Oh Moses, MOSES! You stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!

No one could chew scenery like Anne Baxter. No one.

Joshua always give me wood.

Yes! Thank you, OP.

Was just thinking that the showing of the movie was coming up.

See you until then!

"That tongue will dig your grave, Memnet!"

So let it be written - so let it be done!

[quote] Yul Brynner refused to let Charlton Heston upstage him in The Ten Commandments

Yul Brynner was a notoriously proud and prickly man, obsessed with always coming out on top, whether in billing or screen presence. He had infamously cried when his King and I Broadway co-star Gertrude Lawrence died - not out of grief but because it meant he would finally get top billing outside the theatre. Unfortunately, his physical stature did not match his famous ego.

Charlton Heston, meanwhile, towered over everyone in the business at almost 6'3 and was always in impressive physical shape. Brynner was very proud of his physique and had posed naked for photographs earlier in his career. However, the 5'7 star would notoriously scuff up mounds of dirt to stand on in The Magnificent Seven so that he appeared taller than Steve McQueen.

These days it is common for action stars to be magnificently muscle-bound, but in the Golden Age of Hollywood, most male leads were simply fit and trim – unless they were ex-athletes like Tarzan's Johnny Weissmuller.

Before he came to Hollywood, Brynner actually had a background as a circus acrobat and trapeze artist in Paris - before a horrifying fall broke many of the bones in his body. He still kept himself in prime shape and was one of the first Hollywood stars to (officially) pose for nude photographs with gay photographer George Platt Lynes.

Arriving in LA in 1940, during this first decade in Hollywood Brynner survived on bit parts and some nude modelling, while he had a long-term relationship with heartthrob actor Hurd Hatfield.

His 1951 starring role on The King and I on Broadway catapulted him to stardom and 1956's The Ten Commandments would cement his position as a major A-list film actor.

Tales were already spreading about Brynner's extraordinary demands. He had insisted a special lift was installed at the Broadway theatre where The King and I was playing. Not just for him, but big enough for his while limousine – so he could drive in and out without being bothered by fans.

So, his pride and vanity would not permit him to be overshadowed by Heston when they were cast as Moses and his brother Ramses in the Biblical epic.

Already in impressive shape following the musical's Broadway run and midway through the subsequent national tour, Brynner began an intense workout regime, knowing he would spend much of the film showing a lot of flesh as the Egyptian prince and then Pharaoh.

Despite the large eight-inch height difference between the stars, and with little costume opportunity for concealed lifts in his footwear, Brynner also impressively often appears to be almost the same height as Heston in many shots. He is constantly standing on higher steps, a throne dais or (presumably) hidden platforms and boxes.

Brynner's iron will and dedication to his work and stardom were evident in the fact that he spent much of the Ten Commandments film shoot on set in California but flying across the country in the evenings to perform The King and I on tour. The show had closed on Broadway on March 20, 1954 and immediately started a national tour two days later which ran through to December 1945.

Along with Heston, Brynner was also one of the few leading actors who also got to travel on location to Egypt, Mount Sinai and the Sinai Peninsula.

All his hard work and sacrifice paid off, with Heston later commenting he thought Brynner gave the best performance in the entire movie. Brynner's son, Rock, said his father "was proud of his performance, and very proud of being in the film. He regarded it as the biggest film ever made, forever."

Naked Pharaoh.

Just look at those balls!

The Ethiopian tribute scenes is so over-the-top it's fabulous. The Queen of Ethiopia's pussy is flooding like the Nile.

Why was Memnet so awful to Moses?

Wasn't she a Hebrew also?

You can tell that a gay man took these photos of Yul.

I wonder what it looked like in Cinemascope or Cinerama?

Can this be turned into a drinking game?

Maybe take a shot, every time Anne Baxter chews the scenery?

R13, that would result in a quick death from intoxication.

Stanley Baxter as Anne Baxter "We all have staff problems"

This bitch….Anne not Yul.

Oh, please Joan/R16.

We didn't need Mommie telling Moses to tear down that BITCH of a Pyramid, and put a Sphinx where it OUGHT to be!

"Bring back your sword dripping with his blood."

"I will - to mingle with your own."

Yeah, they were a fun friggin couple.

Couple a bastards, actually.

Ramses still looked hot, even after Moses got old and ugly.

Is it because "black don't crack?"

Only a few more days until showtime!

I posted this on the other thread, so I will also post it here:

Were there ever any gay/bisexual rumors about Yul Brynner?

There must be.

Straight Guys back then didn't do a lot a nude shots in front of gay photographers.

R23, thirsty famewhores have always been willing to do that, and a lot more, in order to become successful.

Also, read R6's posting; Mister Brynner was no stranger to the love that dare not speak its name, as long as he could us it to further his career, of course.

What can she be to you? Unless the desert sun has dulled your senses.

Does she grate garlic on her skin? Or is it soft as mine?

Are her lips chafed and dry as the desert sand, or are they moist and red Like a pomegranate?

Is it the fragrance of myrrh that scents her hair...or is it the odor of sheep?

I never realized Brynner was Russian and was born in Vladivostok.

In that thumbnail of the Youtube video in the OP, who are the bearers at the front and back of Nefirtiti's litter?

[quote]So let it be written. So let it be done.

Best.movie.lines.ever!

Reading about how proud Brenner was made his end (broke, sick & having to constantly work) particularly poignant.

I'm endlessly amused about what an idiot sidekick Joshua is to Moses. It's a wonder Heston managed to keep a straight face through all of Joshua's bungling.

I like to pretend that it's not Anne Baxter in the movie - that it's Eve Harrington and that's the kind of movie she ended up making when we went to Hollywood.

And I imagine Margo and Bill and Karen and Lloyd getting falling down drunk and laughing their asses off as they watch it in a big NYC movie palace.....

...when SHE went to Hollywood.....

This is a Jewish film and should be shown at Passover which isn't until April 22 this year.

For Easter (Christian) you show The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) directed by George Stevens, David Lean, and Jean Negulesco

Of course Charlton Heston was in both films,,,but a supporting role in TGSET.

That loopy bitch ruined my Oscar chances on All About Eve in 1951.

[quote]For Easter (Christian) you show The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) directed by George Stevens, David Lean, and Jean Negulesco

On paper, that should be the better film, yet it's just so lifeless. Granted, Jesus wasn't intended to be a barrel of laughs, but still...The Ten Commandments is just such a mashup of old Hollywood & campy mess that can't help but love it

[quote] Does she grate garlic on her skin?

Gross!

Did women really do that back then?

They must have smelled horrible.

Let's not forget "KIng of Kings," AKA "I Was a Teenaged Jesus."

I haven’t seen it. Does Ann Baxter serve up old school cunt?

The reason ABC shows The Ten Commandments, year after year, is because it brings in the RATINGS.

They would have given up the rights to the movie years ago, if people didn't like it.

But as it stands, the movie is 68 years old this year, and people still want to watch it.

As campy as this movie is, clearly we just can't get enough of it.

They should sandwich it in between other camp classics like Female Trouble & Polyester

The Jesus movies are too boring.

Ten Commandments blends a little bit of religion with a whole lot of color, dancing, drama and shirtless men.

What's not to like?

What R37 said. It's campy as fuck but also religious in its way and most of us can relate to it and remember it from childhood.

We're having dinner for friends on Saturday and surely we'll watch it. It's an American holiday tradition, like "Miracle on 34th St".

[quote] We're having dinner for friends on Saturday and surely we'll watch it. It's an American holiday tradition, like "Miracle on 34th St".

Don't forget to take a shot, every time Anne Baxter chews the scenery!

TCM aired it during the night with no commercials.

JFC, R41 we'd all have alcohol poisoning

I love Moses's earbobs.

Ramses is HAF

I've provided Jeopardy questions that I wouldn't have known if not for Cecil B. DeMille and the family Easter tradition.

Uncut. Yuck.

Make fun of Anne Baxter all you want but she was one of the stars of one the truly greatest films ever made 'The Magnificent Ambersons. Even in its cut truncated form it's a glorious achievement.

The film was not in Cinema Scope or Cinerama. It was Vistavision a completely different film ratio. For some reason DeMille never did a widescreen film despite being in Hollywood during the height of the widescreen craze and his love of spectacle.

I remember going to see it in the 80s in an old Times Square movie theater long gone and the place was full. I don't remember when they started showing it on TV but it was not a revival house it was being shown as a normal movie run. I had never seen it before and haven't seen it since but it was enormous fun and the audience loved it. I do have it on 4k and maybe Saturday night might be the time to take the cellophane off and see it again. It's supposed to be a remarkable transfer.

[quote] Uncut. Yuck.

He's Jewish, too.

Is that unusual?

I guess having been born in Russia, it was hard to find someone to circumcise Yul.

Either that, or his parents just didn't give a shit.

[quote]R31: This is a Jewish film and should be shown at Passover which isn't until April 22 this year.

It's a Christian film about a Jewish subject. Make no mistake, there' s a distinctly Christian take which informs the film. And it makes no secret of that - among the sources listed in the title credits is Eusebius. And when they say '𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕳𝖔𝖑𝖞 𝕾𝖈𝖗𝖎𝖕𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊𝖘', they mean 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ testaments.

For instance, consider the scene with the Golden Calf idol at the end of the film, being borne on a litter, with a harlot riding it. That's imagery taken from 'Revelation' - the 'Woman Who Rides The Beast,' dressed in purple and scarlet.

The division of Moses' life into three distinct 40-year intervals is taken from the summary of Moses' life (Acts 7:20-44). The Egyptian magician Jannes is from a piece of lost Christian apocrypha titled 'Jannes and Jambres' - but mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:8, 9. There's too many Christian contributions to list, and most who watch the film don't recognize them for what they are.

[quote] Why was Memnet so awful to Moses? Wasn't she a Hebrew also?

She was a Jew for Egypt, forerunner to Jews for Palestine.

Yul's mother was Jewish and had converted to Christianity, which may explain why Yul's penis escaped mutilation and was left intact.

r50 Soviet Jews didn't cut. That's why when they moved to Israel they were in for a rude awakening.

[quote]Why was Memnet so awful to Moses?

She thought she was auditioning for The Real Housewives of Egypt.

Was DeMille okay with the way Baxter chewed the scenery? Because most of the rest of the cast are giving more serious performances.

I'd love to see the fun Golden Calf scene accompanied by Chic's "Le Freak."

[quote] Was DeMille okay with the way Baxter chewed the scenery? Because most of the rest of the cast are giving more serious performances.

From the looks of it, he encouraged it.

Future 50 foot woman Allison Hayes auditioned for DeMille for the part of Sephora (eventually played by Yvonne DeCarlo).

Her agent told her not to tell DeMille she was under contract at the time to Universal-International. DeMille liked her a lot and was going to use her (she auditioned at Paramount with DeMille favorite Henry Wilcoxon.

When DeMille found out that she was under contract to another studio and he would have to pay a premium to use her - Allison and her agent Jack Pomeroy were banned from the Paramount lot.

Where else but DL can you find out such information?

In 1923 De Mille made a movie also called The Ten Commandments combining the Exodus story with some moder dramatization of each commandment.

