Giving of the Ten Commandments

My church is looking at the Ten Commandments at the moment, so I got asked to dig out some clips of Moses receiving the commandments. I looked at the following five which are probably the best crafted of those available:

The Ten Commandments (1923)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Moses the Lawgiver (1975)
Moses (1996)
Ten Commmandments (2006)

As well as being the best clips they are probably the most widely known. The other popular Moses film that is not on the list is obviously The Prince of Egypt, but this only really shows a brief shot of Moses holding the commandments right before the credits roll. Likewise there is no equivalent scene in 1974's Moses und Aron For the record I could also have included clips from the following:

Green Pastures (1936)
The Living Bible - Moses, Leader of God's People (1958)
Greatest Heroes of the Bible - The Ten Commandments (1979)
History of the World Part 1 (1981)
The Ten Commandments: The Musical (2006)
Ten Commandments (2007)

...not to mention a whole host of cartoons.

Anyway, for anyone interested in repeating the exercise elsewhere, here are the start and end places/times of the clips I used - the clip length, and the version that I used. In most cases these are region 2, but I imagine the difference will be very slight, particularly as the DVD releases for the first two are identical regardless of the regional code. Links are to previous posts on each film. I've also added the leading actor's name and a few comments.
The Ten Commandments (1923)
Ten Commandments (1956) 50th Anniversary Collection – region 2
Disc 3 - Chapter 6; 35:05 – 42:48 [7:43 minutes]
Moses played by Theodore Roberts
This is the oldest of those available, and, for those unused to silent films, the style takes a bit of getting used to. Note the age of Moses here, and also that DeMille's citations are from Exodus 31 and 32 rather than the first account of the giving of the commandments in Exodus 19 and 20.

The Ten Commandments (1956)
Ten Commandments (1956) 50th Anniversary Collection – region 2
Disc 2 – Chapter 15; 73:12 – 78:45 [4:30 minutes]
Moses played by Charlton Heston
This is, obviously the most famous version, but it's utterly reliant on DeMille's earlier version. The streak of fire writing the commandments is fresh, but otherwise it's just a remake. Note how in both examples Moses receives the commandments at the top of the mountain, and whilst commandments 1 and 2 are being broken (not that the people would have known given this film's chronology!)

Moses the Lawgiver (1975)
Network/Granada Ventures – Region 2
Disc 2 – Chapter 3; 10:48 – 15:00 [4:12 minutes]
Moses played by Burt Lancaster
This is perhaps the most controversial version of these events, but it's relatively accurate to the accounts in Exodus. The clip ends with Moses on his way up the mountain with the tablets already under his arm, with the people having already agreed. An earlier scene shows Moses hearing God's call (in Lancaster's own voice) from the top of the mountain, but it's entirely ambiguous as to whether these commandments are from God or from Moses. It's also good how they are given more as prose than as "commandments".

Ten Commmandments (2006)
Disc 2 – Chapter 7; 68:10 – 72:04 [3:52 minutes]
Moses played by Dougray Scott
This is the most recent of the five, and it's main concern seems to be showing off it's technology. There's a heavy dependence on DeMille too - the idea of Moses going up the mountain to get the tablets, and of them being literally written by God (although not literally the "finger of God" as the text states), not to mention the desire to make this a showy scene.

Moses (1996)
Time Life Box Set – region 2
Part 2; 29:30 – 36:20 [6:50 minutes]
Moses played by Sir Ben Kingsley
This is perhaps my favourite of these five clips, largely because I had to see it to make me realise how the story actually appears in Exodus. It's sticks very closely to the text (Exodus 19:10-20:21), but given how stagey other version have been, this is a good thing, which is also why I recommend showing it last. I also like the idea of the commandments being something that welled up from the people as they encountered God, and the idea of the people corporately being the mouthpiece of God.

