As big as it gets and better than ever, Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 Biblical epic ‘The Ten Commandments’ is being newly issued in a 3 disc Blu-ray package from Paramount, one that includes DeMille’s first silent version from 1923. As Moses, raised as a Prince of Egypt only to discover he is really a Hebrew and thus a persecuted, discriminated-against minority, Charlton Heston had the first of what would be several career-defining roles. They would include the titular hero, another Jewish victim-turned-champion, in William Wyler’s Oscar-winning ‘Ben-Hur’ (Heston’s lone Oscar as Best Actor), the stranded American astronaut of ‘Planet of the Apes,’ and the heroic life-saving champion of ‘Earthquake,’ among the first of Hollywood’s popular 1970s disaster cycle.
Fraser Heston, son of, made his screen debut as the infant Moses, put adrift in the Nile in a reed basket to escape certain death and discovered by the Pharaoh’s recently widowed daughter and raised as a Prince. I must say he is one cute bambino and gets points for being so quiet, especially when laid in a completely covered reed basket multiple times. ‘Ten Commandments’ has an extraordinarily large cast and many, many of them get credit. I was surprised to see future Hollywood hunks listed: Woody Strode who would go gladitorial in ‘Spartacus,’ Clint Walker who would soon be among ‘The Dirty Dozen’ and Touch Connors, who as Mike Connors, would become ‘Mannix.’ I spoke recently with Fraser, 65, about ‘Ten Commandments,’ Charlton Heston (1923 – 2008) and his father’s legacy.
Q: As an infant you’re too young to remember filming in Rome. What is your earliest memory of ‘Ten Commandments’?
FRASER HESTON: I probably didn’t see it until I was five or so. On the one hand it was exciting — and a little terrifying, between the chasing of the Israelites by the chariots, the Burning Bush and the voice of God. All this terrifying Old Testament stuff! But on the other hand you can’t look at this at any age and not be awed by the spectacle of it and it is one of the great stories in the world
Q: The Fifties were a boom time for Biblical epics. Yet no one today talks about ‘The Robe’ or ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators.’ Why has it held up so well?
FH: Or even ‘Samson and Delilah,’ which was another DeMille Biblical epic [in 1949] — which doesn’t hold up.
Q: Why ‘Ten Commandments’ then? Because it’s shown every Easter on network TV since 1973?
FH: I think in many ways it’s the first modern epic. It’s the last film DeMille directed, it was the culmination of the filmmaker’s art. It was major spectacle, had a huge budget over $13 million which was an enormous amount in those days. It was a big gamble for Paramount; of course it paid off big. When you think ‘spectacle’ you think DeMille and when you think DeMille, one of the first things that comes to mind is ‘Ten Commandments.’ It became the benchmark of the studio spectacle. The inheritor of that today is ‘Gladiator’ or the Marvel series.
Q: Did you ever talk to your dad about working with DeMille, who began making movies in the teens [‘The Squaw Man’ 1914], and really made your father a star by first casting him prominently in his all-star Oscar-winning Best Picture, the 1952 celebration of the American circus, ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’? How did your father hook up with Cecil B?
FH: It was a good thing Dad waved at him as he was leaving the Paramount lot in what is now known as ‘the DeMille Gate.’ When he saw Mr. DeMille, as he always called him, going out the driveway he waved and said, ‘Good afternoon Mr. DeMille’ — and DeMille apparently turned to his secretary and said, ‘Who is that actor? I think I met him, I know him.’ She said, ‘Yes, that’s Charlton Heston. You met him once, just a general meeting. You didn’t think much of him.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you bring him in — he might be good as the circus manager in “Greatest Show on Earth”?’ And of course that led him to being cast in that film which wins the Academy Award. [Years later] DeMille brings Dad back for another general meeting, doesn’t even tell him he’s up for the role of Moses. He goes into the models and the sketches and the wonderful [Arnold] Friberg paintings and gets him all enthusiastic and then goes, ‘Oh okay Chuck. I’ll call you back if I need you.’ Dad goes away; he calls him back two weeks later and says, ‘How’d you like to play the role of Moses in “Ten Commandments”?’
