The Ten Commandments

ABC releases 50th anniversary DVD of Cecil B. DeMille's classic | Andrew Coffin

In a sense, The Ten Commandments has not withstood well the test of time. The effects in Cecil B. DeMille's biblical extravaganza are no longer special, with painted backdrops painfully obvious and animation suggesting 1950s Disney cartoons. When God appears to Moses as a pillar of fire on Mount Sinai, one half expects little cartoon bluebirds to land in the rocks nearby and spontaneously burst into song.

Pick up the recently released 50th anniversary three-disc special edition of The Ten Commandments, and you'll find that the acting, too, is a relic of a bygone era. DeMille remained attached to the overblown style of his silent film days.

But, lest one be tempted to completely devalue DeMille's 1956 Technicolor pageant, ABC helpfully reminds us that things can be worse. In a two-part television miniseries of the same name aired this month, the network presented a superfluous retelling of Moses' life, substituting DeMille's reverent awe of the source material with corny pop psychology. Everyone from Moses to Pharaoh whines incessantly, and if DeMille's liberties with text bothered you, well . . .