Empty spectacle, fake religiosity, snooze-inducing narrative, cheesy cheesecake and beefy beefcake, crappy back-lot cinematography, bombastic dialog and music to match,endlessly mind-numbing moralizing, and acting that wood would be embarrassed to own -
Speaking about wood, this is Ed Wood on steroids with a big budget. DeMille knew just how to play the game (and Wood clearly did not), so he was able to splash garbage on the screen and get Hollywood to pat him on the back for doing so. He pandered to the basest instincts of his low-brow middle-American audience and dressed it up with biblical quotations and pretentious promises of moral rectitude. He was basically a con-artist with a camera, a P.T. Barnum let loose in cinema and given the green light by financiers and media mavens - and he got job done for them. 10 Bore-mandments made a ton of bucks, and film critics who should know better continue to sing its praise - Now that's the mark of a truly great con-artist!
It was unfortunate for DeMille that he died when he did - he would have made a lot of money as a televangelist.
Old joke - God comes down to Moses: God: 'Moses, I want to give you a commandment.' Moses: 'How much does it cost?' God: 'It's free.' Moses: 'I'll take ten.'
This little story tells the whole story - forget the film.
Speaking about wood, this is Ed Wood on steroids with a big budget. DeMille knew just how to play the game (and Wood clearly did not), so he was able to splash garbage on the screen and get Hollywood to pat him on the back for doing so. He pandered to the basest instincts of his low-brow middle-American audience and dressed it up with biblical quotations and pretentious promises of moral rectitude. He was basically a con-artist with a camera, a P.T. Barnum let loose in cinema and given the green light by financiers and media mavens - and he got job done for them. 10 Bore-mandments made a ton of bucks, and film critics who should know better continue to sing its praise - Now that's the mark of a truly great con-artist!
It was unfortunate for DeMille that he died when he did - he would have made a lot of money as a televangelist.
Old joke - God comes down to Moses: God: 'Moses, I want to give you a commandment.' Moses: 'How much does it cost?' God: 'It's free.' Moses: 'I'll take ten.'
This little story tells the whole story - forget the film.