Cecil B. DeMille's first foray into biblical spectacle was his 1923 epic The Ten Commandments, which features a recreation of ancient Egypt—complete with 20 sphinxes and four massive statues of Ramses—built on the beaches of the town of Guadalupe in California's Santa Barbara County. When production was completed, DeMille worried that his massive sets would be commandeered by rival filmmakers, so he buried them in the sands. Over the years, this earlier version of The Ten Commandments was forgotten in favor of DeMille's 1956 remake. In 1982, filmmaker Peter Brosnan was tipped off that the 1923 DeMille set still lay intact beneath the sands, thus launching a 33-year odyssey as Brosnan battled local government agencies, mercurial Hollywood financiers, and a gnawing sense of futility as he struggled to locate DeMille's lost cinematic Egypt. This delightful video diary follows Brosnan and collaborators as they search for evidence of the silent film set while also interviewing local townspeople who worked as extras on the mammoth production. Brosnan was forced to shut down his expedition on three occasions, but was ultimately rewarded when he finally uncovered impressive artifacts from the elaborate set. Also featuring clips from the 1923 version of The Ten Commandments, this wonderful slice of cinema history and archaeology is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille
(2017) 88 min. DVD: $14.99. Random Media (avail. from www.amazon.com). Volume 33, Issue 1
The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille
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