I have seen this picture many times, including in its original release when I was 4 years old but perhaps the most revealing viewing was in the large theater on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. The setting influenced me to look at it not merely as a story, but as a "production," and seen in that light, I was able to understand the conflicts I've always sensed about this film.DeMille was a brilliant producer. He could bring together the film-making elements with a completeness and vision that few could match. He was also a talented visual story-teller. He was also, when <more> this film was made, probably the longest-practicing director in the business, rivaled only perhaps by King Vidor. He was the definition of Old School.The film is the most curious amalgam of genuine religious belief and genuine showmanship. He knew the message, and he knew how to get people's attention. He brought the two goals together with the simple arithmetic that is the basis of Hollywood business, and is often the undermining of cinematic chemistry and the undoing of Hollywood art.It must be stated that this film contains a few bits of the most outrageously ridiculous dialogue ever filmed. There is something inherently inappropriate about addressing the giver of the founding laws of Western civilization with the words: "Moses, you adorable fool, kiss me." It must also be stated that this film is one of the most awesome and successful acts of film production ever brought off. That was what I realized while watching it within the gates of the Paramount lot. There's a scene where Moses, in his Architect phase, is in his architectural office having a discussion with Nefirtiri. While the two of them work through their frustrated passion, one might notice that in the background, seen through a window, about a half-mile away, 3000 extras are building pyramid. Nobody else made movies quite like DeMille.DeMille keeps this film visually riveting throughout, and it keeps getting better as it goes along. As a visualization of the great biblical story, this is about as good as it gets. If you saw it without being able to understand the dialogue, it would still be enthralling.What ultimately almost wrecks the drama of the film is not the profane ridiculousness of the dialogue or the sexy love-story that seems sacrilegiously embroidered into a holy tale. It is, rather, the genuine piety of the film-maker.The first part of the movie, the story of Moses' search for his real identity and the true meaning of his life, is a great drama. It is well-structured, well acted, and dressed with an inimitable production to give it a sense of reality and greatness. Then, Moses goes up the mountain, listens to the Burning Bush, and comes down gray-haired and radiating divine light.From this point on, Moses has become too holy to suffer any dramatic conflict. As a result, Drama flees from him as though he had some terrifying disease. The movie loses its dramatic center, in the personal sense. The "drama" of the Hebrews escape to freedom and their testing and travails is all there, to be sure, but the personal level of drama, which drove the first half of the film, no longer has its central character.The Drama searches for another center to hold onto, but it never really finds one. Pharaoh Rameses makes a good try and Yul Brynner certainly steals the movie in terms of his performance , but he's not allowed to succeed in becoming the dramatic center because he's the villain. Dathan Edward G. Robinson almost steals the movie, and would have succeeded if he'd had a larger part takes a shot at being a dramatic center, but he's not allowed to because he's a secondary villain.As a result, the terms of the film shift completely. The personal drama set against an epic background becomes an Epic without a personality. And here I use "epic" in its true definition, the story of an entire people. In all, I still think it's a film not to be missed, especially if there's an opportunity to see it on a real movie theater screen. Despite its problems, it's a fabulous experience. <less> |