Moses (1996) - Part 2 Scene Guide

Having covered part 1 of this film yesterday, I thought it would be good to cover part 2 today, particularly as part 1 ends on a cliff-hanger. There are a few parts of the story which occur in the Pentateuch / Torah more than once. Where this is the case I will give priority to the Exodus reference

Parting of the Red Sea - (Ex 14)
Hymn of Moses - (Ex 15)
Fire from Heaven - (Num 11)
Manna and Quails - (Ex 16)
Jethro Visits Moses - (Ex 18)
Israel commits to God - (Ex 19)
The Ten Commandments - (Ex 20)
Moses on Sinai - (Ex 20 & 21)
Golden Calf - (Ex 32:1-24)
Idolaters Massacred - (Ex 32:25-35)
2nd Ten Commandments - (Ex 34:1-7)
Construction of the Tabernacle - (Ex 35-40)
Priestly Blessing - (Num 6:22-27)
Miriam's Rebellion - (Num 12)
12 Spies Explore Canaan - (Num 13)
The People Rebel - (Num 14)
Death of Miriam - (Num 20:1)
Moses Strikes Rock in Anger - (Num 20:2-13)
Death of Aaron - (Num 20:22-29)
Commissioning of Joshua - (Deut 31:1-8)
Death of Moses - (Deut 32:48-52, 34:1-8)
Joshua's Speech - (Josh 1:1-8)
Epilogue - (Josh 24:25-27)

Notes
Once again, Moses sheds fresh light on passages that the viewer thinks they are familiar with, only to realise that thay are more familiar with DeMille than with scripture. One notable example in this second part of the film is the giving of the Ten Commandments. Whilst there is plenty of interpretation here, this version would appear to be closer to the text. In the Torah, the story is somewhat confusing due to Moses ascending and descending the mountain several times, yet the final verses before God starts speaking the Commandments locate Moses at the bottom of the mountain with the people ("So Moses went down to the people and told them. And God spoke all these words" [Ex 19:25-20:1]).

The second part of Moses covers a much wider volume of literature drawing from 4 books (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua) whereas part 1 only covered the first thirteen and a half chapters of Exodus. Strangely though, compared to many of the other films about Moses, this one actually devotes a far greater percentage of it's run time to these events. DeMille's 1923 Ten Commandments only covers the period from the Passover to the Golden Calf. His remake lasted for 4 hours, but most of this time was spent fleshing out Moses's youth and his discovery of his Hebrew identity. Only the scene where Moses stares out at the Promised Land is added to the episodes after the Red Sea. Moses und Aron (1973), focussed on the tension between knowing God and communicating his will, does not really concern itself with the life of Moses per se, and both Wholly Moses and The Prince of Egypt end with the giving of the Ten Commandments, as do a host of children's cartoon portrayals. That said two other films are concerned with events after the giving of the Ten Commandments. DeBosio's Moses (1975), both in it's cinematically released 3 hour version, and the 6 hour TV series (Moses the Lawgiver) and perhaps this later film could be seen as something of a remake. The other film is the recent TV film The Ten Commandments (2006) (scene guide parts 1 and 2). What is strange is that there is so much comment on the character of Moses, and human nature in general in these four books, yet, until recently, they have been fairly poorly explored.

The scenes that the second half includes allows for a much more intimate and honest portrayal of Moses. Whilst not quite as critical of Moses' character as The Ten Commandments, it also portrays his weaknesses, in particular the incidents with Jethro (Ex 18), and the striking of the rock (Num 20). Sadly though his opponents remain as one dimensional as they are in the bible.

Moses (1996) - Part 1 Scene Guide

The Bible Collection's Moses was one of those films that really made me want to write more about films in general, and bible films in particular. The film is split into two parts, so I'll look at the first today, and the second later in the week. The scenes included in this film are as follows:

