History

Moses the Lawgiver

Italy

United Kingdom

English

Burt Lancaster

Anthony Quayle

Ingrid Thulin

Irene Papas

Aharon Ipalé

Marina Berti

Yosef Shiloach

Shmuel Rodensky

Mariangela Melato

Laurent Terzieff

Bill Lancaster

Jacques Herlin

Mario Ferrari

Simonetta Stefanelli

Melba Englander

Michele Placido

John Bartha

Antonio Piovanelli

Richard Johnson

John Francis Lane

José Quaglio

Umberto Raho

Dina Doron

Mosko Alkalai

Paul Müller

Gianfranco De Bosio

Vittorio Bonicelli

Anthony Burgess

Vincenzo Labella

Bernard J. Kingham

Ennio Morricone

Marcello Gatti

Peter Boita

Alberto Gallitti

John D. Guthridge

Gerry Hambling

Frederick Wilson

Pier Luigi Basile

Enrico Sabbatini

Mario Bava

Federico Del Zoppo

CinemaSerf

To be fair to this biopic of the man who led the Jews from Pharaonic rule in Egypt to the land of Milk and Honey, there has been some serious effort put into the writing. It is less archaic than much of the original biblical text, but it does still manage to convey something of the gravitas of that tome - especially when delivered by Burt Lancaster in the title role. Now true, at times he does over-egg it on the earnestness front, especially towards the end, but for the most part he holds this together remarkably well. He is helped along by the equally rousing oratory of Sir Anthony Quayle who takes on the role of high priest Aaron and by a solid effort from Ingrid Thulin as Miriam. Sadly, though, these three cannot really compensate for the sluggish pace of the whole thing, nor the really pretty lacklustre supporting cast. That’s probably best exemplified by Laurent Terzieff’s weak performance as the Pharoah, but Mariangela Melato doesn’t fare so very much better as Moses’s adopted mother Bithia. It doesn’t compare at all well with DeMille’s “Ten Commandments” (1956) on the lavishness front, but I think it might outdo it on the authenticity front when they travel through the desert eking out an existence from the scraps they can find amongst the brush. It also goes some way to illustrating that all was not always sweetness and light amongst the tribes; that temptation was never far from many a mind and that, as many people may have found from reading the book of Exodus, their lord God wasn’t always the easiest deity to keep sweet! This simply hadn’t the budget nor Gianfranco De Bosio the imagination or vision to create something compelling to watch. It does have it’s moments - thought the parting of the Red Sea maybe isn’t one of them - but it needed a more robust and characterful cast to support the leads and much more succinct and focussed direction.

WNEW Moses 1980 TV promo

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Moses the Lawgiver

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Burt Lancaster

Anthony Quayle

Ingrid Thulin

Irene Papas

Aharon Ipalé

Marina Berti

Yosef Shiloach

Shmuel Rodensky

Mariangela Melato

Laurent Terzieff

Box office

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