Ten Commandments (DVD)

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All of the other bonuses that come with the 50th Anniversary Collection are on Disc 2, like the previous Special Collector´s Edition release. First of all, there is a six-part "making of" documentary that runs for about thirty-seven minutes. The six parts are "Moses", "The Chosen People", "Land of the Pharaohs", "The Paramount Lot", "The Score", and "Mr. DeMille". The documentary is pretty good, but only the last three parts offer fascinating tidbits. However, the documentary is simply too brief to offer a substantive experience to people who watch it.

There´s a two-minute newsreel that covers the star-studded New York premiere of the film. Finally, there are three trailers--the 1956 "making of" trailer (a ten-minute preview of the film that gave audiences a behind-the-scenes look at the movie), the 1966 re-release trailer, and the 1989 re-release trailer.

The third disc in this set has the 1923 black-and-white silent "The Ten Commandments", which was also directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The movie has a running time of approximately two hours and sixteen minutes, though judging by the speeded up action, this movie should really run about two hours and thirty minutes. Prior to the introduction of "talkies", the film rate speed was standardized at 16 frames per second. However, nowadays, a lot of people run old movies at 24 frames per second no matter what the movies´ proper frame speeds are. This is an atrocious practice that shows little regard for cinema history and for aesthetics. This also makes a lot of movies look like cartoons because of the rapid action.

The first five-elevenths (5/11) of the movie is devoted to a re-telling of the Biblical Exodus story that is well-known today. The second six-elevenths (6/11) of the movie takes place in 1923, the time of the movie´s release. Two brothers are in love with the same woman, and they have bitter disagreements over several issues. This was meant to be an application of Biblical lessons to the 20th Century. The "present-day" story includes Orientalist imagery that paints non-whites as the white man´s downfall. One of the brothers has a dalliance with a woman who looks vaguely Asian, and this segment is called "The Red Commandment" (yes, as in "The Scarlet Letter").

The ancient-history part of the movie has impressive sets and an appropriately epic feel. However, the whole movie exhibits the overwrought acting that characterized a lot of Hollywood silents. This was due in part to actors using the stage convention of acting extremely expressively so that even people in the back of a theatre could see the actors´ emotions. However, this type of acting is very jarring and unintentionally comical when used in movies. (Also, the make-up work for the Exodus part is hideous, though this can be seen in other Hollywood silents like the black-and-white "Ben-Hur".)

The video transfer was taken from a film print in relatively good shape. There are the expected scratches and other print damage, and the lighting often shifts between bright and dim within the same shot. Still, the picture looks about as good as the picture of the 1956 version. The 1923 movie is accompanied by a music score in DD 2.0 stereo. There are optional French subtitles that appear when quotes from the Bible are used as intertitles (text cards that appear on the screen).

Katherine Orrison provides an audio commentary on this DVD to go along with her commentary for the 1956 version. She has obviously devoted much time and research to "The Ten Commandments" as a big-screen endeavor, so she is about as good of a commentator as you can get for these two movies. You´re also able to see hand-tinted footage of the Exodus as well as the Parting of the Red Sea. This was a pain-staking process that required armies of colorists painting films frame by frame. The footage is in worse shape than the black-and-white footage seen in the movie, but this is to be expected since the hand-tinted prints were fewer and rarer than the black-and-white prints.

The ratings for the 1923 version are--
Video: 7
Audio: 7
Extras: 3
Film Value: 7

If you already have the Special Collector´s Edition of "The Ten Commandments", then you have all the extras that are now available for the movie. This release is for people who want to see Cecil B. DeMille´s 1923 version.

--Miscellaneous--
The 50th Anniversary Collection comes in a handsome custom cardboard case. The "cover" has a piece of transparent plastic that that transposes a picture of Charlton Heston over artwork on the inside of the case. The case unfolds to reveal the three DVDs.

Film Value:
"The Ten Commandments" remains a monumental spectacle and a delightful extravagance. I continue to enjoy it despite its sometimes campy overtones. As Pharaoh says, "So let it be written. So let it be done."

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