Review of Moses The Lawgiver

Introduction

The man Gene Kelly in Singin in the Rain told us supposed his toeses were roses. To the rest of us, the man who led the Children of Israel out of slavery to the Pharaohs and gave them the Ten Commandments.

In the mid 1970s, ATV`s Lew Grade was intent on making something a little more important than just his usual ITC money-spinners such as The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk and The Champions. It still had to be (affordably) spectacular and guaranteed to attract an audience, but he wanted something he could be proud of.

The six-part mini-series was co-financed between Grade`s ITC and the Italian State broadcaster RAI (a relationship which continued with Space:1999, The Return Of The Saint and of course the epic Jesus of Nazareth). The budget ensured star names and authentic locations - Borehamwood would not be the promised land.

Chosen to direct the six-part mini-series was Italian Director Gianfranco de Bosio. deBosio co-wrote the screenplay with Victorio Bonicelli and Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess. Burgess would return to biblical times to co-write the screenplay for Jesus of Nazareth. Trivia fans may be interested to know that Burgess composed his own music score for the production, but lost out to Ennio Morricone.

Moses The Lawgiver will, of course, always stand in the twin shadows of Cecil B DeMille`s 1956 The Ten Commandments, and Lew Grade`s 1977 masterpiece Jesus of Nazareth with Robert Powell. Even allowing for inflation, Moses came in at less than half the epic`s 1956 budget of $13.5m. Lacking the sheer spectacle of DeMille`s movie, or the magnetic central performance of Jesus of Nazareth, Moses The Lawgiver is still an impressive piece of television. It is, however, long. Very long. A bum-numbing six-hours (originally shown in managable chunks), it does frequently drag.

Burt Lancaster, whether wearing arab headdress or a stetson is always Burt Lancaster, but then that is what being a star is all about. If you actually met Moses, you`d hope he would be as charismatic as Lancaster (or Heston for that matter). He makes a suitably angst-ridden leader of the tribes of Israel, more dusty and believable than the Bible-illustration Moses played by Heston. He is given suitable acting support from an impressive international cast including Anthony Quayle as Aaron, Ingrid Thulin as Miriam and Irene Papas as Zipporah.

The series was cut down from its original 300+ minutes to a theatrical cut of 141 minutes which did the rounds the year after. This disc set presents the mini-series as originally transmitted.

Video

Originated on 35mm film, the series should look terrific. It doesn`t. Network have been supplied by the ITV archive with a completely unrestored, bog-standard transfer full of neg and pos dirt and Network will probably get the blame. Colours are good and contrast is fine, but surely Granada Ventures could have sprung for BBC Resources to give it a wash and brush up in making the masters.

Audio

If there is one area that the series stands out, it is in its musical score by the legendary Ennio Morricone. Unfortunately, the score is rendered as part of the original mono mix of the series, reproduced here as Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono.

Features

Image Gallery, and an interview from 1974 with Burt Lancaster on Russell Harty. No subtitles.

Conclusion

A disappointingly leaden rendition of Exodus, in spite of a stellar cast, authentic locations and a script polished by one of the great writers of the 20th Century. Also disappointingly presented as a completely unrestored programme unfortunately showing its age. Given the choice between this and the Collector`s Edition of the 1956 epic (which has its own faults, believe me,) I`d go with Chuck rather than Burt.