At The Movie House: 365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 355

I first saw the ten Commandments when I was 10 years old. My mother, sister and myself went to see the re-release at the North Massapequa theatre in the spring of 1970. We waited in a long line only to discover, when we got to the box office, my mother had forgotten her wallet. Without asking the woman in line behind us paid for our tickets and my mother returned the money to her the next day. I have always remembered this moment of generosity. We had moved to Long Island only eight months earlier and it was nice to know that the same general kindness amongst neighbors existed there the way it did in Brooklyn.

The movie made a huge impression on me. It is a film every kid should see. I have watched it many times since. Growing up I would watch the annual televising on ABC and I have owned it in all the video formats, RCA Video Disc, VHS, Laser Disc and DVD. I am mentioning this because I watched the film on the new Blu-ray high-def disc and it was like watching the movie for the first time.

The colors are lush and brilliant and the detail is so fine you can see the individual strands on baby Moses' basket. The metals glimmer and the fabrics shimmer. Paramount's new Blu-ray is a sight to behold.

The Ten Commandments deserves the royal treatment it received at the hands of Paramount's home video department. As we get older the cynic in us tends to deride the film for some of the corny dialogue (Moses! Moses! Moses!) and some of the over acting. Poor Anne Baxter vamps and Charlton Heston is as a emotive as the stone the Commandments are written on. But these are small matters and mostly due to the style of film making Cecil B. DeMille liked and the period the movie was made.

What hasn't changed in fifty five years is the pure spectacle of the movie. The epic proportions of the undertaking and the grandeur of it all. The special effects still hold up today. Yes they could now do the parting of the red sea with computers but would it be as good as the composite shot created by the best technical wizardry of the day.

And Yul Brenner gives the performance of a lifetime as Pharaoh. He plays Rameses with a stoic demeanor that perfectly showcases a man with a "hardened heart"

If you have not seen The ten Commandments in a while or your viewing is limited to the pan & scan version on TV with commercials you owe it to yourself to experience the film in this fantastic Blu-ray version.

At The Movie House rating *** stars