The Ten Commandments

I’ve just finished watching the president of the NRA play Moses in the Ten Commandments. I suppose there was at least one commandment he didn’t honour as highly as some of the others.

Laying that issue aside, this is movie-making of another era, when movies began with Entrance Music, had Intermission Music and Exit Music. GONE WITH THE WIND and Doctor Zhivago come to mind. Just as the music that accompanies it the action proceeds at a majestic pace, the cast of thousands is costumed in brilliant colours, and the screen is filled with people. It makes one think what it would cost to produce such a spectacle today. Of course, the crowd scenes would be computer generated.

Among the more spectacular special effects is the parting of the Reed Sea. Some of the other scenes such as the burning bush, the pillar of flame and the mist of death are not cheesy but make one wander how they would have been handled with CGI. I will say that the audio people did a fantastic job of restoring the sound track and the colour is brilliant throughout.