Everyone knows Charlton Heston portrayed Moses in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - but who composed the music? Who designed the Academy Award-winning special effects? Who provided the inscriptions for the film's stone tablets (and where did the stone come from?). Moviegoers are familiar with their work, not their names, but the background roles these and a host of others played in making the movie contributed significantly - not only to our enjoyment of Cecil B. DeMille's epic last film, but also to its impact and quality. Heston and DeMille have become so identified with historical epics, and with THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in particular, that the images of DeMille as a creator of biblical extravaganzas and of Heston as Moses have become indelibly linked.
Though DeMille's film clearly has a spiritual theme and humanitarian overtones, it isn't "religion" per se. It's entertainment, but with a sincere, heartfelt and significant message. That message is as valid now as it was nearly five decades ago when the film was made - and by extension, as unabated as when the real patriarch of the Old Testament actually lived thirty three centuries ago. To some, the film's content may seem outdated and old-fashioned; to others, so might seem 18th-century music, but this doesn't invalidate the significance of the work of DeMille or of Mozart.
Certainly by implication and almost by definition, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS has a stronger connection to Hebraic culture and history than do most other films in that genre, notwithstanding the predictable objections of some biblical scholars. It's no accident that this was DeMille's magnum opus. The spiritual message in his biblical-subject films was deeply felt by him throughout his career, and manifested itself in his work, deeds, and the conduct of his life. He read the Bible almost daily and their stories colored his outlook. Though professionally a stern taskmaster who could treat peers with severity and sometimes even brutally, he also admired honesty and treated underlings with dignity and generosity. His proclivity for biblical films was a feature of his professional life, and by design he'd arrange crowd scenes, particularly around holidays, so that actors would have work and income. These are not the marks of a man devoid of goodness of spirit.
Visually, the parting of the Red Sea was arguably the most moving sequence in the film. Certainly it was the most skillfully done and "realistic" in terms of special cinematic effects. The dense "clouds" in the sky were achieved by producing brit smoke which was then optically tinted and darkened, and superimposed into the appropriate shots. The pillar of fire that barred the Egyptians' way was animated - as was the column of fire atop Mt.Sinai, which represented God's presence and which, with flash powder, burned the inscriptions into the stone.
Twice in the film we hear a voice representing God's. In both cases the voice was of course sonically modified for drama and impact. Heard at the giving of the law on Mt.Sinai was the voice of the late basso-profundo, Delos Jewkes (though there have been contradictory reports). The voice heard at the burning bush, however, was provided by Charlton Heston himself. That more than one such voice was used in the film seems to correspond to the multiplicity of people's spiritual views.
It may be more than coincidence that DeMille began and ended his survey of historical themes with the same biblical subject. When his first (silent) version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS was made in 1923 (with Theodore Roberts as Moses) at the then-staggering cost of $1.3 million, it was generally held that DeMille had taken grandiose leave of his senses - but the film broke every attendance record in existence and actually inspired a number of young men to become rabbis, priests and ministers. The re-make of the film more than three decades later officially cost Paramount $13,282,712.35. John P. Fulton won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects. That it was the only Oscar that went to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS that year was a keen disappointment to DeMille - but there can be a balance without symmetry: when we're asked to think of a biblical film, it's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS that usually comes to mind first.
Though DeMille was not of Jewish upbringing per se, the traditional Hebraic propensities for a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge were reflected in his penchant for authenticity in his films. In keeping with this principle he retained a research staff at Paramount Studios, and engaged authorities from various religions as technical advisors on THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
Significantly, he even made special arrangements to have stone tablets cut from the red granite of a peak known in that area today as Jebel Musa (in Arabic, "Mountain of Moses"): Mt.Sinai itself. The tablets, which DeMille kept in his office for a time after the film's completion, were about 21" long, 11" wide and 1" in thickness. Henry Noerdlinger, chief of DeMille's research staff, verified this in a letter to this reviewer. Bearing little similarity to what we recognize today as Hebrew but strongly resembling the ancient and angular Phoenician alphabet (roughly contemporary with the Canaanite era and written only with consonants and no vowels), the symbols on the tablets were written for the film by Dr. Ralph Marcus of the Institute for Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.
Music contributes to our enjoyment of a film more than most of us can imagine. In the impact THE TEN COMMANDMENTS has on us, the unseen role composer Elmer Bernstein plays can't be understated. His music not only sets the mood but actually primes the viewer for the entire feature.
Cecil B. DeMille's favorite composer in Hollywood was Victor Young, who died in 1956. Had his health not been failing, it's certain he would have scored THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Any number of composers could have done so but Demille had an interest in the young Bernstein, fostered by Victor Young's recommendation. Bernstein acknowledges he planned his score in keeping with the kind of music he knew DeMille wanted for his films.
He commercially recorded the score several times, thereby fulfilling a prophecy Demille himself had made. During the preparation of the original score, he said the composer would someday have occasion to perform and record this music again. Demille's comment was touchingly foretelling: "Your music will surely outlive me, and possibly even yourself."
DeMille is no longer here; thankfully Elmer Bernstein is; and it seems likely the film THE TEN COMMANDMENTS will outlive everyone.
JEFFREY DANE
