The first version of 'The Ten Commandments' is two films in one, really, and within its two hour running time you can see hints and ideas which were taken forward by other filmmakers in later years; not just DeMille referencing himself with the parting of the Red Sea in his 1950s remake, but in The Fountainhead (referencing the shot with the lift going up the side of the cathedral), Psycho (Nina Naldi pulling the curtain off the rail as she falls), and Sunset Boulevard (Naldi again, hands like claws as she extracts herself from the sack of jute in which she smuggled herself).
The story is fairly simple - most of the first hour is the standard Moses and let my people go tale from Exodus in the Old Testament, well developed and shot with some great special effects (the aforementioned parting of the sea). The rest of the film is modern moral - Edythe Chapman, a god-fearing old lady, has two sons - Danny (Rod La Rocque)and John (Richard Dix). Danny doesn't believe in the Ten Commandments and considers them outmoded and a barrier to success. When Mary (Leatrice Joy) comes into their lives, she causes problems between the brothers and unwittingly sets Danny on a path which leads him to slowly break one Commandments after another.
As this is a moral story, it does get a little preachy in places, but in the context of the time it was made that was probably expected. It is a spectacle and an epic of sorts, although not as much as its remake - it is actually a simple but effective film, which although a little creaky and not boasting the most subtle performances, still stands up to viewing today, and makes a fascinating comparison to Charlton Heston's Moses years later.
The story is fairly simple - most of the first hour is the standard Moses and let my people go tale from Exodus in the Old Testament, well developed and shot with some great special effects (the aforementioned parting of the sea). The rest of the film is modern moral - Edythe Chapman, a god-fearing old lady, has two sons - Danny (Rod La Rocque)and John (Richard Dix). Danny doesn't believe in the Ten Commandments and considers them outmoded and a barrier to success. When Mary (Leatrice Joy) comes into their lives, she causes problems between the brothers and unwittingly sets Danny on a path which leads him to slowly break one Commandments after another.
As this is a moral story, it does get a little preachy in places, but in the context of the time it was made that was probably expected. It is a spectacle and an epic of sorts, although not as much as its remake - it is actually a simple but effective film, which although a little creaky and not boasting the most subtle performances, still stands up to viewing today, and makes a fascinating comparison to Charlton Heston's Moses years later.