'The Ten Commandments': Put your hands up as iconic film turns 70
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.
We start the program with two "Jangles" -- Jewish angles -- on this week's entertainment news. In a follow-up to our previous program, we hear how the comic Modi dropped out of a Passover event after finding out that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was participating. A principled stance?
And then, Hoffman pays tribute to Tzruya ‘Suki’ Lahav, who played violin with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band half a century ago, and died last weekend.
However, in honor of the end of the Passover holiday, we turn our gaze to "The Ten Commandments," which this year turns 70.
The 1956 Cecil B. DeMille "sandal epic" sees Charlton Heston as Moses going head-to-head with Yul Brynner as Rameses. The supporting cast also glitters with Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora and Debra Paget as Lilia.
Although screened annually in the US, Hoffman hadn't watched it for several decades, and this is Borschel-Dan's first time. But it's a movie that, as Hoffman puts it, "people know even if they haven't seen it."
The duo goes into the weeds with the biblical and Jewish influences on the work, including a surprise member of the tribe for Hoffman. And, while dated in its treatment of women on screen, the film also offers an insightful feminist moment.
Stick around to see if "The Ten Commandments" got an "oy," "meh" or "not bad" in this week's The Reel Schmooze.
The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's The Real Shmooze, bringing you all the Jewish entertainment |
| 0:11.3 | news and movie reviews anyone can use. I'm your host Amanda Borschaldon with our movie |
| 0:17.6 | maven Jordan Hoffman straight from New Jersey. |
| 0:21.3 | Hello! |
| 0:23.3 | That's my big hello. |
| 0:24.8 | I'm excited for this week. |
| 0:25.7 | That was a really big hello. |
| 0:27.4 | Yeah, I'm excited for this week because it's Passover week. |
| 0:31.0 | And we are recording actually on Easter Monday, and I'm really excited for this week's pick, |
| 0:36.8 | a movie which I have not seen over 40 years, and I'm really excited for this week's pick, a movie which I have not seen |
| 0:39.2 | over 40 years, which I watched this week, and a lot of it was, as I remembered, and a lot of |
| 0:45.2 | it was, as I did not remember, but it did not include, when Moses was in Egypt land, let my people go. |
| 0:59.7 | I actually did think that was from this movie, the Ten Commandments. |
| 1:03.7 | I had somehow projected, it was like the Mandala effect when it wasn't in there. |
| 1:09.7 | I thought there was a scene |
| 1:11.2 | where uh newbians black there are woody strode plays uh the black newbian king at one point i |
| 1:19.7 | thought in my head he sang that the old as they as they called it negro spiritual totally |
| 1:25.2 | made up in my head somehow so we're going to get to that though, |
| 1:27.9 | but the Ten Commandments is this week's film and what a picture, as they say. |
| 1:34.2 | Joy, I just feel like you launched it and people have no idea what we're supposed to be doing |
| 1:38.2 | unless they know how to read, which is possible. And they read the headline for this episode. |
| 1:42.9 | So yes, it is 70 years to the Ten Commandments, |
... |
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