason: It explains why Moses is never mentioned in any Egyptian record. The Egyptians recorded each of their battles. They praised their own victories and swept their defeats under the rug. They would have never recorded such a catastrophe that the Bible describes. To do so would be to admit the power of the God of Slaves. But for Moses' face and name to be stricken from the records because of this... It makes sense.
DeMille's Moses movie is more than just a biblical melodrama. It is a clever blend of the Bible, Josephus, and Egyptian history. DeMille did not set out to make a clever piece of historical fiction, but in the process of making his sexy melodrama, that is what he made.
One of his movies--The Sign of the Cross--was about Christian persecution at the hands of the Romans. Haf of the movie shows the piety of the stoic Christian martyrs. The other half shows the revelry of Rome. The big scene that was promoted was when Claudette Colbert bathed naked in goat milk. DeMille reportedly showed as much of her breasts as he could without showing the nipples. When the Catholic Church reviewed the movie, they called it schizophrenic. But it sold!
Which brings me to his Moses flick that is shown on TV every Easter/Passover. Is it outdated? Kinda. Is it obsessed with its own importance? Yep. Is it overly long? I once printed out the screenplay, and it was thicker than the actual Bible!
But I want to shift gears and talk about how to movie deals with the "history" of Moses. The movie deviates largely from the Bible. DeMille claimed he was following ancient sources. He was really doing what he had to do to make it into a sexy melodrama. DeMille invents a love story between Moses, Pharaoh, and an Egyptian princess named Nephritri who makes no appearance in the Bible. This gives DeMille free reign to put a lovely woman in dipterous gowns and have her spout declarations of love. It's stuff like this that gave DeMille the ability to sell his Bible movies to both sides of the isle. Secular people came to see spectacle. Religious people came to see God. DeMille welcomed them all.
One interesting thing the movie does reference the works of Jospehus--a famous Jewish historian who lived about 60 years after Jesus. Josephus wrote, among other things, a history of the Jewish people for a Roman audience. Josephus presents Moses as a war hero. He makes no mention of Moses' speech impediment, which he has in the Bible. Instead, Josephus writes that when Moses spoke, it was as if God Himself spoke. Jospehus also describes Moses winning a war in Ethiopia and taking an Ethiopian wife. The war is referenced in the movie when the Adult Moses makes his first appearance. He enters the Egyptian throne room and presents Pharoph with the spoils of the Ethiopian conquest. Moses' Ethiopian wife is present in the scene. Josephus and DeMille paint their Moses with similar brushes.
DeMille sets his movie during the reign of Rameses. the Bible laves the pharaoh of the Exodus unnamed. DeMille chose Rameses because of scant archeological Exodus that shows that Israel existed as a nation during his reign. So he was the best possible choice.
Historically, Ramses built elaborate moments and cities with much slave labor. he also had a brother whose name and face have been etched off of every momument and wall. For Egyptian culture, this was worse than a death sentence. Removing a man's name was to remove his place in the Afterlife. Whatever Ramses' brother did to have his name and face removed, it must've been terrible. According to DeMille, Ramses' brother is none other than Moses himself. His crime? Wanting to free the Hebrews. This is clever for another reason: It explains why Moses is never mentioned in any Egyptian record. The Egyptians recorded each of their battles. They praised their own victories and swept their defeats under the rug. They would have never recorded such a catastrophe that the Bible describes. To do so would be to admit the power of the God of Slaves. But for Moses' face and name to be stricken from the records because of this... It makes sense.
DeMille's Moses movie is more than just a biblical melodrama. It is a clever blend of the Bible, Josephus, and Egyptian history. DeMille did not set out to make a clever piece of historical fiction, but in the process of making his sexy melodrama, that is what he made.
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