Moses the Lawgiver is a 6-hour Italian/British television miniseries filmed in 1973/74 and starring Burt Lancaster as Moses. It was an ITC/RAI co-production filmed in Rome and on location in Israel and Morocco. Many of the writers, cast and crew contributed to another ITC/RAI Biblical co-production, the ambitious miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, released in 1977.
Plot summary
The Story ofthe Exodus or freedom of Hebrews from Egypt is told in a perspective which highlights Moses' efforts to persuade first the stubborn Pharaoh Merneptah, who was his adopted cousin, to release his work force of slaves. Then, once free and in the wildernessen route to the Promised Land, Moses must prove to be a pious and patient leader or lawgiver to a people who still think they want more out of him or God. For 40 years, Moses must carry on this load and challenge for God and Israel. With the help of his brother Aaron, and Joshua, the nation or people of Israel are officially born or created after centuries ago God promised and vowed Jacob/Israel that he would be the father of a mighty nation.
As Charlton Heston's son Fraser acted out the infant Moses in the 1956 Hollywood production of The Ten Commandments, so Burt Lancaster's son Bill, credited as William Lancaster, acted out the role of Moses as a young man in Moses the Lawgiver. The Italian government suggested to the series' producer, Lew Grade, that he should meet Pope Paul VI, and subsequently did so at his wife's insistence. Grade and his wife Kathie had a private audience with Paul who told them of his pleasure at the film and offered his endorsement to be used for publicity purposes. Paul suggested to Grade that his next film should be called 'In the footsteps of Jesus', the Pope's suggestion developed into the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth.
Soundtrack
"Moses Theme" composed by Ennio Morricone; original music performed by Gianna Spagnolo and Coro e Orchestra dell'Unione Musicisti Romani.
The 360-minute-long mini-series was later edited into a 141-minute version for theatrical release under the same name. In 2004, this shortened version was released as a one-disc DVD. A 300-minute version was released in 2012 for Latin America ; it was packaged as Moises y los 10 Mandamientos-Extended Version. Contrary to the above-mentioned information, the 300-minute version may in fact be the complete version. This was aired as one-hour episodes on television originally. Subtracting for commercials, the average running time for a 60-minute TV program in the mid 1970s was around 50 minutes; 25 minutes for a 30-minute program. This would make 300 minutes the proper uncut running time, since 50-minute episodes equals 300 minutes. There is no source available claiming that the hour-long TV episodes ran commercial-free, which would be the only way the total running time could be 360 minutes, as claimed in the first paragraph. In addition, Shout Factory TV has the 6 episodes available and they all run 50 minutes plus a few seconds each. The miniseries is being released on Region 1 DVD by S'More Entertainment in the US on May 14, 2019. It will be 2-discs with a total running time of 300 minutes, which does seem to be the complete version.
