This six-hour miniseries – co-produced by Sir Lew Grade’s ATV/ITC consortium and Italian State Television (RAI) at a cost of nearly £3 million – was set in Egypt during the 13th century and was drawn from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
The story followed Moses (Burt Lancaster, moving like a clockwork toy and speaking in an American accent of course) as he defied the Egyptian empire to deliver the Jews from their enslavement and lead them to the Promised Land. But not before miscreants have been thrown over a cliff, stoned to death or forced to drink molten gold after their pagan outburst with the Golden Calf.
Lancaster led a star-studded international cast including Anthony Quayle, Swedish actress Ingrid Thulin and Irene Papas from Greece. Playing the young Moses – long before the Commandments were brought down from the Mount – was Will Lancaster, 27-year-old son of Burt.
Scripts were written by A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess and Vittorio Bonicfelli, and many of the falsehoods from the 1956 Charlton Heston movie The Ten Commandments were eliminated, including the romantic triangle between Moses, Princess Nefertari and the Pharaoh. The musical score was by Ennio Morricone
Filming began in Israel in September 1973 but was disrupted until December by the Yom Kippur War.
The series was aired in the US by CBS. The six-hour series was later condensed into a two-hour movie version.
Moses
Burt Lancaster Young Moses
Will Lancaster Aaron
Anthony Quayle Zipporah
Irene Papas Miriam
Ingrid Thulin Young Miriam
Galia Kohn Cotbi
Simonetta Stefanelli Dathan
Yosef Shiloach Joshua
Aharon Ipale Eliseba
Marina Berti Jethro
Shmuel Rodensky Princess Bithia
Mariangela Melato Pharaoh Ramses II
Mario Ferrari Pharaoh Merneptah
Laurent Terzieff Gherson
Didi Lukof Koreh
Antonio Piovanelli Zimri
Fausto Di Bella Narrator
Richard Johnson
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Cover 1 9 8 1 (UK) 6 x 60 minute episodes This Tuesday night drama series from Thames…
Moses
Young Miriam
Eliseba