This version is a remake of but just concentrating on the Exodus story.

Both are on DVD

[quote] Future 50 foot woman Allison Hayes auditioned for DeMille for the part of Sephora (eventually played by Yvonne DeCarlo).

It still cracks me up that Lily Munster played the mother of Moses, and sister of the Pharaoh. Lol.

R56 An old friend of mine, long gone, was in T10C as an extra in a number of scenes, sometimes a Hebrew, sometimes an Egyptian. I have fun looking for him every time I watch the movie again. DeMille loved him because he got DeMille's style. CB would call on him sometimes when he needed to show others how he wanted them to stand, as if they were extracted from a religious fresco. I'm sure DeMille hired Baxter partly because she could play scenes as if extracted from an old religious play.

Every time Anne Baxter says "Moses"

I want to do another group watch n comment session when it airs on ABC this Saturday. It’s tradition.

r61 - That's Carlotta Campion, you numbskull.

[quote]Why was Memnet so awful to Moses? Wasn't she a Hebrew also?

You'd be bitter too if you had to go through life with a name like "Memnet."

Moses? Isn’t that what House Speaker Mike Johnson thinks he is now?

[quote]...Where else but DL can you find out such information?

The person sitting next to you at any given production of FOLLIES.

R50 He was not Jewish.

I don't think Memnet is supposed to be Hebrew. (Actually, I think the whole Exodus story and the whole Hebrew slave thing is entirely made up, but that's a separate issue.)

I think in this story, she's a somewhat higher caste Egyptian slave, and like a House Negro in Gone With the Wind looks down on the lesser Hebrew slaves, and identifies with the masters.

She's a sour old thing.

Memnet was a house slave. As such she was out to preserve the status of the house of Pharaoh.

Wow, you're right R69.

[quote] Yul Brynner was born Yuliy Borisovich Briner on July 11, 1920, in the city of Vladivostok. He had Swiss-German, Russian, Buryat (Mongol), and purported Roma ancestry. He was born at his parents' home, a four-story house on 15 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok, into a wealthy Swiss-Russian family of landowners and silver mining developers in Siberia and the Far East. At the time the territory was controlled by the Far Eastern Republic - a communist Russian buffer state - and Vladivostok was under Japanese occupation.

[quote] The Briner family enjoyed a good life at their four-story mansion. In October 1922, the Red Army occupied Vladivostok, and most of the Briner family's wealth was confiscated and nationalized at the end of the Russian Civil War. The Briners were stripped of home ownership, but the family, including an elder sister, Vera, continued living in their house under a temporary status.

[quote] Later in his life, Brynner humorously enjoyed telling tall tales and exaggerating his background and early life for the press, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of a Mongol father and Roma mother on the Russian island of Sakhalin. He occasionally referred to himself as Julius Briner Jules Bryner or Youl Bryner. The 1989 biography by his son, Rock Brynner, clarified some of these issues.

[quote] Brynner's father, Boris Yuliyevich Briner, was a mining engineer and inventor of Swiss-German and Russian descent, who graduated from Mining University in Saint Petersburg in 1910. The actor's grandfather, Jules Briner, was a Swiss citizen who moved to Vladivostok in the 1870s and established a successful import/export company. Brynner's paternal grandmother, Natalya Yosifovna Kurkutova, was a native of Irkutsk and a Eurasian of partial Buryat ancestry.

[quote] Brynner's mother, Marousia Dimitrievna (née Blagovidova), hailed from the Russian intelligentsia and studied to be an actress and singer; she was allegedly of Russian Roma ancestry. Brynner felt a strong personal connection to the Roma and in 1977 he was named honorary president of the International Romani Union, a title that he kept until his death.

Has no one commented on the historically accurate linoleum floors?

As a side note, I think it's interesting that Vincent Price plays it (mostly) straight in this movie - he hasn't gone totally full camp

R75, yeah, I like Vincent Price's supporting role as the Master Builder. According to his daughter's book, Price campaigned for a role in this movie and was glad he got one. It gave him a break from being in horror movies (which he was becoming famous for after 'House of Wax' a couple of years before this one).

Is it on Friday or Saturday?

[quote]R65: That's Carlotta Campion, you numbskull.

Is that some kind of inside joke? 'Cuz I don't get it.

The photo at R61 is Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster.

[quote] I don't think Memnet is supposed to be Hebrew.

Considering Moses explicitly says that Memnet wasn’t Hebrew, that’s a safe bet,

On location during the Exodus - DeMille was addressing the thousands of extras with his microphone and he noticed one woman talking to another woman in the crowd and pointing to him.

He invited her up to his chair and asked her what she had been saying. She said: "I was just asking my friend when she thought that bald headed son of a bitch was going to shut up so we could go to lunch."

DeMille took the microphone back and called: "Lunch!"

Oh shit. I just paid to rent it for my mother three days ago. We want to watch Ben Hur Saturday. Well, ...I want to watch Ben Hur. There's so much to see.

Lol I love that story, R80!

That took some balls to say in front of "Mister DeMille" and thousands of extras.

R80 that sounds like me.

Why would the Pharaoh tell them to make bricks without straw? Seems rather foolishly shortsighted. It’s a structural collapse just waiting to happen!

I know you are being silly, R84, but I take it to mean the people have to gather/collect/cultivate the straw on their own.

It won’t be provided by the powers that be anymore. 🤷🏻‍♀️

😬

Fuck that black bitch.

He went up the mountain as Moses… And came down as Barry Gibb.

Well, he did have an annoying habit of stayin alive, r87.

I loved Yul Brynner and IMO he had all the best lines of dialogue. And I loved his style, the way he gestured, "Take your people and GO!"

My Easter weekend movie is the musical version of Jesus’s life!

Re:R89: "Take your people, your cattle, your god, and your pestilence. Take what spoils from Egypt you will, but 𝑔𝑜!"

Yeah, R91, I know. That's the exact quote. But wasn't he a sight to behold! I thought Nefretiri was a fool to cling to her lust for Moses when she had Rameses in her bed.

I remember the line as “Get the fuck out of here,” or something similar.

"You needn't have painted your nails, Lulua. There isn't a man from here to Horam."

RAMSES DEWITT: Life in the papyrus factory was apparently not as dull as you pictured it. As a matter of fact, it got less and less dull - until your boss's wife had you followed by detectives!

NEFER”EVE”TITI: She never proved anything, not a thing!

RAMSES DEWITT: But the 500 sacks of grain you got to get out of town brought you straight to Thebes - didn't it? Didn’t it?

NEFER”EVE”TITI: She was a liar, she was a liar!

RAMSES DEWITT: Answer my question! Weren't you paid to get out of Heliopolis?

Cecil B. DeMille,

Rather against his will,

Was persuaded to leave Moses

Out of the Wars of the Roses.

- Nicholas Clerihew Bentley

^ aren't you missing the last line?

R61 : Yvonne de Carlo played Zipporah, the shepherd girl that Moses married. Moses' adoptive mother, the sister of the Pharoh was played by Nina Foch.

Sephora. Her descendants went into cosmetics. They've been quite successful. She was concerned because she always envied Nefertiri. Whose arms were soft as a dove, and her lips were tamarisk honey, and her eyes green like the cedars of Lebanon,. Skin white as curd, too. So she decided to start the cosmetic line using goat's milk. Quite innovative.

R80 That didn't happen on location, it happened at Paramount. DeMille was busy having a heart attack on location.

r78's gay card is suspended indefinitely.

This movie could've really used a dance break.

R102 No, that's Killers of the Flower Moon.

So is Debra Paget (Lilia, the water girl) the last surviving principal cast member?

Probably, unless we include little Jon Peters as "Boy on donkey crossing the Red Sea."

This time around the role of Nefretiri is being played by Eve Harrington. In between takes she complains to Addison that Heston is so stiff she checked for a pulse during one of their love scenes and his tongue felt like a wet bandaid was just lolling around in her mouth.

Does Debra hate the gays? She became a fundie nut in the 80s, after divorcing that filthy rich Chinese guy she was married to.

An OP posted the most amazing gif they made for one of these threads pre-Covid. It featured women praying during, I think, the parting of the Red Sea. It is one of the best things I have ever seen on DL, if not the history of the internet.

Please repost it again, erstwhile OP!

[quote]R101: [R78]'s gay card is suspended indefinitely.

Mmm-hmm. Predicated upon something that is factually incorrect.

R105 Kathy Garver, the little girl who can’t find her doll in the Exodus scene is still with us.

This one, R108?

Couldn't find a gif. Just a photo.

I had to get in, to meet Moses! I had to say something, be somebody, make him like me!

Lol... I love the Nefretiri/Eve Harrington mash-ups.

STOP THE STONE!!!!

[quote] ‘The Ten Commandments’ remains the granddaddy of all biblical epics. Here’s why

Netflix trots out a drama/documentary hybrid this week titled “Testament: The Story of Moses,” mixing a Turkish production with religion experts discussing the biblical story. The three parts total more than four hours.

If you’ve a mind to invest that kind of screen time in Moses, though, accept no substitutes, especially with the granddaddy of all biblical epics, Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 version of “The Ten Commandments,” just around the corner, keeping its annual date with viewers on ABC.

Indeed, watching Netflix’s modern knockoff only heightens a sense of appreciation for DeMille’s efforts at a different time in the evolution of the movie industry, when TV was still relatively new and special effects hadn’t reached their digital heights.

There are plenty of reasons to savor the original movie, most of them having to do with the casting, some of it campy and awful in a truly wonderful way, some just plain spectacular.

As Moses, Charlton Heston brought a sense of conviction to this epic role (see also “Ben-Hur”) that anchored the movie in a way few actors could, before or since. Yet at the top of the heap look no further than Yul Brynner as Moses’ rival and eventual foe Rameses, who tells his reluctant bride-to-be with princely swagger and sexuality, “You will come to me whenever I call you, and I will enjoy that very much. Whether you enjoy it or not is your own affair… but I think you will.”

On the other end of the spectrum there’s Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Moses’ first love and Rameses’ reluctant bride when he ascends to pharaoh. Famous for her role in “All About Eve,” Baxter chews through much of Egypt, repeating “Moses” so often (as in “Oh Moses, Moses”) that one might be forgiven for concluding that’s both his first and last name.

The supporting cast is equally delicious, including Edward G. Robinson sounding like he’s in a gangster movie and still stealing every scene he’s in as the traitorous Dathan, Vincent Price as pharaoh’s master builder and Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Rameses’ father, Sethi, who loves Moses more than he does his own son.

ABC has aired the film more than 40 times since 1973, making it a solid Easter and Passover staple. Already 220 minutes long, the broadcast window with commercials has ballooned to four hours and 44 minutes, spilling out of primetime before Moses can descend from Mount Sinai with the you-know-what.

Although broadcast TV doesn’t possess the only-game-in-town clout that existed when ABC first showed the movie, “The Ten Commandments” has remained a potent draw, perhaps because it’s the kind of film that can be watched – certainly in bits and pieces, if not all the way through – over and over. Last year’s telecast averaged more than 3 million viewers opposite NCAA tournament coverage, which it will face again this year.