Q: What did he ever say about DeMille as a man? Was he friendly? Did they have dinners together?
FH: He was wonderful. He loved DeMille. He had great respect for him. He always called him Mr. DeMille, never C.B. He was kindly, gentle and he could be a stern taskmaster. He was a perfectionist but as you know he drove himself harder than any of his actors or crew members. He did have a heart attack on the set of ‘Ten Commandments’ in Egypt and kept it from the production company. They said it was a stomach indisposition and he continued to work with medication and the connivance of his physician. So he was a really interesting guy. I think a ‘driven, passionate filmmaker’ would be the best description according to my Dad.
Q: It’s funny, I just looked at IMDB on ‘Ten Commandments’ Fraser and I’ll read you what they list for Plot Keywords: Bare-chested Male Bondage, Male Whipping, Chest Whipping [Frazer breaks into laughter] and Tough Guy.
FH: That tells us more about the internet today than ‘Ten Commandments.’
Q: But your dad would be considered a major hunk today.
FH: He was definitely a hunk. He kept himself in great shape; he thought it was his job to stay in shape, eat right. He would sometimes do pool exercises while practicing his dialogue, to keep his wind up, to get his heart pumping. He took it very seriously. He thought his job was the best job in the world and said he would do it for free if he could feed his family. He just loved being an actor but he knew how lucky he was too. He knew he was very, very fortunate. He called himself a shy kid from backwoods Michigan [St. Helen, an isolated, heavily wooded area] who got to wear tights and wave swords around.
Q: You became a writer-director-producer yourself. What do you think of your father’s films? Obviously the two benchmarks that stand out are the two big epics but he made so many movies and so many different kinds of movies. People don’t think of him in comedies [but he did them]. For yourself what are a couple of your favorites outside the Big Two?
FH: Obviously the first film I made with my father was ‘Treasure Island’ (1990) — that’s one I wrote and directed for Ted Turner at TNT. It was our second film for them and it was kind of a dream come true. I remember my dad used to read me ‘Treasure Island’ when I was a kid. And to be able to do it with a cast led by my father and Christian Bale who was only 16 at the time, yeah! It was a boy’s dream come true. He was very easy to work with even though he was my dad. We got along great as adults as we did as father-son. So that was really a perfect combination. I think our ability to communicate well, our love for each other and our professional respect and understanding of each other, made all the films we made together so much better. Then of course there were Dad’s other films he made like ‘Will Penny’ [1968], a little-known Western which I think is one of his best films. He liked it a lot, he thought it was maybe his best film. ‘Planet of the Apes’ – which invents a whole new genre. Just when you think you’ve seen enough of Charlton Heston in epics along comes science fiction which they weren’t doing in those days. Then he goes off and makes a disaster epic like ‘Earthquake’ which was also a huge success. So he was kind of able to reinvent himself about every 10 years and as an actor be successful in different genres, which not everyone can do easily.
Q: I guess you were based in Beverly Hills your whole life but did the family move to locations when he went away to make movies?
FH: For long locations like for ‘Ben-Hur’ and ‘El Cid’ in Spain we would move. So we lived in Italy for 10 months and in Spain for 3 or 4 months. I got to speak a lot of interesting languages and live and see what it was like and not just be a tourist but actually live and work in a foreign country. Later on, when I started working in films – I started as an assistant director on my dad’s version of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ (’72) which was an independent film, the Shakespeare version. Not the Liz and Dick version. We were filming that in Spain and I was able to use my Spanish working with the Spanish crew on the second unit. That was a wonderful opportunity for the family – to travel and see these locations. Also to stay together. After all, my mom and dad were married, what? Some 65 odd years which is pretty amazing in Hollywood.
Q: He was known as a Democrat who became a Reagan Republican and now has a reputation as a right-wing gun zealot.
FH: It’s interesting isn’t it? They imagine he was a much more right wing person than he actually was. With civil rights for example, he led the Hollywood contingent on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for Dr King on the March on Washington.
