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In a bit of Hollywood Egyptology, archaeologists in California stumbled upon an enormous Sphinx head in the Guadalupe-Nipomo sand dunes, about 175 miles from Los Angeles. But of course — since this is tinseltown — it wasn’t a real Sphinx but rather a reproduction created for the 1923 Cecil B. DeMille silent epic “The Ten Commandments.” The film, starring Theodore Roberts in the role of Moses, cost about $20 million to create in today’s money (adjusting for inflation) and was later remade by DeMille in much grander scale in 1956 starring Charlton Heston. Also Read: Charlton Heston NRA Speech Helps Overturn Murder Conviction “That generation of filmmakers.

Everybody's favorite movie decade: Which ones are the best movies released in the 20th century's second decade? Best Film (Pictured above) Broken Blossoms: Barthelmess and Gish star as ill-fated lovers in D.W. Griffith’s romantic melodrama featuring interethnic love. Check These Out (Pictured below) Cabiria: is considered one of the major landmarks in motion picture history, having inspired the scope and visual grandeur of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Also of note, Pastrone's epic of ancient Rome introduced Maciste, a bulky hero who would be featured in countless movies in the ensuing decades. Best Actor (Pictured below) In the tragic The Italian, George Beban plays an Italian immigrant recently arrived in the United States (Click below for film review). Unfortunately, his American dream quickly becomes a horrendous nightmare of poverty and despair. Best Actress (Pictured below) The movies' super-vamp Theda Bara in A Fool There Was: A little...

Theodore Roberts, Mary Pickford in Marshall Neilan's M'Liss; smaller photo: Joseph Yranski Mary Pickford was the definition of Movie Superstar from the early 1910s to the late 1920s. So popular and so powerful was Pickford that she, along with Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith, founded United Artists so as to have fuller artistic and financial control over her cinematic endeavors. Several years later, Pickford would be one of the co-founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Probably not coincidentally, she was the second Best Actress Academy Award winner, for her performance in the talkie Coquette. Those in the Los Angeles area unfamiliar with Pickford's work will be able to check her out at The Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education, which will be screening the 1918 comedy M'Liss on Tuesday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. Free admission, though donations are accepted to support the Institute.

M’Liss (1918) Direction: Marshall Neilan Screenplay: Frances Marion; from Bret Harte’s story Cast: Mary Pickford, Thomas Meighan, Theodore Roberts, Tully Marshall, Charles Ogle, Monte Blue, Winifred Greenwood Mary Pickford, Thomas Meighan in M’Liss Directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion – two frequent Mary Pickford collaborators — M’Liss is one of Pickford’s very best films. In this comedy-drama, Pickford plays a spirited and unruly mountain girl, that’s the M’Liss of the title, who falls in love with the new schoolteacher (Thomas Meighan) — who is later falsely accused of murder. Pickford, by then already a superstar, gives a sterling performance; she is ably supported by (future star) Thomas Meighan as the schoolteacher, as well as a fine collection of character actors including [...]...

Cecil B. DeMille liked it so much he made it twice. Now, almost half a century later, Paramount Pictures is contemplating remounting The Ten Commandments yet again. It would be the third time around for the studio, which had a hand in the tale's previous incarnations. Mark Gordon is already on board to produce, and screenwriter Charles Randolph is about to meet with the studio about writing the biblical epic. While a new Moses movie could tap into some of the same religious fervor that blessed Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ at the boxoffice, Gordon and Randolph are believed to be interested in fashioning a serious, research-based treatment of the subject. Released in 1923, the first Commandments was a silent, mixed black-and-white footage with early Technicolor film and featured Theodore Roberts and Charles de Rochefort. DeMille revisited the epic as a 1956 feature starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter. That film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including best picture. Repped by CAA, Randolph's credits include Alan Parker's The Life of David Gale and The Interpreter, the Sydney Pollack-helmed feature starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, which Randolph co-wrote with Scott Frank. Gordon's current projects include King Tut, Casanova, The Guide, The First Olympics and Killing Pablo. He also produced the recent hit The Day After Tomorrow.

Cecil B. DeMille liked it so much he made it twice. Now, almost half a century later, Paramount Pictures is contemplating remounting The Ten Commandments yet again. It would be the third time around for the studio, which had a hand in the tale's previous incarnations. Mark Gordon is already on board to produce, and screenwriter Charles Randolph is about to meet with the studio about writing the biblical epic. While a new Moses movie could tap into some of the same religious fervor that blessed Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ at the boxoffice, Gordon and Randolph are believed to be interested in fashioning a serious, research-based treatment of the subject. Released in 1923, the first Commandments was a silent, mixed black-and-white footage with early Technicolor film and featured Theodore Roberts and Charles de Rochefort. DeMille revisited the epic as a 1956 feature starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter. That film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including best picture. Repped by CAA, Randolph's credits include Alan Parker's The Life of David Gale and The Interpreter, the Sydney Pollack-helmed feature starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, which Randolph co-wrote with Scott Frank. Gordon's current projects include King Tut, Casanova, The Guide, The First Olympics and Killing Pablo. He also produced the recent hit The Day After Tomorrow.