'Commandments' rates a 10 on DVD

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Not content to let well enough alone, ABC Television seems to have offended a consensus of reviewers and spectators by commissioning a new edition of "The Ten Commandments" for the recent Easter and Passover holidays. The traditional telecast of Cecil B. DeMille's durably portentous and diverting spectacle of 1956 hadn't been canceled, but the duplication caused some trepidation about its status.

ABC televised the DeMille classic the night before Easter Sunday, a week after unveiling the made-for-TV remake. Since the latter had laid a two-part egg, the return of the standard version looked a bit like a prompt public apology. But in all likelihood, a great deal of self-delusion and false optimism led to the decision that it would be desirable to possess a duplicate "Commandments" at the network during this 50th anniversary year of the DeMille picture.

The movie premiered in November 1956, so it's still not too late for Paramount to mount a proper anniversary set of revivals for the theatrical version, which possessed stilted but undeniable scenic grandeur in its original SuperVistaVision engagements.

I suggest the Uptown, the American Film Institute Silver Theatre or one of the large auditoriums at the new AMC Tysons Corner for a proper commemoration in this market.

Since it's probably foolish to trust to that eventuality, admirers might as well invest in the 50th anniversary DVD edition. This three-disc set from Paramount Home Entertainment supplements the movie with a handful of shorts that recall its production, a commentary track from a DeMille scholar named Katherine Orrison and a copy of the silent prototype, the 1923 version of "The Ten Commandments," which anticipated the filmmaker's attraction to biblical spectacle in decades to come.

As Miss Orrison usefully reminds us, the first "Commandments" was a fleeting Biblical melodrama. Only the prologue harked back to the story of Moses and the Israelite exodus from Egypt. This project did begin Mr. DeMille's exploitation of biblical subject matter. He had made 45 movies in the previous decade, starting with Westerns and ultimately specializing in high society romances that helped define the hedonism of the Roaring '20s.

Of the 25 features left in his directing career, which concluded with the second "Ten Commandments," only half a dozen had biblical settings. Nevertheless, Mr. DeMille, who died in 1959 at age 77, remains more closely identified with biblical sagas than any other film genre, largely because his valedictory "Commandments" was a huge success and definitive stylistic throwback.

The most appealing single testament of the director's devotion to the remake is the "Making of..." trailer he filmed to advance the release. Mr. DeMille, who survived a heart attack while the movie was in production in Egypt in 1954, emphasizes the historical and artistic sources that influenced the screenplay.

This presentation, which surrounds him with props and displays in an office setting, is more effective than his later prologue for the movie, where he repeats much of the same text while posed stiffly in front of a large theater curtain. The personal note was sustained on the soundtrack of the film: The director remained the narrator and prevailing voice of authority for a running time of 220 minutes.

Miss Orrison identifies the actor Henry Wilcoxon and his wife Joan Woodberry as her principal sources. A leading man in DeMille films of the 1930s, Mr. Wilcoxon became his associate producer and factotum during the final years of their collaboration. He can be seen most frequently in "The Ten Commandments" at the right hand of Yul Brynner's Rameses.