He was also a labor leader for his union. He was on the board for 10 years and I think he was president for another 9 years, 3 terms — and you don’t think of that. You sort of think of my Dad having two poles and it’s the same image: Him holding up the staff in ‘Ten Commandments’ saying, ‘Behold His mighty hand.’ Then he’s holding up a musket in front of the NRA and saying, ‘From my cold dead hands’ – it’s almost the same line, the staff of God and Moses for the musket of America. In many ways he was playing the same role, wasn’t he? He was good at it — and moderated the NRA and got them to compromise. He wasn’t a gun nut. He’s not a right-wing zealot and socially very liberal and was good friends with Vanessa Redgrave — and you don’t get any more left-wing than that. They got along great. She was in ‘A Man for All Seasons’ which we also did for Turner.
SHE’S BACK!
The wait is over fans. Phryne Fisher, as played by Essie Davis, has returned to her star-making role as the romantic, cool, collected 1920s detective from ‘Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’ in a movie she can call all her own. ‘Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears’ (premieres Monday, March 23, AcornTV, Not Rated), the first Miss Fisher adventure since 2015, begins in 1931 British Palestine, specifically Jerusalem where a young Bedouin woman is imprisoned. ‘Crypt’ then flies to London and continues to dazzle with emeralds, curses and romantic longing. Back for this reunion is Nathan Page, still Miss Fisher’s longtime, strung along romantic suitor DI Jack Robinson. New is Rupert Penry Jones’ Spooks. Filmed on location in Morocco, near its legendary Sahara Desert, and many Melbourne mansions, ‘Crypt of Tears’ is extravagantly mounted escapism, a romantic detective story brought vividly to life. And one where it’s very easy to admire its moxie as when Miss Fisher and her rescued Bedouin woman must leap from a bridge onto a fast-moving train – in heels!
ADRIAN DUNBAR BACK FOR ‘BLOOD’
Series 2 begins Monday, March 9, with 2 episodes (of 6) of the Irish crime drama ‘Blood’ (AcornTV, Not Rated). Adrian Dunbar (‘Line of Duty’) stars as a small Irish town’s tormented ex-doctor. Series I had the doc’s wife dead, presumably due to an accident — only their daughter didn’t believe it. Series 2 is a whole new mystery as Dunbar’s Jim Hogan returns to the family fold, determined to make amends. To his horror his eldest daughter is afflicted by the same debilitating disease that killed her mother. As Hogan’s healing efforts fail and accidents happen, ‘Blood’ constantly upends expectations and conclusions.
NEW DVDs:
FOX NEWS’ DANGEROUS DEN Jay Roach’s incendiary ‘Bombshell’ (Blu-ray + DVD + digital, Lionsgate, R) is a look at the sexual harassment scandal that pushed Fox News honcho Roger Ailes out the door. Oscar nominations went to producer and star Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly, the channel’s biggest star and to co-star Margot Robbie as a religious-raised innocent barbequed by Ailes’ lust. ‘Bombshell’ justifiably won the Makeup and Hairstyling Academy Award for Theron’s remarkable transformation. Unlike the expansive Ailes portrait in Showtime’s series, ‘Bombshell’ considers Fox News from the women’s point of view – all its women. Nicole Kidman’s Gretchen Carlson got the bomb ticking by doing the unthinkable — filing a sexual harassment lawsuit (settled with a NDA just as Harvey Weinstein liked to do). Theron’s Kelly has a moral dilemma, speak up or remain silent. Here too are Ailes supporters (Connie Britton’s fiercely loyal wife, Alanna Ubach as cheerleading Jeanine Pirro). There are composites like Kate McKinnon’s closeted lesbian and Robbie’s newbie who discovers to her eternal horror that her job comes with putting out for the boss (John Lithgow in a fat suit). The bonus: A 7-part documentary covering the film’s genesis, ensemble, visual design, makeup, hair and prosthetics.
SEXUAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, HOMICIDAL One of the best acted, perceptively written and simply shocking longform series, ‘The Affair: The Complete Series’ (CBS DVD, 53 episodes, 19 discs, Showtime entertainment, Not Rated) had mystery, momentum and a dizzying way with mind games. It begins with married Noah (Dominic West) cheating with Ruth Wilson’s waitress Alison. What ‘Affair’ does is look at this passionate infidelity from four perspectives – Noah’s, Alison’s and their respective spouses Helen (Maura Tierney) and Cole (Joshua Jackson). Fractured in its time frames, impossible to anticipate, each season changed its established dynamics in truly mind-expanding ways. We’ll never know why Wilson left a season early but the shocks continue right until the end. Special features: Character Profiles and ‘Where Does It End?’ with co-creator and executive producer Sarah Treem reflecting on how the show itself and the characters evolved from the start to the many emotional ripples that initial affair created.