DeMille, of course, became practically synonymous with lavish, star-studded costume productions, starting with a silent version of “The Ten Commandments” in the 1920s and including “Samson and Delilah” in the ‘50s.

Even by those standards, “The Ten Commandments” stands apart, both for its visual effects (the parting of the Red Sea is still a landmark sequence) and the soap-opera qualities wrapped up in the Moses-Nefretiri-Rameses triangle.

Given that, even with broadcast television having become a shadow of what it was, there’s something reassuring about seeing the movie return year after year, marking the calendar in a way only a few Christmas specials and movies can rival.

As TV traditions go, perhaps that’s why this one has proven so enduring. Or as Brynner’s Rameses might say, “So let it be written. So let it be done.”

What a story. Everything but the Nile crocodiles snappin' at his rear end...

It’s airs today! I thought it was on tomorrow.

😳

Yea.....Moses.....yea...... Mother of Mercy - is this the end of Dathan?

That’s it, r108!

The woman at the top was opening and closing her arms in the gif, it looked absolutely hysterical.

Less than five hours to go. I hope everyone is getting ready.

" Although I am going to Alexandria next week - do not think for a moment that I am leaving you. How could I? For my heart is here and a long camel ride is too far to be away from one's heart. I'll be back to claim it - and soon. That is, if you want me back."

Charlton Heston's son played baby Moses found in a basket.

Oh wait, found the gif! It’s not reversed alas, but it’s still great.

r109 _ PD, I can't believe that you were ever issued a gay card.

"Luxor has no Shubert Amphiteater. You've never been to Luxor! That was a stupid lie and easy to expose."

Looking forward to all the Biktarvy, Jardiance, Carvana, and Progressive commericals throughout this reverent telecast.

According to T10C historian Katherine Orrison, DeMille didn't cast Audrey Hepburn as Nefretiri because she didn't have the body of an Egyptian woman meaning he probably wanted more tits and sure as hell Miss Anne Baxter provided those. But before Baxter he almost cast Jayne Meadows. What would those have looked like?

GOD PARTS THE SEA WITH A BLAST OF HIS NOSTRILS!!!

[quote] I wish I'd have been there when that line was written

I wish I had been there when it actually happened, but would want to return to the safety and comfort of modern life immediately thereafter.

R12 It was in VistaVision.

VistaVision...

On location in Egypt, while climbing a ladder on the big set used in the Exodus scene, DeMille had a heart attack. Against the advice of his doctors, he went back to work something like a week later, afraid the film was going to be taken away from him. The actual severity of the attack was kept from most people. His daughter, who was on location with him, supervised scenes until he returned.

[quote] On the other end of the spectrum there’s Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Moses’ first love and Rameses’ reluctant bride when he ascends to pharaoh. Famous for her role in “All About Eve,” Baxter chews through much of Egypt, repeating “Moses” so often (as in “Oh Moses, Moses”) that one might be forgiven for concluding that’s both his first and last name.

Rofl! Even CNN had to point out Anne Baxter's scenery chewing, since it was so severe.

Only a few hours to go!

What time does it start, anyway?

At the Hollywood Heritage Museum...

R134 6 pm CST on ABC

R134 7 pm EST on ABC.

CDT and EDT, people.

I'm watching a Gay movie right now and it might be pretty good. I have seen Ten Commandments a million times. Should I watch it again or finish my movie? This guy is a B movie actor on location and he meets a lawyer in a bar and they get it on and it's very romantic. Before this I watched a movie about Two soccer players who fall in love and I thought one of them was extremely hot. Name of the movie was Mario. Before that I watched a movie about a Turkish guy who falls in love with his swimming coach. His parents run a cafe in Switzerland and send money home to their village. They are nothing much in Switzerland, but back in the Village in Turkey they are big shots. When the son tells them he's gay and in love with his coach, they plot behind his back to marry him off to his BFF he grew up with. He loves her...like a sister. They convince him to go home for the summer to Turkey to see Granny and the Fam, and when he gets there everyone is getting ready for a wedding...his. He is SO PISSED OFF. But he goes through with the marriage. His coach leaves him. Things are a mess. Really good movie. Movie was Beyto.

R138 go hide your face in my ass

R127 - Jayne Meadows played David's wife in DAVID AND BATHSHEBA.....in 1951 so that would have been a preview.

Five minutes.....five minutes.....this is your five minute call.

I need bare chested male bondage

How nice for Moses. And how nice for the Hebrews. How nice for everybody!

The ending of this movie was a bit of a mystery.

Moses gave his final speech, and it had to do with "Freedom and Liberty."

Which sounded more like a political campaign speech, than something from the Bible.

I love that hit song from the movie 'Death Cometh to Me'. Such a catchy tune!

Has it started yet on the East Coast?

Yes, started at 7 p.m. on ABC. It is over four hours long due to commercial interruptions.

"So it shall be written, so it shall be done" and we go to commercial... buy a Hyundai!

Do families have this movie on in the background, while they're eating their Easter dinner?

Starts at 8PM on the east coast. The only coast that matters.

finally, it's starting, in blessed Flyoverstan

Well then it already started.

Fasten your seatbelts.

It's gonna be a Bumpy Night.

High Priest is gettin a bit mouthy

Now, R143!

Quick

And

𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℌ𝔬𝔩𝔶 𝔖𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔭𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔰

How the hell did Bithia explain a child that was now hers? ???

Seriously 😳

Easter dinner is tomorrow, R150.

Ham Asparagus Rainbow carrots Mac and cheese Plus two or three different cakes 🤗🤗

Bill Sampson, you're not the son of Broadway royalty - you're the son of Hebrew deli owners.

Goddamn, deMille got those actors when they were at the height of their beauty.

It's gross to think of how many pairs of panties Nefretiri went through during the shoot.

Oh Moses, what will you do?

Yup.🤤

Nubians!

I think that’s an elegant word. I like it.

Oh you KNOW he fucked the Ethiopian King's sister.

he just REALLY wanted that green stone.

I haven't seen this classic clip in a while:

Oh, those ridiculous Egyptian gods.

Eating grain! Yeah, sure.

To be fair, tho, everything about this movie is complete fantasy.

What would the weather have been like, lo those many years ago?

Cooler or hotter than now?

Started at 7 p.m. on the East Coast, baby.

I will hang you myself if you tire me further.

When I was sight seeing in Egypt, that is when I became convinced that we were visited by Aliens form outer space. Those god, especially Horus and a few others, man those fuckers looked like they came from outer space.

Did all of these things really happen back then? I wish miracles like those shown in the movie still happened today.

R173...the plagues are coming up!

That was a lot of clanging and clinking in that scene.

How come miracles used to happen all the time back then, but you never see any amazing miracles today? You don't see anyone parting Lake Michigan, or burning bushes that talk to you. The world is so boring now compared to the time of Moses.

Started at 8PM in NYC. The only city that matters.

Those so called miracles in the movie were scientifically explained. Those were times of great superstition.

That has got to be a kick in the pants: to see the woman who nearly died and that you helped free.

How come Zeus doesn't fuck virgins anymore, R176?

OK. now that I've seen this scene of him with his real mother and Bythia, I have to once again ask the question I have never heard a satisfactory answer to. IMO it is the biggest fucking plot hole in the Bible.

Moses was a Prince of Egypt. He was on the road to becoming Pharoah. Admittedly Rameses was going to try to mess with him and over throw him. That's fairly obvious. But as far as the JEws go, the slaves, if he had risen to Pharoah, he could have released them from bondage and sent them on their way. They'd have fought for him and supported him against Rameses. I think he was terribly impulsive and short sighted, and that doesn't seem consistent with his personality as we have been given to understand it. All that bullshit about, "What I do I am compelled to do" is just that. Bullshit. Dial it back, Mo. Lay in the cut and wait. Seti is on his way out. Patience!

[quote] Yul Brynner refused to let Charlton Heston upstage him in The Ten Commandments

Misleading and slanted headline, it suggests Heston played those childish games so that Brenner had to defend himself. Nothing I've ever read or noticed when watching suggested Heston played such tricks.

Now Steve McQueen's antics to draw attention away from Brenner are another matter.

Heston was too dumb for those sorts of tactics.

The most disturbing part of the movie is when Jethro whores his daughters to the sheiks.

"You foolish, stupid man!"

Joshua is the hero of this movie.

Something to watch for:

After Moses tells Ramases about the last plague - that Rameses himself proclaims......there is a scene where a tall nice looking young guard in a short short skirt comes in......he has half a line that he delivers so woodenly it's laughable and then he collapses in an hilarious way......turns out he is a first born.

Must be somebody's boyfriend or Hollywood Blvd. trick.....maybe Henry Wilcoxin's.......

“It’s a MAN!!”

“I wish EVERYDAY was the shearing festival!”

EVERY DAY

[quote] It's gross to think of how many pairs of panties Nefretiri went through during the shoot.

Most bizarre comment of the entire thread!

I thought the same at first as a poster upthread, ie why is this being shown now instead of at Passover which comes later this year and to which this classic film is actually relevant instead.

But then I realized how it ties to Easter observers IMO because it focuses on the Passover story and event, which then during Christians’ Easter Holy Week is pivotal to its story as to Jesus and his Apostles observe it and where Judas is identified as the one who betrays Jesus who during that Passover period was when he returned to the city to where he would be killed. Oh, and agreed it’s also about all the campy fun, memorable dialogue and characters, and hammy scenery chewing!

Oh, modem, modem!

Moses to Nefretiri: Just count it as an incomplete forward pass.

I wish Moses were my boyfriend. He's so dreamy. I can imagine Moses calling me from Egypt and us talking on the phone all night long.

The title credits indicate the film was shot in CinemaScope, though (?). Maybe it was subsequently shown with alternate opening credits with title card indicating where, in some movie houses due to particular screen dimensional setup restrictions, it needed to be shown there modified in eg VistaVision and other such alternate formats?

PS: Yup, Anne chewed scenery, but I believe directed to precisely do so — such that without her precise delivery, the character interactions and movie dynamics just wouldn’t have been as colorful and fun.

Nefertiti and Ramses would have been brother and sister. And you're worrying about Jethro ?

I’m surprised the drag queens haven’t choreographed a number from the sisters’ scene.

[quote] Moses was a Prince of Egypt. He was on the road to becoming Pharoah. Admittedly Rameses was going to try to mess with him and over throw him. That's fairly obvious. But as far as the JEws go, the slaves, if he had risen to Pharoah, he could have released them from bondage and sent them on their way. They'd have fought for him and supported him against Rameses. I think he was terribly impulsive and short sighted, and that doesn't seem consistent with his personality as we have been given to understand it. All that bullshit about, "What I do I am compelled to do" is just that. Bullshit. Dial it back, Mo. Lay in the cut and wait. Seti is on his way out. Patience!

This movie seems to be "loosely based" on the Bible.

Pharaoh noticed that the Israelites (descendants of Jacob, aka Israel) were starting to outnumber the Egyptians in their own country. And even after he bound them into slavery (in hopes of reducing their numbers), they still kept multiplying.

