THE TEN COMMANDMENTS -- The Campiest Story Ever Told

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 9:47am

Hey, brethren...

I got the DVD of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS this weekend, the special edition. After watching it in all its Cinemascope and Technicolor glory, I've decided it truly is the campiest movie ever made -- despite what Chuck Heston says.

So, in honor of this festive holiday season that is upon us, let's discuss this time-honored CB DeMille classic upon ourselves -- the show biz intelligentsia. In particular, let's share our opines of the best moments of the film.

I'll start. I absolutely ADORE Debra Paget's top ten hit for voice and lyre, intoned magnificently on the night of the pestilence:

"Death cometh to meeeeee, to set me freeeee...."

So let it be written, so let it be done.

[I posted a similar thread over on Datalounge -- can't wait to see what THEY come up with.]

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 10:22am

I think it only seems campy if you try to compare it to modern films. For 1956, it was pretty amazing. It wasn't meant to be film noir or agonizingly realistic. Melodramatic? Yes, but that was the norm for the period. Campy? Not at all. Camp is the act of being vulgar or tasteless knowingly for comedic or appreciative value. I don't think DeMille or anyone involved in the film thought they were being tasteless, vulgar, or comedic in any way.

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 10:33am

Matt,

You're right -- by today's standards it is campy, but at the time it wasn't. In the commentary, it's said that DeMille's intention was to do a grand sweeping pageant, and that his history in movies, especially the silent days, dictated the style. Also the subject matter.

But c'mon, don't we all look at older movies sometimes and chuckle? Case in point: the orgy at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses is up on the mountain receiving the 10 commandments. DeMille's intention was to show a g-rated orgy, and he certainly did that. People riding piggy back, throwing grapes around, swirling their long hair, laughing uproariously. You gotta admit it's pretty funny. Friend of mind once said he thought that's what an orgy was until he was about 12!

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 12:58pm

Although their intention may not have been comedic, vulgar or tasteless, it has become so over time. And to me, unintentional camp is the most enjoyable. I mean...ANNE BAXTER??? 'Oh Moses, Moses you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool'! and 'Are her lips as red as a pomogranite?'

And then, of course, Edward G. Robinson as a Jew screaming 'Where's ya Moses nahhhhhhh???'

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 1:07pm

Sex was really only one small portion of the ancient orgies. The orgies of Dionysus did not involve sexual activity at all. It was more about a celebration of a pagan deity than just sex, so DeMille's vision was really not that far off the mark.

I've never looked at the film in a comedic way. I think it would ruin it for me. Of course it may look a bit silly now, but so will our current films 50 years from now. It's much more interesting to me to enjoy a film imagining how it must have appeared during its original run than just to laugh at it and make fun of it. I certainly hope I never do so with something like Schindler's List in the future.

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 1:34pm

Come on now, Matt.

Films from even earlier than TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) have held up remarkably well...even if some may see some camp moments in them. ALL ABOUT EVE, GONE WITH THE WIND, CITIZEN KANE and SUNSET BLVD. all pack an emotional wallop over fifty years after the fact. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS' remarkable (for the time) production values was paired with histrionic acting in a way that tickled even my parents and uncle back when the movie was released (and these are some devout Catholics).

You may like the film for all the 'right' reasons. Fine. But all the movies I've mentioned, as well as Schindler's List, made the top twenty of AFI's best American movies list. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS doesn't even make the list. Does that mean your opinion is wrong? No. But don't make it out to seem that our view is less 'interesting' than yours. Or that we're the type of people who will be having a good old laugh in a few years time at the 'hilarity' of Schindler's List.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 1:40pm

I recently saw a film that I cannot believe was NOT intentional camp - A ROYAL SCANDAL (1945). Produced and partially directed by Ernst Lubitsch (and finished by Otto Preminger), it starred Tallulah Bankhead as man-hungry Catherine the Great, with Anne Baxter (again) as her lady-in-waiting, Charles Coburn as a corrupt minister, William Eythe as a loyal (?) Lieutenant, Grady Sutton as a Russian soldier with a hillbilly accent, Eva Gabor as the Countess Demidov, Mischa Auer as her harried Palace Guard, and Vincent Price as the lecherous French Ambassador.
When she isn't throwing Meissen figurines at disgraced coutiers, Talullah out-vamps Mae West with priceless dialogue:

"I have come to serve Mother Russia - My Empress!" "Please - call me Catherine, dahling."

"Ah jus' wanna go back to my Dack-ah in the Yoo-rall mountains!"

"My , you look so VERY impressive in your white uniform, Lieutenant! You rode...THREE horses to come to see me? THREE horses, you say?"

What I want to know is: What crazy queen green-lighted this?
("Oh, Darryl, this story is just DEE-vine! And I've cast the that DREAMY Tallulah! And Rene Hubert has gone OUT of his mind to create the DELICIOUS gowns for her! And Vincent looks so DASHING in a powdered wig!") Who did they think would see this over-the-top campfest in World-War II America??

And yes, it SCREAMS to be a musical.

Updated On: 3/22/04 at 01:40 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 2:23pm

robbiej - I don't believe your view is less interesting at all. rlbgbc wrote: "But c'mon, don't we all look at older movies sometimes and chuckle?" and I was explaining that I don't with this film. With something like Blonde Venus, maybe, but I never felt that way about The Ten Commandments. It's not some sort of moral snobbery, nor do I think you personally are the type to laugh at Schindler's List. I was just explaining my reasons for not finding the film humorous. "Does that mean your opinion is wrong?" When two replies include "But c'mon" and "Come on now, Matt" it certainly gives the impression that my opinion is regarded as absurd, don't you think?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 2:23pm

I disagree that the definition of "camp" is analagous with "intentional"...See SHOWGIRLS, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, EXORCIST II, ZARDOZ ("The gun is good! The penis is evil!"), SHE ("Oh, you dwellers of darkness...how you try my patience!")and of course VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (insert random dialogue here). The loftier the intention, the more blazing the camp. These are great suggestions...keep them coming!

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 2:33pm

My 'come on' was to the tone of your reply (which you've stated wasn't your intention). Your opinion and right to view this movie however you wish is fine with me. It just sounded like you were making a judgement call. Since that's not the case, I respectfully withdraw my 'come on.'

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 2:33pm

The meaning has probably been twisted to include the unintentional, but that's not what it means at all. Nothing is actually camp without intentionally being that way. Look it up.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 3:19pm

I never thought the Ten Commandments was a funny film either, but there are some campy moments- most of them Ann Baxter's histrionics. Chuck Heston's guilty of some of them too! I don't care what you label that film, it's one of my favorites of all time.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 4:08pm

My favorite line in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is: "You're not a god, Radames---you're not even a MAN!!"

But the color and special effects are still pretty astounding.

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 4:17pm

Or how 'bout this one:

"God parts the sea with the breath of his nostrils!"

There are just too, too many.

"Prince of Memphis....Prince of Egypt...Man of Mud."

"Comb her hair with sandalwood."

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/22/04 at 6:34pm

How about Edward G Robinson doing his Little Caesar impression?

Vincent Price was good but Yul Brynner stole the show as Pharoah. He looked liked one