"THE TEN COMMANDMENTS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18861, 8 November 1924, Page 8 (Supplement)

"THE TEN COMMANDMENTS."

Heralded as Paramount's greatest picture, " The Ten Commandments," a Cecil B. de Mille production, now screening in Wellington, will be shown at Everybody's Theatre shortly. The film is probably one of the longest and moat expensive ever made, and is said to bo teeming with remarkable characterisations, lavish and bewilderingly beautiful, but a splendid drama withal. The picture openß with a Biblical prologue showing the Children of Israel in Condge in Egypt, their release, the passing of the Red Sea, the wanderings in the wilderness, and the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses upon Sinai. The days of Pharaoh's glory, when one smali class lived in luxury, ignoring the shedding of blood and tears of a harassed community, is said to be vividly portrayed. A page in Biblical history is laid bare and Moses is hown leading the Children of Israel into the desert in v fch of the Promised Land. Then follows the pursuit by Pharaoh's chariots, which are repulsed by pillars of fire and water.

With remarkable suddenness tho audience is confronted with a modern drama in which a young man and woman defy the Ten Commandments and pay the penalty. Only de Mille, it is said, could nave attempted such a massive subject, and produced it with such genius as the greatest film achievement of all time. The reception accorded the picture, wherever it has been screened has been unparalleled, and in two days over (5000 Wellington residents have witnessed it.