So finally, Pharaoh decreed that all the newborn males should be thrown into the Nile river.

Moses' mother concealed him for three months, and when he could no longer be hidden, she put him in a basket on the Nile.

It was then, that Pharaoh's DAUGHTER (not his sister) found Moses. Moses' sister, who had been following the basket, cleverly asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like one of the Hebrews to nurse the baby. Pharaoh's daughter said yes, and that she would pay the girl to have that done.

The Bible mentions that "when the child grew older," Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses as her son It doesn't say at what age exactly.

Exodus 2:11 mentions that one day, as an adult, Moses went out to the fields to see "the burden his brothers were bearing, and he caught sight of an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers."

So Moses already knew that he was a Hebrew. It was no secret.

But then he killed that Egyptian and "buried him in the sand."

Pharaoh later found out that Moses had killed an Egyptian, so Pharaoh tried to kill Moses.

And THAT is what forced his exile into the desert. It wasn't because he turned his back on Pharaoh, and then got exiled. Moses was running away from the wrath of Pharaoh.

It was during that exile that Moses came to the camp of the Priest of Midian, and ended up marrying his daughter Zipporah.

After many years in the desert, Moses was called to Mt. Sinai because God had "heard Israel's groaning from bondage" and sent Moses to deliver them from Egypt.

By that time, the old Pharaoh had died, and a new one ruled in his place.

So yeah, DeMille took some creative liberty with that part of the story.

Where I live, they are showing repeated commercials for local a local pawn shop, "Lee's Pawn & Jewelry." Kind of breaks the mood -

[quote] This movie seems to be "loosely based" on the Bible.

Welcome to C B DeMille

I remember watching this and the Passover pestilence-spreading scene during the 2020 showing when all was breaking loose with the COVID pandemic spread and the much uncertainty going on with it especially during that earlier onset period. That spreading green death had my neck hairs on hand bc COVID’s spread was seeming and feeling so much as fearful, evil and unavoidable as the film’s portrayed Passover plague.

Truly a well- produced and -directed film which, even in its length, just winds up tighter and becomes fresher and more amazing with each passing new scene and special effect right through the closing credits.

R199, I was raised Catholic and I never heard your version of events about Moses in Exodus. And it wasn't a Priest of Midian, it was a Prince of Midian.

On another matter, I never heard about Moses marrying no Zippo. I read earlier in this thread he married the founder of that chain of cosmetics retailers, Sephorah. Named after her great, great, great, great, great Grandmother.

For R203:

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

[quote] So Moses already knew that he was a Hebrew. It was no secret.

Which raises so many questions itself. Did Pharaoh mind that his daughter had completely ignored his whole big supposedly vital orders? Apparently not.

The whole thing really seems so slapdash and thrown together by whoever wrote Exodus. Like they had two big, rich sagas: Joseph and his brothers, and the elaborate stories of Moses and the plagues and the ten commandments and freeing all the slaves and all this other stuff. And they decided to slap the two stories together with a pretty brief and half-assed couple of chapters.

Catholics didn't read the King James version of the Bible. They read some other version. I think King James lied.

[quote] and hammy scenery chewing!

Lamb is the animal of choice at Easter.

Thank you , Eastah Bonny! Bok! Bok!

[quote] I think King James lied.

He probably lied about his favorite having a nice ass too.

OK, R204, I just checked my old Catholic bible from high school, and it runs along according to what you wrote. Except about Zippo. In my bible She is Sepphora with 2 "p"s. Our bibles were based on the Douay-Rheims version.

[quote] Except about Zippo

He was my favorite of the Marx Brothers.

[quote] The whole thing really seems so slapdash and thrown together by whoever wrote Exodus. Like they had two big, rich sagas: Joseph and his brothers, and the elaborate stories of Moses and the plagues and the ten commandments and freeing all the slaves and all this other stuff. And they decided to slap the two stories together with a pretty brief and half-assed couple of chapters.

Not really.

The latter part of Genesis details the account of Joseph.

Joseph was sold to the Ishmeelites by his treacherous brothers, because he was Jacob's favorite son, and they were jealous of him.

He was then taken to Egypt to become a servant in the house of Potiphar, an Egyptian high official.

After many years in Egypt, and thanks to his being able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph was made the second highest ranking person in all of Egypt, subject only to Pharaoh himself.

Joseph's father and brothers later moved to Egypt (thanks to Joseph, who forgave his asshole brothers) due to a famine in their homeland, and they were welcomed by Pharaoh.

There were 12 sons and wives, and they quickly multiplied over the generations.

That's where Genesis ends. Exodus picks up where Jacob (Israel) dies, then Joseph dies, and a new Pharaoh begins to rule.

The Bible mentions that he didn't know Joseph (basically the Mariah Carey "I don't know her" attitude), so he doesn't care about the Hebrews. He thinks they've become too numerous and have started to outnumber the Egyptians themselves.

So he turns them into slaves. And when that doesn't decrease their numbers, he issues the decree to drown all first born Hebrew males.

That's where the Moses story picks up.

So yes, there is continuity.

[quote] 6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

[quote] 7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

[quote] 8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

[quote] 9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

[quote] 10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

Well it was Joseph, son of Jacob who got everybody to move to Egypt in the first place. And Pharoah had promoted Joseph to being a real big shot. Then he brings his whole damned family to Egypt, and they all had wives and kids ,and next thing you know they're multiplying like rabbits, and Pharoah gets worried that they could rise up against him. The movie does mention that Seti was worried about that.

Is anyone drunk yet, from taking shots when Anne Baxter speaks?

Moses begins the 4000 year old tradition of the Egyptian Army having its ass kicked by the IDF

[quote]This movie seems to be "loosely based" on the Bible.

Not nearly as loosely as the Bible is based on reality.

[quote]The most disturbing part of the movie is when Jethro whores his daughters to the sheiks.

I'm sure his hot blonde sister Ellie May was a big hit with the sheiks.

That's how it was done, back in the day. Daughters were a commodity to be pawned off on some rich guy. BTW: I thought the choreography in this movie was shit. Truly shit.

Anne looks rather visually stunning mourning in midnight-dark purple.

[quote] I thought the choreography in this movie was shit. Truly shit.

Um, have you seen the scene with the Golden Calf?

Those whores were dancing as if they were at Studio 54!

And the muscle studs carrying the Golden Calf were HOT!!

Cowboy and underneath him

R220 but Jethro's daughters were terrible and I don't even want to get in to the chorus girls in skimpy chartreuse tutus who were dancing for Seti at his jubilee.

[quote] have you seen the scene with the Golden Calf?

I can’t watch that, with all its lasciviousness.

[quote]Anne looks rather visually stunning mourning in midnight-dark purple.

Yes, r219, Anne and Edie decided against the ombre chiffon.

Figures Edith and Anne would’ve tried to rip off one of The Supremes’ 1960s gowns. 😛

Ramses drags Moses to the palace in the middle of the last plague with the green mist flowing everywhere, so why didn't Moses die? He was firstborn and there wasn't any blood on any palace doorposts I could see.

Oh Ramses, Ramses. You'll never get your God of Death to resurrect that child mannequin you've laid upon the altar.

No, he did have the older brother, along with his sister Miriam. I love that name, btw.

Was Moses cut?

[quote] I can’t watch that, with all its lasciviousness.

Oh, please Margaret White.

You loved it! With all that dirty touching...

That really was a cast of thousands, wasn’t it? My god, so, so many people.

😳

[quote]have you seen the scene with the Golden Calf?

Oh, honey -- you know I haven't touched veal in YEARS.

I love the scene with the little boy and his ducks and the other little boy with his oxen.

Baby Moses was played by Fraser Heston.

Horus seems otherworldly to you? dude who went to Egypt some responses back.

Human body with a bird head?

🤔

[quote] I love the scene with the little boy

As do I.

Don’t be gross, R236.

They were cute little boys with their animals.

Fun fact: In the very first dialogue scene in the movie, when the previous Rameses declares that every newborn Hebrew child shall die, the guard who has speaking lines was played by Henry Brandon, previously known as Henry Kleinbach, a.k.a. Mr. Barnaby in MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (aka BABES IN TOYLAND).

Are there any modern holdout sects that continue to worship the Golden Calf? It looks like a blast and I'd love to convert.

Oh yeah R228. I forgot about Aaron.

Lord help me, I absolutely cannot stand Dathan in these last few scenes.

Shut the fuck up, Dathan!

Bithia says to Memnet: "The day you break this oath will be your last day."

When Memnet breaks the oath and tells Nefretiri the truth, Nefretiri kills her!

Good foreshadowing.

I prefer "The Simpsons" version. My favorite scene (unfortunately not in this clip) is where Mrs. Krabappel is taking dictation from Principal Skinner (as Pharaoh) in hieroglyphics.

Pharaoh Sethi seemed like a big old KWEEN, and Nefretiri was his hag.

It's kind of hilarious.

Just like Eve and Addison.

It would have sucked having to walk next to the group that was carrying Joseph's remains what with them singing that goddamn song the entire way.

Christ, all they did was SCREAM THEIR LINES.

Surely they stoned that wanton WHORE who lasciviously polished the golden calf with her WHORE hair.

So what was the name of that golden calf? It was some sort of deity?

Unclean-ness??

Weren’t they all pretty dirty since they had no access to water? Them being in the desert and all. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So let it be written

So let it be done.

"According to the Bible and the Quran, the golden calf was a cult image made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as "the sin of the calf". Bull worship was common in many cultures. In Egypt, whence according to the Exodus narrative, the Israelites had recently come, the Apis was a comparable object of worship, which some believe the Hebrews were reviving in the wilderness."

Oh. 😯 Thank you, R252.

Where did Yul Brynner's dark complexion come from?

He was Russian and Swiss, but he is very tanned (definitely not the trademark of Russian and Swiss people).

His wiki page doesn't really give insight into this.

[quote]Are there any modern holdout sects that continue to worship the Golden Calf? It looks like a blast and I'd love to convert.

The plague of frogs was filmed but not included. When it was shown in rushes or a preview (I forget which) everyone laughed.

Paul Thomas Anderson should have paid heed...

Yul Brynner punched Anthony Rapp in the stomach

[quote] The title credits indicate the film was shot in CinemaScope, though (?).

R196 Nowhere do the title cards indicate CinemaScope. VistaVision appears in the credits and all promotional materials quite clearly and in case you're wondering, Vistavision had an exhibition aspect ratio of 1.85:1, narrower than CinemaScope which in 1956 would have been 2.35:1.

That said, the film was shown cropped at the top and bottom in the 1970's and in 1989 in godawful CinemaScope and 70MM prints but that was not the intended aspect ratio for the film.

R240 John Carradine and Olive Deering (Aaron, Miriam).

R259 VistaVision was designed to be shown in three different aspect ratios (see the Wikipedia article posted above). It was exhibitor's choice. The widest was close to CinemaScope ratio.

I saw it on screen in the '70s but I don't remember it being super wide.

DeMIlle gave parts to Olive Deering (who had already been in Samson and Delilah) and Edw. G. Robinson despite their blacklisted/graylisted status. DeMille was a Commie-hunter, himself, but he tended to go his own way.

