REALLY OLD MOVIES. “The Ten Commandments.” / “20 Million Miles to Earth.”

“The Ten Commandments” (1923, Tubi) silent religious epic film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Jeanie MacPherson, the film is divided into two parts: a prologue recreating the biblical story of the Exodus and a modern story concerning two brothers and their respective views of the Ten Commandments. (The second part though is corny. Too preachy and “slapstick.”)

       Fascinating to watch movies then. Although “silent,” this film, with a production budget of $1.5 million (around $24 million these days?) is very articulate and expressive. (Trivia: The most expensive movie ever made is 2015's “Star Wars The Force Awakens,” directed by J.J. Abrams, with a budget of $447 million. It earned $2.07 billion in the box office.) 

       Used in the 1922's second full-color movie “The Toll of the Sea,” directed by Chester M. Franklin, the technicolor process 2 or “two-strip Technicolor” was employed in “The Ten Commandments” but Mr DeMille removed certain colors from white light. (The first color feature was 1917's “The Gulf Between” by Wray Physioc.)

       What was the real talk then was the parting of the Red Sea sequence, which Cecil improved in his 1956 version, starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses. I saw both movies in the 1960s. 

       This 1923 Ten Commandments is the first in Cecil DeMille's biblical trilogy, followed by “The King of Kings” (1927) and “The Sign of the Cross” (1932). 🎥💻📽

“20 Million Miles to Earth” (1957, Tubi) science-fiction monster film. Set in Italy, the film centers on an alien lifeform, called Ymir, from Venus that arrives via a crashed rocket, and begins rapidly growing.

       This movie was made before I was born. I saw it in my grade school years in the late 1960s and it was big then. Scared me. The magic here is Ray Harryhausen's game-changing stop-motion animation. Sixty-eight years hence, motion pictures indeed came a long way but it is interesting and fun to watch what was hi-tech cinema then. 

       Trivia: Gene Simmons has said that his trademark stalking stage-moves were inspired by the creature Ymir. 🎥💻📽