Birth of Moses - (Ex 2:1-2)
Death of the infants - (Ex 1:22)
Moses put on the Nile - (Ex 2:3-4)
Baby Moses discovered - (Ex 2:5-10)
[Extra-Biblical Episodes - Moses grows up]
Moses slays an Egyptian - (Ex 2:11-12)
Moses rescues Jethro's daughters - (Ex 2:16-20)
Moses, Zipporah and Gershom - (Ex 2:21-22)
Ramsees I Dies - (Ex 2:23)
Burning Bush - (Ex 3:1-4:17)
[Extra-Biblical Episodes]
Moses returns to Egypt - (Ex 4:18-20)
Aaron meets Moses - (Ex 4:27-28)
Moses and the elders - (Ex 4:29-31)
Moses and Pharaoh - (Ex 5:1-6)
Bricks without straw - (Ex 5:7-19)
Moses's staff and Pharaoh magicians - (Ex 7:10-13 )
Plague of Blood - (Ex 7:14-24)
Plague of Frogs - (Ex 8:1-15)
Plague of Hail - (Ex 9:13-33)
Plague of Locusts - (Ex 10:1-20)
Plague of Boils - (Ex 9:8-12)
The Passover - (Ex 12:1-28)
Death of the Firstborn - (Ex 12:29-30)
Pharaoh frees the Slaves - (Ex 12:31-32)
The Exodus - (Ex 12:33-42)
Pharaoh Changes his Mind - (Ex 14:5-12)

Notes
Although the film's narrative starts with the events at the beginning of Exodus the opening scene is actually of an older Moses. The camera circles him as an old man on his knees in prayer before going to the start of the story. It's an interesting way to start the film as there is no dialogue, internal or external commentary, or anything that links this opening shot with the start of the story. Moses, of course, has traditionally been associated with the authorship of Exodus (and of the whole five-book Torah in general), it would seem that this is the film-makers way of referring to that tradition. Whilst the text is largely devoid of the literary flourishes one would expect (at least today) from such an auto-biographical work, tradition, at least, has asserted that we hear it through Moses's lips. It is not surprising then that in the cinematic version of his story we see the events through Moses' eyes.

The film only shows six plagues (Blood, frogs, hail, locusts, boils, and death of the firstborn), and even these are out of order. Interestingly, not all of the accounts of the 10 plagues in Exodus were in the original sources. The main source for them is the 'Yahwist' source, which featured seven or eight plagues (Blood, Frogs, Flies, Livestock, Hail, Locusts, Death of Firstborn and possibly the Plague of Darkness, although some list this as originating with the 'Elohist' source). This was later enhanced by two from the 'Priestly' source (Gnats and Boils). However, there is no real correlation between this film's choice of plagues and any one particular source. The use of Ten Plagues of judgement is possibly to mirror the Ten Commandments that Moses will also bring from God. Although whereas the first group of ten gradually build towards a climax, the later Decalogue starts with the greatest commandment and lists the others as being its logical outworking.

Whilst the first part of the story is fairly conservative in its scene selection, opting to go for the most popular episodes as expressed by the wealth of previous artistic interpretations of the story, it also subverts the most well-known version of this story to audiences today, namely Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. It does this by highlighting parts of the text that DeMille ostracizes in order to present a classically heroic Moses. So here Moses stutters (Exodus 4:10), and has Aaron do his early bidding. His pleas that God's chose another liberator are heartfelt, unlike Heston's Moses who appears to be simply being humble.

That said the film also goes beyond the text to subvert DeMille. So Moses always seems awkward and out of place in Pharaoh's palace - almost faintly ridiculous. His Hebrew ancestry, whilst unknown to Pharaoh, are known by Ramsees II amongst others - there is no great discovery. His rescue of Jethro's daughters is more due to his bluff and quick wit than his athleticism and power.

Perhaps the most significant place where Moses subverts DeMille by returning to the original text is in the parting of the Red Sea. In both of DeMille's version of this incident the parting of the seas is almost instantaneous, and dramatic. However, the text of Exodus actually states that "all that night the LORD drove the sea back" (Ex 14:21). Here, Lionel Chetwynd's teleplay works the drama in another fashion by ending the first half of the film with Moses and the Israelites still waiting God's deliverance whilst the Egyptians close in. Given that the play was originally made for TV this cliff-hanger will have sent many back to their bibles to view the story afresh for the first time, finally liberated from DeMille's showmanship.