In celebration of my favorite movie of all time--and I'm not kidding--I always watch at least part of the Ten Commandments on Easter. That Christian holiday came so early this year that instead I've bumped the tradition to Passover. It is appropriate, for Passover was the similitude foretelling of the redemption of Easter. And so, on this the last day of Passover, I watch again the lovely Debra Paget singing "death cometh to me." I'm obsessed with this movie. I even own a 1956 commemorative book filled with concept art painted by, ironically, my favorite artist-- Arnold Friburg--the 94 year old genius of iconic imagery. I know random trivia about the whole movie too. For example: did you know that Debra Paget, who plays Lilia, was the only slave who wore shoes in the film? Apparently her feet were misshapen by the 1950's heels of the time, and to hide the fact and preserve authenticity, Cecil DeMille made her wear moccasins? Ha!
When we watched the movie at the Jerusalem Center, I spouted tons of information (during the credits only) and my friends made me swear to keep quiet during the film. I was silent. ...and it was really hard. I LOVE this movie. And the Sinai scenes are even more spectacular to me now, because I mingle my own memories of climbing its peak to the scope of the film. How majestic are the mountains of the Sinai! And what spirit they possess.
This time I noticed something new, and I nearly choked for laughing. When talking to Jethro, Moses says "Health, prosperity, and life to you, Sheik of Midian." That is a near reproduction of a common Egyptian phrase, "Life! Prosperity! Health!" used when mentioning the Pharoah. (I learned this in my Ancient Texts class this semester.) It's kind of like saying "King Rupert...may he rest in peace." It appears in some texts so often that translators abbreviate it, if you can believe that. Every other sentence sometimes has "LPH!" in it. Dig Cecil DeMille and his details. WOW, that's funny.
Oh, and another funny-- upon learning of Charlton Heston's recent death, my friend Greg said "Wow. Moses finally died." AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAA! Way to go, Greg, that was hilarious.
2 comments:
I still say that Charlton met up with Moses in heaven and Moses said..."you really got that all wrong." LOL. Either that or he said "I wish it had been that cool!"
Haha. Maybe there were more movie extras than there were actual slaves--you never know. I'd like to sit in on that conversation myself.
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