The Ten Commandments
1923, Cecil B. DeMille, USA
| Director: Cecil B. Demille Producer: Cecil B. DeMille Story: Jeanie MacPherson Cinematography: Bert Glennon, Peverel Marley Editor: Anne Bauchens | Theodore Roberts (Moses) Charles De Roche (Rameses) Estelle Taylor (Miriam) Edythe Chapman (Mrs. Martha McTavish) Richard Dix (John McTavish) |
Rating: PG Runtime: 136 minutes
This film was the opening attraction when the Embassy (then De Luxe) opened in Wellington in 1924. This repeat screening is to celebrate the cinema’s 100th birthday.
In 1924, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments was the first film ever screened at the Embassy (or the De Luxe, as it was known at the time). A spellbinding epic of the silent period, it stretched the boundaries of what narrative cinema was capable of, both in storytelling and in production.
As part of the celebrations surrounding the Embassy’s centenary, the Wellington Film Society is collaborating with the Embassy and the Wellington City Council to bring The Ten Commandments to the screen once more. Come and experience the grandeur of the silver screen, just as our forebears would have in the middle of the Roaring Twenties.
Thanks to Events and the Council, this event is also open to non-members, so if you have any friends who would like to see what we do at no charge, bring them along! To ensure necessary health and safety standards are maintained, if we reach the capacity of the theatre, we must then refuse entry to late-comers.
While DeMille would return to this same story over thirty years later for his 1956 epic of the same name, the 1924 The Ten Commandments is where his fascination with the tale really begins. DeMille pairs the Biblical narrative of the Exodus with a contemporary tale on the themes of the Ten Commandments. The latter half of the film tries as hard as it can to rival the drama of the life of Moses, featuring everything from a collapsing cathedral to a motorboat crash.
There have been many epics in cinema history, but nobody was able to helm them quite like Cecil B. DeMille. Come along and see what all the fuss is about.
“As with its successor, this film makes great use of special effects, stunning sets and costumes, with armies of extras to make the story feel truly epic.”
– Jules Caldeira, Film Inquiry