R260 The widest ratio VistaVision was designed to be shown in was 2:1 although attempts were made to show T10C in scope, disastrously. But nowhere on the credits in any versions of the movie does it say CinemaScope.

THE ROBE used to be the movie that was always shown at Easter. I don't know if it was network, or local. Because I remember my uncle always had to watch it every Easter. Of course it was much more appropriate for Easter! I think Quo Vadis also used to be shown at Easter. Not as on point as The Robe, but still a Christian story (and a better movie).

I'm pretty sure The Ten Commandments used to be shown on Easter night. I remember because we would just about get home in time from my aunt's house, to see it. It also was shown in two parts, on the network, sometimes. Two successive evenings. And back then they didn't have that stupid ABC network logo on the screen.

R262 I never said it did.

Charlton Heston used to be a pretty big sex symbol, maybe not so much when this movie was made, but at least from Ben-Hur, on, until about the '70s. I remember girls I went to high school with thinking he was hot. Even if by then he was well into middle age.

But looking at Twitter tonight, all the women and/or men were thirsting for Yul. Heston was well built but not as defined. I wonder if people have been conditioned by today's films/TV to only like muscle men. (Even if, like Brynner, they're short.)

Anne Baxter's performance is entertaining, and Yul Brynner brings the hotness factor. But I think my favorite performance is the understated one by Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Seti.

I think my favorite performance (though it isn't big) is Nina Foch as Bithia. I also like Martha Scott. These are actresses who were almost always excellent in everything.

Incidentally, I read that DeMille met with Bette Davis for the part of Memnet. Very small part, it gives an idea of where Bette's career was at the time. And she didn't get it.

DeMille originally was thinking of Anne Baxter for the part of Sephora, Moses's wife. Yvonne DeCarlo, who usually played sexy types, was cast against type and got good reviews.

I wonder why DeMille cast Baxter, though. It would have been a good part for Ava Gardner, Jean Simmons, or some other sexy beauty. Anne was lovely but not a raving beauty and not particularly sexy - she has to work at it, which is why I think she seems over the top. I do like her a lot in the last part of the film though, when she's supposed to be older, and frustrated.

[quote]I wonder if people have been conditioned by today's films/TV to only like muscle men. (Even if, like Brynner, they're short.)

Yul Brynner was too short for Anne Baxter's gestures.

[quote] But looking at Twitter tonight, all the women and/or men were thirsting for Yul. Heston was well built but not as defined.

That scene after the death of their child, showed Yul in an unbelievably hot light.

Not only was he sexy in that black robe, but it also highlighted his very toned and muscular physique. He looked incredible.

The costumes in this movie were really amazing. They added so much to the overall effect.

And I have to say that Anne Baxter really showed her acting chops when the movie turned dark.

Her constant berating and goading of Ramses, to go after Moses, demonstrated why she was picked for this role.

I think the hard edge she showed in All About Eve, was exactly what DeMille was looking for in Nefertiri. In the first half of the movie, she was absolutely camping it up. But towards the end, she showed more vulnerability, and then hardness. It was an interesting transition.

[quote] I think my favorite performance is the understated one by Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Seti.

He was kind of queeny for a Pharaoh.

[quote] I think my favorite performance (though it isn't big) is Nina Foch as Bithia.

Me too. She was very sweet and endearing in this movie.

Look at that body!

[quote]She was very sweet and endearing in this movie.

Like when she threatened Memnet with execution?

Those arms....

Too bad TCM can't show this movie. They always do such a great job of telling you about the movie's creation, behind the scenes stuff, etc. Watching it on ABC with the non-stop commercials is clearly not what the Gods intended!

Yul also claimed ancestry through his grandparents of the Romani. These were gypsies. They were darker. And he definitely had Mongol blood few generations back, according to his biography. He was very exotic looking. Also muscular. At one point he joined a circus as an acrobat. He had an interesting Bohemian life. Especially when he was living in Paris and met Cocteau and Picasso.

Ben Hur should be the Easter movie and Ten Commandments the Passover movie.

R276 thinks she's Queen Nefretiri.

[quote]R263: THE ROBE used to be the movie that was always shown at Easter.

And so it is!

It airs later today on TCM.

[quote]R276: Ben Hur should be the Easter movie and Ten Commandments the Passover movie.

Ben-Hur is airing on TCM on Monday.

[quote]R124: PD, I can't believe that you were ever issued a gay card.

R65/R124, I don't know what the matter with you and your sock at R101, but the pic at R61 is of Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster, wearing the Lily Munster costume. It doesn't have anything to do with 'Follies,' or Carlotta Campion, not by the remotest stretch.

I had offered you an out at R78, suggesting you were alluding to some sort of inside joke, but you declined to take it. In order for an inside joke to be a joke, it at least needs to be funny, or to make some sort of sense. This gag seems to be only between yourself, a theatre queen, and yourself, and that's not humor. This kind of calls for the revocation of 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 gay card, preferably by a vicious slapping, at the least.

▲ what's

[quote]Vistavision had an exhibition aspect ratio of 1.85:1, narrower than CinemaScope which in 1956 would have been 2.35:1.

Which is why VistaVision movies look so fabulous on present-day widescreen monitors, with a 16:9 ration that seems to match VistaVision exactly. Other older movies that perfectly fill a 16:9 monitor: MARY POPPINS and the "flat" version of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS.

I've always felt that when Cinemascope came in, they went TOO wide with it. And now, when you watch those movies even on a very large wide-screen TV, they look too "thin" and have no height to them.

[quote]DeMille considered Pier Angeli, Vanessa Brown, Pat Crowley, Piper Laurie, Irene Montwill, Lori Nelson, Cathy O'Donnell, Jean Peters, Donna Reed, Karen Sharpe, and Elaine Stewart for the part of the Hebrew water girl, Lilia He wanted to cast Pier Angeli in the role, but MGM refused to loan their contract star to Paramount. Debra Paget was loaned from 20th Century-Fox.

Ooh. Margaret White as Lilia. That would have been cool. No shrinking violet there. She's singing Death Cometh to THEE at Dathan while she's swinging a big ass knife at him.

The wanton idol-worshiping hair rubbing WHORE is identified.

Why wasn't Aaron punished for making the golden calf?

Here's what I don't get - prior to leaving Egypt, the Jews were all slaves, working in the fields and mud pits, hacking up straw, etc. Moses had to bust up the grain storage units just to feed them

But when it came time to leave Egypt, they had all kinds of shit they packed up to take with them - carts, baskets, ducks, horses, oxen, bulls, etc etc - where did they get all that stuff - WalMart?

R282 thank He Who Has No Name that he didn't cast Lori Nelson who was married to Johnny Mann of the Johnny Mann Singers - which she said about a hundred times in the DVD commentary of Revenge of the Creature......

[quote] Here's what I don't get - prior to leaving Egypt, the Jews were all slaves, working in the fields and mud pits, hacking up straw, etc. Moses had to bust up the grain storage units just to feed them

[quote] But when it came time to leave Egypt, they had all kinds of shit they packed up to take with them - carts, baskets, ducks, horses, oxen, bulls, etc etc - where did they get all that stuff - WalMart?

Even more perplexing, the Israelites seemed so religious, and so faithful, and so observant when they lived under the oppression of the Egyptians.

But as soon as they were released from captivity, they went into the desert and fashioned for themselves a pagan Golden Calf, and proceeded to worship it!!!

I mean, throughout the whole movie, they were so pious and always talked about their god and their devotion to him.

But in the desert, they were reveling, and worshiping idols, and partying, and whoring around!!!

To the extent that the ground swallowed them up.

It seems like they were probably better off in Egypt.

Obviously R287 you have never been with a group of God's Chosen People on a tour of the Holy Land......

R278 Thanks for the doing the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, I don't get TCM any more. But I was really referring to the pre-cable, ancient times of my youth. Haha.

[quote] But when it came time to leave Egypt, they had all kinds of shit they packed up to take with them - carts, baskets, ducks, horses, oxen, bulls, etc etc - where did they get all that stuff - WalMart?

R287 "The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians."

I believe there's some reference to this in the movie (?) Ramses was fed up with them and said they could take what they wanted, just get the hell out.

[quote] Even more perplexing, the Israelites seemed so religious, and so faithful, and so observant when they lived under the oppression of the Egyptians.

But as soon as they were released from captivity, they went into the desert and fashioned for themselves a pagan Golden Calf, and proceeded to worship it!!!

They were overcompensating. Once God freed them, they were ready to party. Plus they were taken away from any structure they had. It's like Lord Of The Flies. They were off the grid.

Sorry, that should have been:

[quote] Even more perplexing, the Israelites seemed so religious, and so faithful, and so observant when they lived under the oppression of the Egyptians....But as soon as they were released from captivity, they went into the desert and fashioned for themselves a pagan Golden Calf, and proceeded to worship it!!!

R287 They were overcompensating. Once God freed them, they were ready to party. Plus they were taken away from any structure they had. It's like Lord Of The Flies. They were off the grid.

Off the grid and all over that Golden Calf!

[quote] Why wasn't Aaron punished for making the golden calf?

Nepotism?

[quote] But when it came time to leave Egypt, they had all kinds of shit they packed up to take with them - carts, baskets, ducks, horses, oxen, bulls, etc etc - where did they get all that stuff - WalMart?

We like to call it 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

For some reason, I seemed to notice the obvious matte shots more than ever - in front of Nefertiri's window, during the chariot chase, etc etc. The column of fire looked ridiculous, and so did the parting of the Red Sea, especially when it was in the background while they were all walking through. Modern special effects have ruined us, I guess.

Don't you remember when Rameses was pissed off and frustrated and he to9ld Moses to go, and t ake your spoils and all your shit and just GTFO.

[quote]I believe there's some reference to this in the movie (?) Ramses was fed up with them and said they could take what they wanted, just get the hell out.

But it makes zero sense that Rameses would say anything like that.

Once upon a time in Egypt...

But he did, R298.

“Take what spoils you will but just go!”

Or something like that.

[quote] I've always felt that when Cinemascope came in, they went TOO wide with it. And now, when you watch those movies even on a very large wide-screen TV, they look too "thin" and have no height to them.

R281 CinemaScope was never intended for TV. In fact it was developed to distinguish the cinematic experience from television.

[quote] I believe there's some reference to this in the movie (?) Ramses was fed up with them and said they could take what they wanted, just get the hell out.

[quote] But it makes zero sense that Rameses would say anything like that.

Perhaps.

But this account was taken straight out of the Bible, from Exodus Chapter 12.

Apparently, with the last plague of death to all the firstborn of Egypt, the Egyptian people became so fearful of the Hebrew God that not only did Pharaoh let them go, but the people also gave them "whatever they needed" upon leaving:

[quote] 29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

[quote] 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

[quote] 31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.

[quote] 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.

[quote] 33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.

[quote] 34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

[quote] 35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:

[quote] 36 And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

R296, this movie may have dated special effects by today's standards, but it won the Best Special Effects Oscar.

R6, good for Yul!

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but Elmer Bernstein's score for this film deserves some praise.

