Sounds Of Silents

The Ten Commandments (1923)

Cecil B. DeMille's epic silent masterpiece revitalized with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction and a new opening titles sequence.

A landmark silent epic, Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 production The Ten Command-ments astounded audiences and critics alike with its unprecedented grandeur, opulence and--as with many DeMille films--righteous self-importance.

"Cecil B. DeMille's name is written in letters of fire and gold across the pages of cinema history!" said publicity ads in movie-fan magazines of the 1920's.  In the years between World War I and the Roaring 20's, DeMille found popular success with a series of sophisticated marital comedies such as Don't Change Your Husband and Why Change Your Wife?--films that made Gloria Swanson a star and established DeMille's career-long reputation for embellishing scenes with risqué sexual overtones.
 

By the early 1920's, an increasing number of churches and community groups were becoming alarmed and outraged by the reckless immorality so casually depicted in the films of many successful directors.  Along with threats of censorship and boycotts, these groups kept demanding movies with clean, godly, uplifting stories.  DeMille, ever pandering to the broadest possible audience, decided that if the public wanted sermons, he'd give them sermons--fully illustrated.

 

The Ten Commandments added a new, key ingredient to the DeMille film formula: religion.  As his niece, Agnes de Mille, said, the pairing of lurid sexuality with extreme religious fervor proved "unbeatable as a combo."  The formula never failed him.  For the rest of his career, his biggest hits contained this magic mixture of sex and God: The King of Kings (1927), The Sign of the Cross (1932), Samson and Delilah (1949) and the remake of The Ten Commandments (1956).

 

Unlike the remake, the 1923 film has two parts: the Prologue, depicting the Biblical tale of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, and the Story, a 1920's melodrama about two brothers, one good and one bad.  Much derided by viewers today, the film's modern story catered to audience preferences of the time--costume pictures were generally not popular with a movie-going public increasingly enthralled by the "roaring" jazz age.  Thus, after Moses, Pharaoh and the wrath of God, audiences were treated to flappers, vamps and the vices of capitalism.

 

So prepare to be dazzled and delighted, as Sounds of Silents presents a GCM Production of a MaxManLA Video: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923), with synchronized symphonic music, digital image enhancement, original title cards reproduction and a new opening titles sequence.

The link below offers FREE online viewing and several FREE downloading options.

VIDEO-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923) SYNCED SYMPHONIC MUSIC