Moses the Lawgiver (1974– ) |
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Moses the Lawgiver (1974– ) |
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Burt Lancaster | ... | ||
| Anthony Quayle | ... | ||
| Ingrid Thulin | ... | ||
| Irene Papas | ... | ||
| Aharon Ipalé | ... | ||
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Joseph Shiloach | ... | |
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Marina Berti | ... | |
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Shmuel Rodensky | ... | |
| Mariangela Melato | ... | ||
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Laurent Terzieff | ... | |
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Bill Lancaster | ... |
Young Moses
(as William Lancaster)
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Jacques Herlin | ... | |
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Galia Kohn |
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Mario Ferrari | ... | |
| Simonetta Stefanelli | ... | ||
Despite a great performance by Burt Lancaster, this umpteenth
telling of Moses' story suffers from a lack of direction on the film
makers' part.
In case you have not seen the superior "The Ten Commandments" or "The Prince of Egypt," here goes (in a
nutshell): The Egyptian pharaoh decides to quash the Israelites by
killing all of the male children. Baby Moses is put in a basket in the
Nile by his sister, and he floats down to the pharaoh's palace, and
is raised by the royal family. He leaves after seeing the injustices
the Egyptians have put on the Israelites, and becomes a
shepherd. He is picked by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to
the Promised Land, and brings God's word and wrath to the
people of Egypt and his former "cousin," now the new pharaoh.
After many plagues and curses, all done in a mediocre way by
special effects guy Mario Bava, Moses leads his people into the
desert, where they promptly start complaining more than a line of
disgruntled consumers at the Wal-Mart return desk the morning
after Christmas. Moses' faith is never shaken, despite the actions
of his people, and God shows Moses the Promised Land, and
deals with the complainers. In the end, Moses dies, after giving us
the Ten Commandments and an overlong film.
If you want the real story of Moses, read a book called The Holy
Bible, it explains things much better than I can. But about the film:
Burt Lancaster plays the younger brother of Anthony Quayle
(Aaron). The problem is Lancaster is younger than Quayle by only
one month. Lancaster is just way too old to be in this part. He
looks sixty when he is supposed to be in his thirties, and he looks
sixty when he is supposed to be above one hundred. Lancaster is
good in the role, however, delivering his lines with passion and
never coming across as some good actor doing his duty in
appearing in a Biblical epic. Anthony Quayle, and his British
accent, is also good as Aaron. Irene Papas, as Moses' wife, has
maybe two lines, despite being third billed. The rest of the cast is
made up of mostly Italians, as this was filmed in Rome and Israel.
The film suffers from trying not to be compared to better Hollywood
films on the subject, but it is hard not to do. There are scenes here
that run twice as long as they should. The film is an amazing 144
minutes long, and in desperate need of editing. Scenes are cut
short, in characters' midsentence, or overlong. The film is also very
cheap, substituting stock footage for locust swarms and sand
storms. Mario Bava did the special effects? I fell out of my chair at
that end credit.
There are some very effective scenes, mostly dealing with the
pharaoh's wrath, but there is not enough emotion here to make
this compelling viewing. Despite the (G) rating on the video copy I
rented, this is not meant for young children, either, especially the
scenes of Israelite boys being tossed into the Nile.
This plays like an extended episode of my arch nemesis: "The
Greatest Heroes of the Bible" series, and that is unfortunate.
Despite a game cast and some dramatic scenes, "Moses" does
not deliver on its promise. I cannot recommend it.
Although rated (G), or (PG), this contains strong physical violence,
gore, and adult situations.