Instead of Easter, Brenner movies should be saved for the Yule seson

The Mongolian genes were strong with Brynner.

[quote] and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:

Wonder if they ever returned those.

R298 Did you notice the plagues? Moses and God had been causing the Egyptians a bit of trouble. Maybe you should watch the movie again. Or read a synopsis of that part of the Bible.

R306 It's BrYnner.

[quote]CinemaScope was never intended for TV. In fact it was developed to distinguish the cinematic experience from television

I know, but I've always thought it was TOO wide even for movie theater screenings. I remember that when CinemaScope was first coming in, one of the major cinematographers complained that the new aspect ration was too wide because "you cant get any height in it." I completely agree. In order to get any sense of height in any scene -- tall buildings, sky and clouds, etc. -- you have to pull way back. So if you want to have a scene that features the actors in a medium shot but you also want to get a sense of height, it's not possible.

VistaVision, on the other hand, was a very nice compromise between the old, nearly square aspect ratio and the extreme wideness of Cinemascope.

R303 This movie is so good. Compare it to the same themed Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) from Ridley Scott. Good actors, far better effects but the movie is a total bore.

I know Brynner does tell the Hebrews to take whatever spoils they wanted, and that this comes from the Bible. I just meant it makes no sense to me that he would offer that when they hadn't even asked for it. And where exactly did these spoils come from? Where they all from Pharoah? Or did lots of Egyptians welcome the Hebrews into their homes to "borrow" their jewels, etc.?

R311 It's a matter of taste. Fritz Lang famously said (in Contempt, I think, which was filmed in CinemaScope) that CinemaScope was only good for snakes and funerals. The whole thing about not being able to get height is nonsense. When projected correctly, CinemaScope fills the screen vertically at the same height as Vistavision and any other format. In the age of digital projection modern theaters sometimes project scope like a TV set with black bars top and bottom but that's not the way it should be projected and that is what may be given you the feeling that height is compromised. Vistavision was a great system because like 70mm it produced ultra sharp images which is evident in movies like this one.

[quote]The whole thing about not being able to get height is nonsense.

Not nonsense, you just don't understand what that cinematographer meant in that statement I quoted. If if you have an aspect ratio that's close to square or a not especially wide rectangle, you can get some height in various shots while also having the actors in medium shot. But if you have an aspect ratio as wide as Cinemascope, which ranged from 2.35:1 to 2.66:1, you'd have to pull so far back to get any sense of height that the actors would be almost in long shot.

I hope that it clears it up for you.

[quote] This movie is so good. Compare it to the same themed Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) from Ridley Scott. Good actors, far better effects but the movie is a total bore.

TCM showed both "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and "King of Kings" on Sunday.

I tried to watch "The Greatest Story Ever Told," but ended up falling asleep numerous times throughout.

It was so slow, and the main character spoke so softly, that it made me sleepy.

Interestingly, it wasn't until the very end with the special effects, that the movie caught my attention.

DeMille knew exactly what he was doing, with the camp and the visual effects, and he was a MASTER at it.

That's why his movie has stood the test of time.

R146 glad to see that I’m not the only one who loves this song.

The Greatest Story is a snooze fest. A complete and total misfire on all cylinders by two of Hollywood's greatest directors and composers.

R315 I think it was Janusz Kaminski who talked Steven Spielberg out of shooting Jurassic Park in scope because, according to him, a narrower aspect ratio would give the dinosaurs more height. I think this is hogwash because later JP movies used scope and the dinosaurs don't look any shorter, in fact they look monumental in the wider screen. But like I said, it's a matter of taste.

Interesting, R318, but if Kaminski said that, I completely see his point and generally agree. The truth is that, shot for shot, in some cases a wider aspect ratio will look better than a narrower one, and vice versa. But I'm sticking to my opinion that Cinemascope was TOO wide in relationship to the height of the image. It was really unnecessary and unfortunate that Hollywood suddenly went to that extreme, and as I said, I much prefer the VistaVision ratio.

P.S. I don't really understand your statement that "the dinosaurs look monumental in the wider screen." Of course, how big they look really depends on comparison to people/other objects in the frame, so that's not really what we're discussing here.

R319 The Ten Commandments almost got the Todd-AO treatment, 70mm widescreen, which would have been perfect for me and maybe for you too since 70mm is not as wide as scope. CinemaScope was considered also. But because it was a Paramount picture and Paramount developed and owned the rights to Vistavision, that's what they went with. The increased definition of Vistavision works beautifully today on our modern displays.

I liked King of Kings.

Thanks, R320. Yes, I do prefer Todd-AO to Cinemascope, but again, the aspect ration I like most of all is VistaVision, which does seem to fit perfectly on present-day TV screen monitors.

R303 They weren’t satisfied with some of the effects (like the pillar of fire, and some of the green screen stuff) but they had to meet certain release dates. The special effects department wanted to do some things over, but they couldn’t.

Interesting, R323. And yes, the pillar of fire does take me out of the movie a bit because it's so obviously animation -- also that moment when Moses' staff turns into a snake. But of course, they were very limited back then as to what they could do in terms of FX.

I wish they would restore the plague FROGS- evidently they were filmed but not used in the final cut.

[quote] I wish they would restore the plague FROGS- evidently they were filmed but not used in the final cut.

And throw in Nefretiri, reacting to them.

Double Camp!

Does anyone remember Burt Lancaster in the TV miniseries MOSES THE LAWGIVER?

Yea the lice and crickets I don't have to see.....but where the frogs at?

[quote]R324: And yes, the pillar of fire does take me out of the movie a bit because it's so obviously animation -- also that moment when Moses' staff turns into a snake. But of course, they were very limited back then as to what they could do in terms of FX.

They could give 'The Ten Commandments' the same modern effects update and remaster that they did for 'Star Trek TOS,' you know. The snake staff and the Pillar of Fire could cease to be the effects embarrassment that they are now.

I liked King of Kings too because Jeffrey Hunter. No wonder all those guys followed him.Shit.

R329 But then it would no longer be The Ten Commandments (1956).

The snakes and the Pillar of Fire are not the only problem the FX have in this movie. There are a ton of blue screen shots (in those days they used blue) that, when amplified, look really terrible. They're all over the movie, sometimes in the more intimate scenes, and often not visible on TV but when amplified on a movie screen they really ruin the fantasy.

[quote]That's why his movie has stood the test of time.

Agreed. This film should have won Best Picture instead of 'Around the World in 80 Days'. The latter is forgotten today whereas 'The Ten Commandments' is watched every year.

R 113 it is easier to pander to groups with movies like the 10 commandments than Around the world in 80 days.

It's all about ratings

This movie should be required viewing for all Palestinian, as part of a de-Hamasification process. It would educate Palestinians on how and when God gave the area to the Jews, not the children of Ishmael.

[quote]R331: But then it would no longer be The Ten Commandments (1956).

Do you claim that about Remastered Original Trek? The episodes are the same, but with an effects update. It would be the same with 'The Ten Commandments.'

[quote]R332: The snakes and the Pillar of Fire are not the only problem the FX have in this movie. There are a ton of blue screen shots (in those days they used blue) that, when amplified, look really terrible. They're all over the movie, sometimes in the more intimate scenes, and often not visible on TV but when amplified on a movie screen they really ruin the fantasy.

They could fix those, too.

R328 see R256

R332 DeMille used them in The Greatest Show On Earth (1952), sometimes, too. They were also used in Annie Get Your Gun (1950), in a scene, and in An American in Paris, in one scene (briefly). Blue screen was starting to be used in place of rear projection (which also takes you out of the movie). Actually I think it's the opposite - when I saw the movie in the '70s on a movie screen, I didn't notice the lines of the blue screen shots as much as on TV in current high def.

R337: I don't buy that such a scene as depicted at R256 was ever shot. It made it into the concept art but, like the flies, lice, sickness and boils, it was deemed unfeasible for film depiction. The so-called reconstruction isn't so much a reconstruction as a 𝑐𝑜𝑛struction; in the purported still, Anne Baxter's expression does not reflect a confrontation with frogs on her bed. It's a photoshopped creation, and a poor one at that.

Nor would such a scene fit immediately subsequent to the Plague of Blood; the Youtube video has to cut DeMille's narrative exposition in order to segue to it. Jannes' narrative dialogue preceding the Plague of Hail summarizes exactly everything that DeMille deliberately chose 𝑛𝑜𝑡 to show: "The people have been plagued by thirst. They've been plagued by frogs, by lice, by flies, by sickness, by boils; they can endure no more."

𝐼𝑓 such a scene had actually been staged beyond the early concept art (seen at the link below), then 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 would have survived - genuine stills, footage, requisitions for the acquisition and wrangling of frogs, recollections by scene stagers and actors who performed in the scenes, etc. None of that exists for this claim.

[quote] Do you claim that about Remastered Original Trek?

Star Trek The Motion Picture is not nearly the iconic film T10C is in terms of special effects. For one, it didn't win an Oscar for Best Special Effects.

[quote] They could fix those, too.

The studio would not be able to justify the expense at this time. The movie is making them money as it is.

[quote] I don't buy that such a scene as depicted at [R256] was ever shot.

I think at least some shots were completed but they felt the mechanical frogs didn't look right so they may have scrapped the scene before it even got to the editing phase. One of those frogs, in very poor condition, was auctioned a couple of years ago.

If you want exhaustive details about this movie, I highly recommend Katherine Orrison's book on its making. She also does a very good commentary track through the entire film on the Bluray and 4K Blu. The book is called Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic The Ten Commandments.

Yeah, the cheesy effects are part of the charm. I don't think anybody wants to fuck with them, really.

[quote]R340: Star Trek The Motion Picture is not nearly the iconic film T10C is in terms of special effects. For one, it didn't win an Oscar for Best Special Effects.

Nobody, least of all me, said anything about Star Trek The Motion Picture. I guess you're sufficiently removed from any knowledge or interest in 'Trek' that you don't know what the Original Series is, that it received a complete effects remaster beginning in 2006, or what any of that looked like. Opposition to the project melted away when people saw the results.

Unremastered TOS is no longer shown anywhere; the remastered episodes have completely replaced the originals.

[quote]The studio would not be able to justify the expense at this time. The movie is making them money as it is.

Nobody could justify the 'Trek' remaster at first, either. Proof of concept was independently done on the episode 'The Doomsday Machine,' and the positive reaction is what sold the studio on the idea. Someone would need to pick a critical scene from 'The Ten Commandments' and upgrade it. If it's done well, then subsequent interest would finance the project.

[quote]I think at least some shots were completed but they felt the mechanical frogs didn't look right so they may have scrapped the scene before it even got to the editing phase. One of those frogs, in very poor condition, was auctioned a couple of years ago.

Are there links offering credible support for any of these claims, rather than anecdotes or poorly done stuff like the video at R256?

[quote]R342: Yeah, the cheesy effects are part of the charm. I don't think anybody wants to fuck with them, really.

No, they're really not 'part of the charm.' And no one has yet seen what could potentially be done.

But that's my two cents worth on the topic of an effects upgrade. I'm through beating that horse.

