jacobs-greenwood
One of the highest grossing films ever, it features Charlton Heston, Academy Award winning Special Effects, and an all-star supporting cast that includes: Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora. Debra Paget at Lilia, John Derek as Joshua, Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Vincent Price as Baka, John Carradine as Aaron, and more.After hearing rumors about the birth of the deliverer who would free their Jewish slaves, Egyptian Pharaoh Sethi decrees that the first born sons of Israel must die. But Yochabel, determined to save her newborn, places him in a basket, floating it on the Nile. Her daughter Miriam sees it is retrieved by Princess Bithiah of Egypt, Sethi's sister who, having just lost a child, claims the infant as her own.She names him Moses and the boy is raised as a Prince of Egypt that rivals Sethi's own son Rameses to become the next Pharaoh. Moses is favored by Nefretiri, the beautiful princess that's been promised by Sethi to whomever he chooses to succeed him. Unlike Rameses who exhibits a cruel streak, Moses shows compassion for the oppressed even though he doesn't yet know that he's a Jew. After building a great city for Sethi with master builder Baka, Moses appears to be the next in line until Bithiah's servant Memnet reveals the truth.When the Princess tells Moses, he seeks Bithiah and then Yochabel, meets his brother Aaron and sister Miriam, before disappearing among the slaves to learn about their hardships. When Baka decides to detain a Jewish girl for carnal purposes, her boyfriend Joshua tries to save her, but then must be rescued by Moses, who kills Baka. When Moses reveals to Joshua that he too is Jewish, it is overheard by Dathan, a Jew charged by the Egyptians to oversee his own people and to identify the promised Jewish deliverer if found. Dathan uses the knowledge to bargain with Rameses, who grants him his freedom and a position of prominence. Moses is forced to confess his crime in front of Sethi but Rameses decides not to make him a martyr. Instead, he spares Moses' life, and banishes him to cross the desert.After surviving the journey, Moses happens upon an oasis where he helps seven sheepherder's daughters and eventually becomes a shepherd working for their father, marrying his eldest daughter Sephora. Years later when Moses and his wife have a son, Sephora spots a man trapped on a hillside; it's Joshua, escaped from the copper mines where he'd been spared death by Dathan. At Joshua's urging, Moses climbs Mount Sinai to meet his maker; he's beckoned by a burning bush. God speaks to Moses and tells him to take up the fight, free and lead His people out of Egypt. When the shepherd asks how, He tells Moses that His power will be revealed through the staff. An older and wiser looking Moses descends Mt. Sinai.Moses is received by Pharaoh Rameses; Queen Nefretiri is at his side. Speaking God's word, Moses tells Rameses to "Let my people go". But Rameses is not impressed, so Moses has his brother Aaron lay down the staff, which turns into a cobra. Rameses claims that it is merely a magician's trick, and has his high priests lay two of their staffs beside it. After these also turn into cobras, Moses's cobra devours them. Rameses is still unimpressed, and remains so even after the staff is used to turn the Nile red with blood, and Moses causes burning hail to fall from the sky, and darkens the sun for 3 days.When Rameses mocks God by condemning the first born of Israel to death, Moses realizes that the Pharaoh's words will kill all first born Egyptians. By nightfall, death descends upon Egypt but passes over those (Jewish) houses whose doorways had been painted with lamb's blood. Finally, because his own son is dying, Rameses summons Moses to tell him to take his people and go, and the great exodus from Egypt begins. However, Nefretiri goads Rameses into pursuing and killing them all. So Pharaoh and his men in chariots rush across the desert to find Moses and the others (trapped) along the banks of the Red Sea.The people still doubt God's power until Moses summons it with his staff, causing a column of fire to stop the rush of Rameses's troops, and parts the Red Sea for their escape. Once they are safely on the other side, Moses raises his staff to close the sea upon their pursuers, killing them all. Pharaoh returns to Nefretiri but, before he kills her with his sword, she insists on seeing Moses's blood on it first, saving her life by confirming his complete failure.At the foot of Mount Sinai, the people are restless; they haven't seen Moses in 40 days and some fear that he may even be dead. Dathan uses the moment to decry that Moses hasn't led them to the promised land, and that they should make their own idol – a golden calf – to worship. Aaron is bullied into making one and an orgy begins, ironically, at around the same time that God appears to Moses as a tower of fire and speaks while flames carve 'ten commandments' into two stone tablets.Moses descends from the mountain, catching the people committing unspeakable acts, in direct violation of God's new laws. He proclaims them unworthy and casts the tablets at the golden calf, which bursts into flames and sinks into a crevasse that envelopes the non- believers.DeMille narrates that the people had to roam the desert for 40 years before they were allowed to cross the river Jordan into the Promised Land, and Moses passes his staff to Joshua.
