Religion: Mount Sinai to Main Street

The religious movie epic—along with the “religiose” pop tune and the Biblical bestseller—is more than ever a part of the U.S. scene. Clergymen have mixed feelings about it. Some see it as a heartening sign of a religious revival, believe that movies can make the stories and sometimes even the spirit of the Bible come alive for otherwise indifferent millions. Other churchmen are appalled to find Scripture reduced to sex and circuses, to see spiritual messages clothed in the well-publicized flesh of Hollywood stars, regard the whole trend as part of a vulgarization of religion. This week the biggest religious movie ever. Cecil B. De-Mille’s The Ten Commandments (TIME, Nov. 12). opened across the U.S.—and the clergy seemed to be applauding.

Producer DeMille had trouped churchmen of all denominations to the previews, solicited their comments. Instead of the usual reviewers’ blurbs (“Terrific” —Crowther. New York Times), Paramount’s huge ads could now carry blurbs from churchmen (“Moving”—Spellman, New York Archdiocese). The line-up was impressive. Methodist Dr. Ralph ‘Sock-man: “It brings the authentic views of the Bible’s landscape to the man living on Main Street.” Dr. W. A. Criswell of Dal las’ First Baptist Church: “We are not the same after we have lived through the experience of following Moses through this picture.” Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman: “Stirring film. I was moved.”

In Manhattan last week. Producer DeMille made a dramatic announcement: he will turn over all his own profits from the movie “for all time” to a special trust fund to be set up for “charitable, religious and educational purposes.” Said he before a civic luncheon audience: “I believe deeply that the Ten Commandments given on Mount Sinai are not laws. They are the law . . . They are the charter and guide of human liberty . . . The struggle between the forces represented by Moses and those represented by Pharaoh is still being waged today. Are men free souls under God or are they the property of the state? Are men to be ruled by law or by the whims of an individual? . . . We do not bow before giant birds of carved granite or wooden idols with stone eyes, but we have other gods competing with God . . . We may never have bent the knee before the graven image of Hathor. but there is also a graven image in a dollar bill . . . I come here and ask you to use this picture, as I hope and pray that God himself will use it, for the good of the world . . .” Nonetheless, critics and moralists alike were still not prepared to admit that God had been DeMille’s coproducer, still wondered whether in the end the movie would do more for the good of Hollywood than of the world.