Well I don't believe there ever was no pillar of fire or the seas partin'. I think it's all a big lie. I believe the bugs and snakes and the bad water makin' people sick, tho. The part about the first born kids dying from some angel of death is bullshit. This movie was good but it was kind of one a them science fiction or fantasy things. I liked Dathan best. Man, he knew the score.

[quote] I liked Dathan best.

That makes sense, since you both are in denial about what happened.

▲ Thinks the Bible is a factual account.

R343 You're right, I had no idea about the Star Trek re-do.

In doing a bit more research, I found that apparently a test scene was done of Anne Baxter in bed with the frogs back in 1954 before principal photography began. They found it so ridiculous that she would be terrorized by a couple of frogs that they ditched the whole idea.

[quote]R347: You're right, I had no idea about the Star Trek re-do.

Oh, you ought to have a look at them. It's amazing. It's as though the series was shot in the 21st century, instead of the late 1960s.

[quote]In doing a bit more research, I found that apparently a test scene was done of Anne Baxter in bed with the frogs back in 1954 before principal photography began. They found it so ridiculous that she would be terrorized by a couple of frogs that they ditched the whole idea.

There's a sort of pettiness or silliness to some of the Plagues; only four of them have any serious bite to them (water undrinkable, livestock dying, locusts destroying crops, death of the firstborn). The Jack Chick tracts and comics of the 1970s-80s underscored the comedic aspects of some of it (like a black panel with only the whites of Pharaoh's eyes showing, and a speech bubble saying, "Moses... go get Moses!"). They would best remain undepicted.

Ridley Scott did they whole queen in bed assaulted by hundreds of digital frogs in Exodus more or less effectovely. I think that's been the standard depiction of this particular plague.

[quote] I think it's all a big lie. I believe the bugs and snakes and the bad water makin' people sick, tho. The part about the first born kids dying from some angel of death is bullshit.

I considered posting this earlier but I didn't want to hijack a rare good datalounge analysis of the film.

You may be wrong. There has been scientific analysts whether the plagues could have occurred as described. And it seems they could.

That's not positive proof it did happened but fair argument leaves open the door.

yeah, those theories are always so weird r350. This odd attempt to make the Bible totally true while making it totally not miracles, which of course defeats the whole purpose. So basically a whole lot of meaningless shit happened, but don't worry, it makes the Bible real so you can believe all the supernatural shit, even though it's not supernatural, or some nonsense.

Take a shot every time Anne Baxter serves up poached cunt

[quote]They found it so ridiculous that she would be terrorized by a couple of frogs that they ditched the whole idea.

They coulda got frogs with swagger.

[quote]R349: Ridley Scott did they whole queen in bed assaulted by hundreds of digital frogs in Exodus more or less effectovely. I think that's been the standard depiction of this particular plague.

Depictions of that plague are so rare that one can hardly describe 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' (2014) as "standard."

You didn't include the link, so I did.

'Exodus: Gods and Kings' begins its plague causational sequence with one that the bible doesn't mention: the Plague of Crocodiles.

[quote]R350: You may be wrong. There has been scientific analysts whether the plagues could have occurred as described. And it seems they could.

Not really, no. Special pleading does not constitute "scientific analysts". And the 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 article, 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟎 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐠𝐲𝐩𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧? 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝟑 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, does not include 'no' as a possible answer.

[quote]That's not positive proof it did happened but fair argument leaves open the door.

Not all arguments have equal standing. The position that 'the door is left open' is an unreasonable one.

R339 It is mentioned from time to time. I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in one of the making-of documentaries about the film. "The Making Of The Ten Commandments" or "Making Miracles."

This writer mentions it: "The plague of frogs was shot but ultimately not used since DeMille thought that the scenes didn’t look scary enough and almost comical."

If you need absolute proof you may not get that.

Some a them plagues happened because it's scientific. Like bugs eating crops. and then if the bugs eat a crop there's famines, and if the water's bad and the animals die. it's all scientific. So them Egyptians was just trying to blame some bad luck from scientific stuff on Moses and the Jaws. And them priests were seeing signs but they was just superstitious anyway and they gave the king bad advice because if I had all them workers there's no way I turn them free just because of bugs.

R355 et al. This is from Jesse Lasky Jr.'s account in the Orrison book:

CUT!!

Maybe it was the hopping. Hippity-hopping along. Hop-hop-hop-ho-ping along. Oh, yes, the test footage of Anne Baxter croaking over the hoppers was the hot ticket on the Paramount lot that summer. You weren't simply "in" in Hollywood if you hadn't seen it. Anne Baxter, emoting with the rubber frogs, was something to see. I wonder where that footage is today...

R127, R141 I thought Jayne Meadows was being considered for Bithia (the Nina Foch role). Jayne was around 37 at the time so I doubt it was for Nefretiri.

R357 I read that book, so I guess that's where I first heard it.

R358 My mistake. She was in fact considered for Bithia.

It surprises me that Jayne did well at all in her movie career, since she never really grasped movie acting and was always playing to the second balcony.

From an Anne Baxter interview:

DeMille asked me to come in. His office at Paramount was bursting with books, props, rolls of linens. I told him I'd have to wear an Egyptian false nose and he pounded the table. "No. Baxter, your Irish nose stays in this picture." He acted out my part and I kept nodding, and I walked out with the part. The sound stage sets were magnificent. It was all corny, sure, but DeMille knew it was corny—that's what he wanted, what he loved. I loved slinking around—really, this was silent film acting but with dialogue.

Psychological or sociological reasons behind characters' behavior in DeMille films were rare. Bad people were bad, good people were good. Men were led astray by a certain type of woman (who wasn't necessarily evil, just not pure).

A lot of his movies had a love triangle plot.

His movies sometimes were about somewhat obscure historical events, like the Battle of Duck Lake, in Northwest Mounted Police (1940), or Pontiac's rebellion, in Unconquered (1947).

A couple of his westerns, The Plainsman (1936) (Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur), and Union Pacific (1939) (Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea) got very good reviews. John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) is often credited with bringing back the big western movie, but credit should be given to DeMille, also.

[quote]So yeah, DeMille took some creative liberty with that part of the story.

It take some cheek to rewrite the bible, but that's Hollywood.

DeMille always said I was his greatest star! If I had been real and not in the nuthouse, I could have played the Baxter part.

R15... thanks so much for that. I've never seen it. It is the kind of parody that will have be chuckling all day.

Alright... I don't get it enough!

If you want to watch a very entertaining doc about DeMille...

Episode 2...

Anthony Quinn was DeMille son-in-law, btw.

The sketch at R15 is by a Scottish comedian called Stanley Baxter. He is still alive at 97. Not a bad looking guy when younger. Gay but married to a woman his whole life, who seemed a bit nuts and ultimately killed herself. She used to allow him to bring men home for sex. Quite a story. He never seemed happy with his homosexuality.

Baxter was a very good actress for many years, then sometime after she won her Oscar, she started really hamming it up, for some reason.

Honest question, because I've seen very few of her films: Was Anne Baxter as over-the-top in any other movie as she was in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?

She was the definition of restraint in Hotel.

Carnival Story

R373 have you seen All About Eve?

[quote] R373 have you seen All About Eve?

Her name isn't Eve.

It's Gertrude Slescynski.

What of it?!

Baxter is terrific in Three Violent Men, a Western she made at Paramount with Charlton Heston and hunky Tom Tryon looking hotter than ever while they were shooting The Ten Commandments.

LOL! R377, George Sanders is so underrated.

So underrated he won the Academy Award.

RE "Testament The Story of Moses." The "Turkish movie" reenactments are in English with the actors clearly speaking English.

[quote]Gay but married to a woman his whole life, who seemed a bit nuts and ultimately killed herself. She used to allow him to bring men home for sex. Quite a story.

Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at his rear end.

[quote] It take some cheek to rewrite the bible, but that's Hollywood.

Ain't it the truth

What R381 said.

I liked Baxter as the Mexican woman who runs a diner in Walk on the Wild Side. Good, trashy fun.

OMG R386 and wasn't Laurence Harvey Gay? What a cast and the movie looks like a melodramatic stew of shit.

[quote]OMG R386 and wasn't Laurence Harvey Gay? What a cast and the movie looks like a melodramatic stew of shit.

And featuring Miss Barbara Stanwyck as a lesbionic brothel madam.

Laurence Harvey was not a fag!

Jane Fonda was terrible in that film.

....

A good (subtle) performance by Anne was in The Walls of Jericho, a turn-of-the-century piece where she plays a lawyer. Another good one is Homecoming (starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner, co-starring her husband at the time, John Hodiak). Blue Gardenia is also pretty good - as is Hitchcock's I Confess.

This was the first year I saw the movie. Yul Brunner stole the show.

I went on a studio tour years ago and saw ‘the parting of the Red Sea’ there. was not impressive, was not the movie’s prop, either but here it is.

Btw; I don’t know if it’s still open, I see this article says it closed at that time.

Good lord, I did this tour decades ago. It was barely a stream.

My mom mocked it and said her little town river was way bigger than that. 😝

She still tells the story.

Btw, we were on the trolley and at a certain point the tour guide brought our attention to some banged up jeeps and an suv, painted a bright green , he told us it was for a movie that Steven Speilberg was making. I think he even mentioned the movie but we all just looked at each other. We didn’t know what movie it was….Jurassic Park 😮😳

[quote]Yul Brunner

Oh, dear.

R255 pic for you, obviously that statue to the god ota the Golden Calf has been ‘modernized’.

As for the old ‘Golden Calf’ in the movie, who decided to make it half sitting down? Didn’t they know how to make back legs?

Lastly: So, is the mummy of Ramses II really the Moses Ramses?

The sitting calf looks more erotic. Like it's in the humping position.

Death of Memnet. Imagine if DeMille had cast Bette Davis (who he did consider for the part). Bette and Anne would have been reunited on the screen. But it would have been humiliating for Bette for play a small supporting role with Anne in the lead.

Solomon And Sheba trailer (1959). The movie Tyrone Power died while making, and was replaced by Yul Brynner.

Brynner has a hairpiece and a beard. Someone once figured out that no movie where Yul Brynner had hair was successful.

Yul was known to have a huge ego. He must’ve been impossible to work with.

The only think good about Walk on the Wild Side was the music. That theme was a huge hit.

[quote]But it would have been humiliating for Bette for play a small supporting role with Anne in the lead.

It would have been like "Footsteps on the Ceiling" all over again!

the opening...

[quote]Baxter is terrific in Three Violent Men, a Western she made at Paramount with Charlton Heston

Interesting, R379. I didn't realize Baxter and Heston had worked together prior to The Ten Commandments.

Martha Scott IS Yochabel

R404, so did William Wyler see this film and decide to cast Martha Scott as Heston's mother in 'Ben-Hur'?

R405 I wonder that, too. He had worked with her before (The Desperate Hours), though.

R405 I've often wondered how that came about. I decided to watch Ben Hur last night and the Gay stuff is completely undeniable. Not just between Juda and Mesala, but Mesala, man he had his boys around him all the time.

[quote]Mesala, man he had his boys around him all the time.

