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Reviews4
rsartisttouch-1's rating
This film is so popular and DeMille puts together such a cast that if anyone out there is thinking about a remake, I would guess the casting department would be mulling over who would play Charlton Heston, rather than Moses; who would portray Yul Brynner as Rameses; and who would be the perfect Ann Baxter? Doing a remake of DeMille's rendition would be like remaking THE WIZARD OF OZ or CASABLANCA.
When her character is introduced at the beginning of the film, Ann Baxter looks stunning as she strikes a now classic pose. She also does a great job toying with Rameses mind in the palace, as both her and Rameses pray for their dead firstborn son to be brought back to life by the god, Horus. The words "So let it be written; so let it be done" spoken by Rameses father, and then by Rameses II. My favorite line spoken by Yul Brynner is: "The slaves are mine; their lives are mine; all that they own is mine." This finally cements his image as a truly tyrannical Pharoah, though any child would have figured this out already. The screenwriter loves to have the cast refer to Moses by saying his name twice in succession: "Moses, Moses!" I told myself once I would sit down and count how many times "Moses, Moses!" was said in the film. There is one segment of the film however, where the script is so 1950s cornball I can barely stand it. Everyone is so happy that all good things begin happening at once, i.e. " ... You have a newborn son!" (Yay Yay) If this happened in modern times someone surely would bellow "I won the lottery". (The scene I am referring to is when the slaves are leaving Rameses' city heading for the promised land).
Still, DeMille successfully translates his own majestic, original vision creating this epic for the big screen. When I saw it the first time on the big screen at age seven, I thought this was the greatest movie ever! The frequent cornball dialog in places is easily forgotten when one becomes awestruck by all of the huge, glorious sets which are favorably complimented by solid art direction, cinematography and, as advertised at the time, "a cast of thousands!" This film is a "must see" for any serious film student, fan or fanatic! Enjoy with lotsa popcorn!
When her character is introduced at the beginning of the film, Ann Baxter looks stunning as she strikes a now classic pose. She also does a great job toying with Rameses mind in the palace, as both her and Rameses pray for their dead firstborn son to be brought back to life by the god, Horus. The words "So let it be written; so let it be done" spoken by Rameses father, and then by Rameses II. My favorite line spoken by Yul Brynner is: "The slaves are mine; their lives are mine; all that they own is mine." This finally cements his image as a truly tyrannical Pharoah, though any child would have figured this out already. The screenwriter loves to have the cast refer to Moses by saying his name twice in succession: "Moses, Moses!" I told myself once I would sit down and count how many times "Moses, Moses!" was said in the film. There is one segment of the film however, where the script is so 1950s cornball I can barely stand it. Everyone is so happy that all good things begin happening at once, i.e. " ... You have a newborn son!" (Yay Yay) If this happened in modern times someone surely would bellow "I won the lottery". (The scene I am referring to is when the slaves are leaving Rameses' city heading for the promised land).
Still, DeMille successfully translates his own majestic, original vision creating this epic for the big screen. When I saw it the first time on the big screen at age seven, I thought this was the greatest movie ever! The frequent cornball dialog in places is easily forgotten when one becomes awestruck by all of the huge, glorious sets which are favorably complimented by solid art direction, cinematography and, as advertised at the time, "a cast of thousands!" This film is a "must see" for any serious film student, fan or fanatic! Enjoy with lotsa popcorn!
I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining Alexander is and did not agree that this film deserved the poor reviews I've read so far. I attribute this to some clever film editing in certain parts of the film, resulting in an evenly paced rendition considering Alexander kept going and conquering everything east of home. There have been two other historical epics that focused on ancient Rome and Greece that were released during the past five years and thought Alexander made TROY look and sound just plain dumb, Alexander having overall more intelligent and involving dialog. Also I felt Alexander was more rich, lush and honest in it's screenplay and art direction, and was impressed by the costume design. I must applaud Oliver Stone for not hiding the truth about Alexander's personal life. Like it or not, that is the way a lot of soldiers related to one another back then. Being honest in depicting Alexander's personal relationships allowed for more freedom in character development; had Stone ignored history, the film would have had a lot of the stilted feel of TROY. I feel that a lot of the bad reviews were not honest; the reviewers perhaps too afraid to say they didn't appreciate the portrayal of unrestrained intimacy between Alexander and his friends, and for the rest of the Army. So they deliberately searched deeply for flaws.
Any film which picks me up and makes me forget I'm sitting in a chair in a theater is a pretty darn good film, and my involvement with Alexander was like a magic carpet ride in places; Stone hypnotizes in some scenes very well and in just the right places. Colin Farrell was just right for the role of Alexander; Angelina Jolie would have been given more credit had this been a premier role/film for her; instead she is so distinctive being herself that it is distracting - almost to the point of making me feel there was a commercial coming up soon. Further, the most annoying thing I found about the film was that Alexander and everyone around him all had heavy Irish, Scottish and English accents. Does anyone remember how out of place Ralph Richardson's accent was in DR. ZHIVAGO?
I enjoyed this film overall, and plan to view it 3 or 4 more times. My thanks to Stone and everyone involved for historically accurate storytelling!
Any film which picks me up and makes me forget I'm sitting in a chair in a theater is a pretty darn good film, and my involvement with Alexander was like a magic carpet ride in places; Stone hypnotizes in some scenes very well and in just the right places. Colin Farrell was just right for the role of Alexander; Angelina Jolie would have been given more credit had this been a premier role/film for her; instead she is so distinctive being herself that it is distracting - almost to the point of making me feel there was a commercial coming up soon. Further, the most annoying thing I found about the film was that Alexander and everyone around him all had heavy Irish, Scottish and English accents. Does anyone remember how out of place Ralph Richardson's accent was in DR. ZHIVAGO?
I enjoyed this film overall, and plan to view it 3 or 4 more times. My thanks to Stone and everyone involved for historically accurate storytelling!