JUST IN TIME FOR SEQUEL Already established as a modern horror classic, John Krasinki’s 2018 sleeper hit ‘A Quiet Place’ (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy, PG-13) is now issued in a Mondo X Steelbook with exclusive artwork and behind the scenes footage on the unique sound design and memorable visual effects. Plus, a look at how cast and crew created that tense atmosphere on set and on film. Credit goes to Krasinski of course whose reworking of the original screenplay by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, the duo who first came up with the mesmerizing story, was considerable enough to gain him credit. (The sequel opening March 20 has a sole screenwriting credit for Krasinski who again directs.)
GUINNESS X TWO Two Alec Guinness Fifties comedies packaged together! A most agreeable way to enjoy an actor whose continued versatility became a defining characteristic. What Guinness could do with just a look. ‘The Captain’s Paradise’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated) from 1953 has Guinness a lovestruck semi-bigamist, a ferry captain whose trips back and forth from North Africa’s Gibraltar mean there’s homey times with Celia Johnson’s placid domesticity and wilder times with exotic Yvonne De Carlo. In this Brand New 4K restoration, the comical question becomes: Will the Captain’s paradise be really a fool’s paradise? ‘Barnacle Bill’ (1957), also newly restored, is a companion comedy of sorts with Guinness again a naval captain, only a descendant of generations of sailors who cannot, sad to say, stand the sea. Released in the US as ‘All at Sea,’ this ‘Barnacle’ is notable for an early acting appearance by the late bestselling writer Jackie Collins (‘The Stud’), sister of Joan.
BERLIN’S GOLDEN BEAR WINNER Having just been to the Berlin Film Festival it was good timing to be able to see the remarkable winner of last year’s Golden Bear, the Festival’s highest honor. Offbeat, humorous, sexy and somewhat bizarre, ‘Synonyms’ (Blu-ray, Kino Lorber, Not Rated) follows a young handsome Israeli Yoav (Tom Mercier, an Israeli judo champion who was on track for the Olympics until he opted to study dance). Yoav has quit his native country and arrived in Paris to be French. Mercier’s star-making, attention-getting performance — his Yoav is introduced completely naked and nearly dead – is only one element of this memorable film’s many charms.
Revived by a friendly if sexually flirtatious young couple down the hall, Yoav is a reflection of writer-director Nadav Lapid’s own experiences in forging his own identity. The Special Features include an interview with the director who speaks movingly about his mother. She has edited all his films, she’s a well-known editor, mainly of documentaries, in Israel and as she was editing ‘Synonyms,’ she held back from telling her son she was dying, terminal cancer. The film is dedicated to her. There’s also another, nearly hour-long interview with Lapid at Lincoln Center where ‘Synonyms’ was screened as part of the NY Film Festival. In French and Hebrew with English subtitles.
REMEMBER JEFF CHANDLER? Among Fifties leading men silver-haired Jeff Chandler with his sculpted cheekbones, toned torso and regular guy earthiness stood out as an early exemplar of Sixties cool. He died young – just 42 – due to a botched surgery.
Chandler began playing ethnic roles with an Oscar nominated performance as the Native American warrior Cochise but by the middle of the decade he had progressed to leading man status in comedies, action films and, memorably. as Joan Crawford’s seductive lover in ‘Female on the Beach.’ In the contemporary 1957 Western ‘Man in the Shadow’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated) Chandler is the righteous sheriff, the only one to stand up to the bullying land baron (Orson Welles) who is suspected of murdering a Mexican immigrant farm worker. Jack Arnold, still best known for that year’s ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man,’ directs. Special feature: Troy Howarth’s audio commentary.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/03/08/stephen-schaefers-hollywood-mine-11/
2020-03-08 15:29:54Z
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