A regulah Roxie Hart!

It went over everyone's heads until it started to be pointed out by Gore Vidal. It's obvious if you're expecting it.

I'm not sure which film it was, maybe Cimarron, when Baxter went back to playing second leads - which was how she started.

Cornel Wilde was offered the role of Joshua, and turned it down as it wasn't a big part. Said he regretted it.

Robert Preston told a story about DeMille, something like this. DeMille cast Preston in the second lead in Union Pacific. Big part. Preston was young, and had only done a couple of small roles. For publicity, DeMille asked Preston what jobs he'd done before acting. Preston said, nothing, really, he was at the Pasadena Playhouse. DeMille said, no, some real job we can use in publicity stories. So Preston said: I worked in a parking lot in LA for maybe a week before getting an acting job. So they ended up saying he parked cars for a living before being discovered.

After Union Pacific, DeMille cast Preston in North West Mounted Police (1940), but in the third lead - a smaller role. He cast him again in Reap The Wild Wind (1942), in an even smaller role. He then offered Preston a part in his next picture, and Preston turned him down. He told DeMille he was tired of getting cast in smaller and smaller parts.

DeMille replied: You ungrateful son of a bitch - I took you out of that job parking cars and made you a star, and this is the thanks I get.

Just joining in and haven't read the entire thread but I sure hope costume designer Irene Sharaff's name has been credited somewhere upthread with having the brilliant (and perhaps now rather obvious) notion of making Yul have his head of its sparse hairs for The King and I. He had wanted to wear a luxurious wig.

Sharaff designed the Broadway show as well as the film and also designed many of the best lead performers' costumes (like Yul's) for The 10 Commandments.

[quote]Sharaff designed the Broadway show as well as the film and also designed many of the best lead performers' costumes (like Yul's) for The 10 Commandments.

Miss Head and Miss Jeakins would like to have a few words with you, r413.

How authentic were the costumes?

R413 Good post, but I don't think Sharaff designed costumes for The Ten Commandments. The credited designers are Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins, and Arnold Friberg, (see 3:20 in the title sequence).

For the extras, many costumes were purchased from 20th Century-Fox. They were created for the film, The Egyptian (1954). This actually saved Paramount a lot of time and effort.

I love that r412.

Thanks haha

[quote]R396: As for the old ‘Golden Calf’ in the movie, who decided to make it half sitting down? Didn’t they know how to make back legs?

It had back legs. The prop sold at Christie's back in 2001, for $15,275. See link below.

[quote]Lastly: So, is the mummy of Ramses II really the Moses Ramses?

There is no 'Moses Ramses.' Moses is a fictional character, having no connection to the 19th Dynasty pharaoh.

Top 10 Discoveries Related to Moses and the Exodus.

Messala always knew where to find the booze and the boys.

R413, the Costumes were one of the 7 Oscar nominations that The Ten Commandments received:

Best Motion Picture (Nominated)

Best Art Direction (Color) (Nominated)

Best Cinematography (Color) (Nominated)

Best Costume Design (Color) (Nominated)

Best Film Editing (Nominated)

Best Sound Recording (Nominated)

Best Special Effects (Won)

We lived in NJ but I can remember my parents going into NYC to see the exclusive engagement in one of the big Broadway movie houses and returning with a beautiful souvenir program, which I devoured. I asked my mom how to pronounce Nina Foch's last name.....is it Fock? She said, now that wouldn't be very polite, it's Fosche.

An Oscar for special effects????? Jeez.

Of course Yul Brynner won his Oscar for King and I the next year I think? Charlton Heston was a decent actor, but not aa great one. In his movies he mostly poses. He is sort of wooden.

Charlton’s Oscar for BEN HUR is mystifying. Although he had a great chest.

R423 Her name was originally Fock.

R425 Well, he had to carry a 3 and 1/2 hour movie, go through and react to a lot of emotions, difficult events, race a chariot, make it all believable. An acting challenge for anyone, and he was really good in my opinion.

I think the truth about Heston's acting in BEN-HUR is that he has many excellent moments but also many other moments when he seems very wooden, unnatural, and stentorian. That's probably true of his other films as well, though I think he's better in BEN-HUR than in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, and he's mostly awful in PLANET OF THE APES.

R427 I think part of the reason he got the Oscar is that he wasn't as wooden - or stentorian (when was he that, in this movie?) as usual. Wyler definitely humanized and softened him, made him more modest and sympathetic. And it was the most popular movie of the year (and well into the next year) at the box office - there were no other really large parts in it - so why wouldn't he be likely to win an Oscar for a movie bearing the main character's name? He was in almost every scene.

R428, I do think he has some stentorian, obviously "acted" moments in BEN-HUR, but I agree with you, far fewer than in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

Willy Wyler was a far better director of actors than Cecil B. de Mille.

DeMille movies are some of the liveliest old ones and are not boring. They stand up to repeated viewing, too. His father worked in the theater with Belasco (as a playwright) and he was an actor in old-time theater (an unsuccessful one). Whatever the reason for his style, it's just fun. You have to sort of leave your critical thinking at the door. There are always a lot of colorful supporting actors, too.

His movies were often the #1 film at the box office for their year, such as Samson and Delilah, The Greatest Show On Earth.

His silent film, The King Of Kings, is not in the same style at all (except for a Mary Magdalene scene at the beginning). Beautiful film.

De Mille's movies were certainly sexy. HIs Cleopatra with Claudette Colbert still holds up today and Henry Wilcoxon's Marc Antony is hot AF.

Why didn't Henry Wilcoxon become a major star? Was he gay, was that why?

Henry Wilcoxon was in Caddyshack!

Wilcoxon was not a very good actor for leads. He didn't have much of a human touch. Stagey. DeMille discovered him and did expect him to be a hit, but he also kept him on forever as an associate producer (and supporting actor). (He was briefly in The Ten Commandments.) He was good as the cop who has to arrest Jimmy Stewart in The Greatest Show On Earth. He was in some non-DeMille films like a Sherlock Holmes entry, That Hamilton Woman with Leigh and Olivier, and as the vicar in Mrs. Miniver.

he could draw and DeMille liked to have him on set to draw out concepts for things DeMille thought up.

There are gay/bi rumors. He was married twice and had 3 kids.

Also, Wilcoxon's second film for DeMille (which he more or less had to carry) was The Crusades (1935) - it flopped. That kind of stalled Wilcoxon's career momentum.

Wilcoxon had big feet...

I think Charlton Heston's best acting was done in Soylent Green.

If anything, he should have won an Academy Award for that.

I can't believe he didn't get a nomination for Peer Gynt...

Or Planet of the Apes.

Sorry, I think Heston's acting is really pretty bad throughout most of PLANET OF THE APES. In particular, his delivery of the monologue in the spacecraft at the very beginning of the movie is almost embarrassing, although admittedly the lines as scripted are very blunt.

[quote]Although he had a great chest.

If that was enough, Jayne Mansfield would've had a trophy case full of Oscars.

Wasn’t Ben Hur where his costars were told to “gay it up” and Heston was completely unaware?

I think I remember reading that here on some thread or another.

That anecdote was allegedly made by Gore Vidal r443, he wrote the screenplay, didn’t he?

Not "his co-stars," R443. The story is that Stephen Boyd was having trouble motivating Messala turning against his childhood friend Judah Ben-Hur. So he went to Gore Vidal, who worked on the script (uncredited), and I believe the two of them came up with the idea that Messala and Judah had been lovers and now Messala is furious because Judah doesn't want to continue the relationship. Boyd loved the idea, so he and Vidal went to director for William Wyler, who eventually said: "Okay, but whatever you do, DON'T TELL CHUCK!!!"

And this anecdote was not "allegedly" told by Vidal. There is film of him doing so.

Well, thank you, R445.

I knew I had read that here before.

[quote] Interesting, [R379]. I didn't realize Baxter and Heston had worked together prior to The Ten Commandments.

The name of the movie was actually Three Violent People (my error). I understand that it was made during a hiatus while The Ten Commandments was being filmed and released a couple of months after Commandments probably to capitalize on the popularity of that movie. It's actually quite a potent Western.

R405 Ben Hur started shooting with another actress (i think German) as Ben Hur's mother but her accent was unintelligible so Wyler, probably in a rush, called on Martha Scott whom he had worked with and who had played Heston's mother convincingly before. Interestingly, Martha Scott and Heston also played husband and wife on occasion.

She said, "I played his mother twice and his wife twice. I was his mother in Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. I was his wife on the stage in New York in Design for a Stained Glass Window and The Tumbler in London."

R425 Heston gives an amazingly passionate and touching performance in Ben Hur. It's the best of his career because generally speaking he was a rather wooden actor. He more than deserved that Oscar.

But he was never nominated for anything else.

I'm rereading the book about the making of T10C and there's a long section about Wilcoxon's many contributions to the film. You could easily say he went well beyond being just an associate producer and had significant input on the huge production itself. He had played leads in Cleopatra and The Crusades for DeMille and when the latter flopped, which was a rare thing for DeMille, the director apparently blamed him and they were distanced for a number of years. Time passed and they made up just before Samson and Delilah, and from that point on Wilcoxon worked very closely with DeMille on all his projects until his death.

I don't know why Yul Brynner's name was Ramses since the actual Pharaoh was named Thutmose III.

Why do you say that R452? Thutmoses III was the nephew I believe, of Queen Hatshepsut. Thutmoses I was her father, her brother Thutmoses II was briefly her borther/husband. He bore Thutmoses III with one of his other wives, and he was weak, had no interest in governing and died while III was a kid, so Hatshepsut technically was Regent, but then she just took over and became Pharoah. Thutmoses II's wife hated her a raised III to hate her. When he took the throne after her death he tried to erase all evidence of her reign but he didn't succeed. The Seti to Rameses sequence is when it was believed Moses did his thing. BUt there is no actual historic proof Moses ever existed. Rameses lived a very long life and had a shit ton of kids.

When it comes to BEN-HUR, I don't have a big problem with Heston getting the Best Actor Oscar. What I've always thought was unfair is that Stephen Boyd wasn't even nominated as Supporting Actor for his fierce performance as Messala. Instead, they nominated and awarded the Supporting Actor Oscar to Hugh Griffith instead, for playing the Sheik.

[quote]r451 He had played leads in Cleopatra and The Crusades for DeMille

The unmarried St. Loretta was knocked up while filming that. Here she is hiding her bulge on set.

Why do all old film threads lead to Loretta Young these days?

You really don't think Ramses is a far sexier name than Thutmose, r452??

I guarantee you that Moses was a nose-picker. You wander through the desert for forty years with that dry air. You telling me you're not going to have occasion to clean house a little bit?

And don't forget, DeMille always said I was his greatest star!

Rameses II was the guy allegedly dealing with the prophet, Moses. I say allegedly because there's no historical evidence Moses was real. There were several tribes or people who evolved to be the Jews we know, and there was religious strife in Egypt because of Akhenaten and his monotheism, which was a new concept back then, and it is possible that over time, oral history conflated several different events that happened at several different times, and suddenly we have the Book of Genesis and the Book of Exodus, etc.