Hollywood really rewrote Exodus via soap-opera romance involving Moses; his haughty half-brother Ramses ( Yul Brynner), the hard-hearted pharaoh of the Bible story; and a sultry Egyptian princess, whose famous love-scene line is "Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!" You'll search Scripture in vain for those words. There's also ample Romeo-and-Juliet stuff between Moses' aide and successor Joshua (John Derek) and the daughter of a corrupt Hebrew overseer Dathan ( Edward G. Robinson) who prospers by collaborating with the Egyptians and generally opposes Moses all the way along.

It's clever how the movie eases into the religious themes delicately, at first portraying Moses as more of a political activist and slave-liberator. He initially disdains the Hebrew God as distant and uncaring about His peoples' bondage. Once Moses meets God more or less face-to-face via big-budget miracles, then the more spiritual messages emerge (the scenes with God might even be scarier for small viewers, rather than any plagues or curses), climaxing in stupendous special effects with the parting of the Red Sea and the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

DeMille knew well how to mix mass-audience showbiz snazz with the religion, and however you might feel about that, The Ten Commandments never became a magnet for controversy like The Passion of the Christ did.

More accessible versions of the story for younger kids may be the animated Prince of Egypt and an animated Ten Commandments from 2007. For another biblical epic, try The Robe.