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It is nothing short of amazing to see how far movies have evolved since their earliest days to today. Movies at their earliest inception were state of the art, impressive spectacles that people dressed up for and flocked to see, for a fraction of the cost of attending performance-based arts like plays, concerts, and vaudeville acts. When silent movies came on the scene, the art of storytelling entered a new age, an age that, if done right, would have an impact that would be frozen in time, and become immortalized. Very few films from the silent era have high profile...

Yvonne De Carlo was born on the 1st of September, 1922, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Universal Pictures producer Walter Wanger described her as "the most beautiful girl in the world." In the New York times, Bosley Crowther wrote of her performance in "Salome, Where She Danced" (1945): "Miss De Carlo has an agreeable mezzo-soprano singing voice, all the 'looks' one girl could ask for, and, moreover, she dances with a sensuousness which must have caused the Hays office some anguish." De Carlo said: “I’m all for men and I think they ought to stay up there and be the bosses,...

It is an extraordinary thing when a movie becomes so meaningful, timeless, and impactful, that it remains relevant and popular while its audience grows with each new generation. In the case of Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments, there are a multitude of reasons for that. The Ten Commandments has two significant components that work in its favor. For one; consider the source. The Biblical book of Exodus explicitly chronicles the sovereignty of God, as well as His intercessory involvement in freeing His chosen people, the Hebrews. It is an integral part of Hebrew history, and plays a vital...

Archaeologists working in sand dunes on the central California coast have dug up an intact plaster sphinx that was part of an Egyptian movie set built more than 90 years ago for Cecil B. DeMille's epic "The Ten Commandments." The 300-pound sphinx is the second recovered from the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes.

Hidden for more than 90 years beneath the rolling sand dunes of Guadalupe, California, an enormous, plaster sphinx from the 1923 blockbuster movie "The Ten Commandments" has been rediscovered and is now above ground. The public will be able to see the sphinx on display as early as next year, once it has been reconstructed a necessity since it became weather-beaten during its stint beneath the sand, said Doug Jenzen, the executive director of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center, who oversaw the recent excavation.

I can't believe I'm acftually shaking a little ...

Archdiocese of Washington A Picture of the Transformed Human Person – A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe first reading today contains the Ten Commandments and thereby communicates a brief but sweeping summary of the Christian and biblical moral vision. Too often, there is a tendency to reduce the Christian moral vision merely to a set of rules. And it is a sad fact that many resent the the Church for her “rules” because of this reductionist notion of our moral vision.To be fair, EVERY group and activity has rules. If you join a bowling league...

The Whole Law, standing on one foot! A Homily For the 30th Sunday of the year By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere was an expression common among the rabbis of Jesus’ time, wherein one rabbi would ask another a question, and request that the answer be given while “standing on one foot.” This is a Jewish way of saying, “Be brief in your answer.”And that sort of expression may be behind the question that is raised in today’s gospel by the scholar of law, who asks, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”Just as an aside, it is likely that...

On Easter Sunday night, more Americans watched “The Ten Commandments” on ABC than any other show, even allowing for the fact that the audience was not as big as last year’s. What was most telling was how it creamed the religious fare shown on the Travel Channel and the Science Channel. The Travel Channel gave us “Greatest Mysteries: Holy Land,” a one-hour presentation that took the viewer on a rambling ride through hidden rooms and caves looking for the Holy Grail; a guest appearance by Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazi SS, rounded out the first segment. The Shroud of...

Yesterday I was watching The Ten Commandments on YouTube. I was thrilled to find the complete movie! I don't know how long it will be there, but for the time being you can watch it HERE . I was enjoying the parting of the Red Sea, beginning at about 3:08 when I thought I heard on the background Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. I replayed it a few times and I still think it can be heard on and off, very softly. Does anybody know if that is really Hatikvah?It may seem like a small detail, but I got to...

Movie is commemorated with a DVD edition. Hollywood’s Past and the Bible’s History haunt us this week as Cecil B. DeMille’s classic renditions of The Ten Commandments are re-released in a collector’s DVD edition. This year is the 50th Anniversary of the second version, the one in which Charlton Heston leads the Exodus. Syndicated radio host and movie critic, Michael Medved says its “it’s amazing how well the movie has held up.” And with a chuckle fondly offers his own opinion. “The Ten Commandments is one of the most endearing and important bad movies ever made. But the movie works.”...

TEN COMMANDMENTS I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. V. Honour thy father and thy mother. VI. Thou shalt not kill. VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery. VIII. Thou shalt not steal. IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. X. Thou shalt not covet any thing that is thy neighbour's. Are the Ten Commandments still relevant? In American Society, who most would...