Cinema: In the Money

One year old last week, Cecil B. DeMille’s $13.5 million The Ten Commandments seemed certain of being the top money movie of all time. Already seen by almost 22 million moviegoers, the 3-hr. 39-min. spectacle has grossed more than $29 million in only 917 theaters (a top hit can easily run in 15,000). The big money champion up to now, Gone With the Wind ($33.5 million since 1939), will soon be outdistanced. After some 40 years of moviemaking, DeMille’s skilled old hand once again blends, to the public’s obvious liking, an unbeatable mixture of color, bigness, heroics, sex and oldtime religion.