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Charleton Heston's performance commands your attention from his very first scene in this stunning transfer of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments". This epic movie picture has everything... a great story, a great cast, and great visuals. Even the over-acting is great.

The Story begins with a mother setting her infant son loose upon the Nile to escape death. The Pharaoh Sethi fears the prophesized coming of the "savior of the enslaved Jews" and thus has his men kill all the first-born Jews of Egypt. However, the soldiers miss this infant who is plucked from the Nile in his reed basket by the daughter of the Pharaoh, who names him Moses. As luck would have it, the infant Moses is the very savior feared by her father. The child, raised in the Pharaoh's court as an Egyptian prince, now a grown man, impresses the Pharaoh with his accomplishments. But, Moses must leave once the deception is discovered, banished from the land because of his heritage.

His role as the savior of the Jews from slavery, revealed to him on Mount Sinai by God, results in a titanic struggle against the Pharaoh Rameses to free the Jews from their oppression. Ultimately, Moses prevails, leading the Jews to the Promised Land.

For the Boomer Generation, lucky enough to see the Ten Commandments released on the "big screen," this movie is still a work of genius evident even on the "small screen." DeMille's epic masterpiece still has considerable power and works very well on the small screen (particularly if viewed on a big screen television because of the widescreen presentation). Perhaps the practical effects DeMille had to rely on, casting thousands to portray the Exodus of Jews for instance, resulted in the organically satisfying visuals the audience sees. There are no algorithms of movement here... just vast numbers of people, in period costumes, choreographed by the director, moving appropriately, when "Action" is called.

The DVD recaptures the glowing Technicolor imagery first seen in 1956. Luckily, I still have my previously issued DVD, the one all complaints were about... "no extras of any consequence" and compared the discs images... this latest release puts these vivid images back on display the way they were meant to be seen (other than the big screen). For example, the vivid colors of the Egyptian court come to life and have a depth not seen in previous transfers of this classic film. The awesome Valley of the Kings "monument construction sequence" reconnects with the epic grandeur of the original theatrical experience with sharp image clarity and depth. The colors are vivid with a hue not seen since the film was first released fifty years ago. The unforgettable G rated orgy of the Jews in the desert, while Moses is receiving the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai in particular benefits from the high definition transfer with rich skin tones and vibrant colors adding to the sensuality that DeMille intended. The movie's spectacular, a word not used lightly, scenes will keep the viewer totally engrossed even on the small screen. The richness of color, pageantry, and scale, evident in every scene of this restored masterpiece is worth adding the disc to the collection. ***

The unforgettable film score by Elmer Bernstein, with its leitmotifs for each major character, sounds wonderful in either the 5.1 surround or the Dolby surround sound. The score's majesty totally enhances the majestic visuals that DeMille painstakingly created for his movie. The soundtrack indelibly etched itself into my mind as a child, when I first saw the film on the big screen in 1956.

An epic like "The Ten Commandments" demands, well, epic extras. Unfortunately, there's not much room on this DVD due to the epic length of the film. Still, the six-part documentary on the making of the film provides insight into the process of making the film. Charleton Heston's interview provides fascinating tidbits about working with DeMille. The other sections of the documentary include an interesting interview with composer Elmer Bernstein and a discussion on the casting of the film including information on various actors considered for the film. The determination of DeMille to finish the film despite suffering a major heart attack during (and due to) the production is well documented as well.

The disk contains a two-minute newsreel that covers the star-studded New York premiere of the film. Finally, there are three trailers--the 1956 "making of" trailer (a ten-minute preview of the film that gave audiences a behind-the-scenes look at the movie), the 1966 re-release trailer, and the 1989 re-release trailer.

Newsreel: The Ten Commandments Premiere in New York

Six Part Documentary: 1 Moses "Interview with Charlton Heston" 2 The Chosen People "Casting the Movie" 3 Land of the Pharaohs "Shooting in Egypt" 4 The Score "Interview with Elmer Bernstein" 5 Mr. DeMille 6 The Paramount Lot

"Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments" Individuals willing to invest in the time spent in listening to the interesting commentary track by author Katherine Orrison, over three hours, will find a wealth of details and minutiae in the intrigues, goofs, and making of this landmark movie. Her enthusiastic comments and memories of DeMille's anecdotes broaden the lore of this historic film.