Customer Reviews

Moses [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Originally aired as a CBS miniseries, this Italian-British-American production features a subdued Burt Lancaster as a man struggling with the heavenly responsibility of liberator of the children of Israel.

Backed by an international cast and a magnificent Ennio Morricone score, this is a rarity as a Biblical epic, one devoid of the big-budgeted special effects and over-the-top acting so characteristic of the genre. It tells one of the most important and essential stories of all time in a poignant and challenging way.

A great film for fans of the actor and great storytelling, "Moses" transcends over all others.

Let me say first--U can get the complete miniseries of "MOSES THE LAWGIVER". I playing it in my dvd player as I'm writing this. I always wanted that and wondered how I could get that. They have it in Europe but not here in America. and the reason is, they have the miniseries in PAL format and the edited in america's format. so I went ahead and order the edited one. and before it came, I found out that if you have the right dvd player u can play Europe movies. Then I went ahead and ordered a dvd player that plays both PAL and NTSC formats. Then ordered the miniseries from Amazon in Europe. AND IT'S MUCH BETTER!!!!

I remember watching this program during the mid-1970's, when it was broadcast under the title "Moses: The Lawgiver," produced by Vincenzo Labella, who would later produce Franco Zeffirelli's miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth." What we have on this DVD is a portion of that miniseries edited down from 6 hours to 141 minutes. Why? This would have made a great 2-DVD set with the complete, uncut miniseries, just as the "Jesus of Nazareth" DVD set was. What you do get to see here is a great performance by Burt Lancaster as Moses. Anthony Quale also shines as Moses' brother Aaron. This program follows Moses from his birth and upbringing in the Egyptian court to his exile in Midian where he meets his wife Zipporah (Irene Papas). Then after he is called by God at the burning bush, Moses returns to Egypt to demand the release of his people. We then witness the ten plagues, the Exodus (although the parting of the Red Sea doesn't quite look as "majestic" as the effect in "The Ten Commandments"), and the Ten Commandments and the Golden Calf. If this had been the complete miniseries, I would have been willing to give 5 stars. But with this edit, three will have to do.

The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston is an excellent movie but this lesser known movie about Moses starring Burt Lancaster is also good and he also was very good as Moses and I also liked the actor who played Moses's brother Aaron. The Ten Commandments is more glossy and has a huge cast of well known popular Hollywood actors and this movie called Moses is more low-key and simple, just more down to earth and I think a lot of people prefer the more glossy version but I think the down to earth subdued filming and acting of Moses is part of it's charm. I'm happy that this movie is now finally on DVD but it's only the edited version and I would like for the whole complete original mini series to be put on DVD in region 1 format but anyway I recommend that people Give this under rated, under appreciated movie about Moses a chance!

This is an extraordinary production in every respect. However, I'm only giving it a 4 star rating because it's an abridged version of the full 300 minute original. If you want to savor every heartfelt minute of the original 300, consider buying Moses the Lawgiver for Regions 1 (US and Canada) and 4 (Central and South America). This two DVD set plays on American DVD players and has English audio. At the present time, the Region 1 and 4 DVD is available through Amazon.com. You don't have to make do with the abridged version, or pay out for a DVD player to play Region 2 (Europe) as one reviewer did. Stay closer to home and buy this one marketed for Latin America (with the original English audio)!

This is a beautiful telling of the Moses storey. The antithesis of the Cecile B DeMille's over-the-top (but enjoyable) version.

This is a very understated, and therefore entirely realistic version of how it could have happened.

The edited version is acceptable, but I recall that the full version really conveyed a sense of the epic journey, which this compressed version, simply does not.

Hopefully the studios will give it a good digital clean up and release the full version in the near future.

Furthermore, the musical score is one of Ennio Morricone's best....not to be missed!

This is a shortened version of a 1970's TV mini series dealing with the story of Moses and the exodus of the Hebrews during the reign of an Egyptian pharaoh.

This movie is not close to the epic of the 1950's classic The Ten Commandments. It can't be really being made for TV. The acting is ok, not stellar, but it won't put you to sleep watching it. The story goes over more than that covered in The Ten Commandments though, and that is something that it has going for it.

Overall it's a good compliment to the de Mille classic and one I recommend watching for what happens after the Hebrews receive the Ten Commandments.

What can I say about the Movie "Moses" Staring Burt Lancaster other than it does an excelent job of actually following the Book of Exodus in the Bible. THe directors try to keeep the charachter Moses to how he was potrayed in the Bible. Moses stutters so his brother speaks for him to Pharoah. The plagues and the parting of the Red Sea has such realism that you can picture the biblical descprition while viewing it. Mannafalls from the trees like bread from heaven.

I reccommend this version of the story of the Exodus over any other due to its absolute parralelism with the Biblical Story.

The costumes and sets aren't too bad, but otherwise this looks like a bad TV movie from the 70s usually does. I agree that there is less of the melodrama than in Cecil DeMille's film, but the writing and acting are still painful to watch, and the picture is always dark. It must be that people feel nostalgic about something from years gone by, because this movie looks so very bad compared to classics of the past and modern filmmaking.

This is a very good movies, I'am glad i purchased it. the best acting i have seen in a long time. mnbrown49