Archaeologists Digging Up Cecil B DeMille's Movie Treasures

                                                                       

I have not seen this version of "The Ten Commandments" although I believe it is being restored. It is a silent movie. Made ninety years ago - unbelievable!

DeMille later made another version of it in 1956 which I have watched several times.

The production is terrific: great lavish sets, costumes, musical score and a terrific cast.  
And it is a timeless story.Of course there was no CGI back then: all extras and hard work. It truly is an epic movie! Just look at these costumes:

                                                                

Picture above: via Bing

Here are some stills:Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and Charlton Heston.

                                                                       

 
Now we are to be treated by an even newer version: Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)    


I have just watched this new movie and my advice is: save your money.
It was a great disappointment from Ridley Scott!  
Newer isn't always better.

                                                                                                                        

ARCHAEOLOGISTS working in the sand dunes along the California coast are digging up ancient sphinxes - but these are made of plaster. 
 
MORE than 90 years ago, legendary filmmaker Cecile B DeMille erected 21 giant sphinxes and a temple as a set for the silent, black-and-white classic movie The Ten Commandments.
But in 1923, when filming was over, DeMille abandoned them among the sands of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. 

 Now, archaeologists have begun excavations on a sphinx that they hope will eventually be on display at the nearby Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Centre, which has raised $US120,000 ($A129,835) for the dig, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of site," said M Colleen Hamilton, a senior historical archaeologist with Applied EarthWorks and project director for the excavation.

"I've worked on sites all over the country, and I think this one could only happen in California." Crews began digging in 2012 and found one sphinx, but money for the project ran out. Parts of that sphinx's head are on display at the Dunes Centre. When they returned this year for the body, they found the wind had shifted the sand, exposing the plaster and damaging it beyond repair. 

 But the wind had also revealed a hint of the foot and leg of another sphinx, the Times reported. "It was a really pleasant surprise when we found out it was almost a full sphinx," said Doug Jenzen, executive director of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Centre. 

The second sphinx was missing much of its face, but archaeologists had been looking for an intact body to put on display to match the earlier head. Residents of Guadalupe, a small farming community, left the set alone for decades out of respect, said Shirley Boydstun, 86, a member of the Rancho de Guadalupe Historical Society. 

"The old-timers have always known it was out there," she said.

With thanks to The Herald-Sun          
                        
Picture below with thanks to Live Science. More information there.

                                                              

                                                                  

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