Pharaoh; or, Israel in Egypt

• Watchlist

The first scene shows Pharaoh surrounded by his court refusing to listen to the appeal of Moses for the liberation of the Israelites. Nestling close to the King of Egypt is his first-born child, and although the Prophet threatens to have all the first-born Egyptians smitten with death, Pharaoh hardens his heart and refuses the liberty of the Israelitish people. Then the plot thickens. A feast is prepared which Moses attends, but before that the slaying of the lamb of the Passover is shown, and the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb over the lintel and door-posts is vividly pictured; the old buildings and the costuming of the participants in the ceremony being true to the period. The feast of the Passover follows, the Israelites being seated around a table, awaiting the coming of Moses. As he appears his people receive him reverently, and the lamb is brought in to be eaten with the unleavened bread which, in the form known to us as Passover cakes is handed to those present by the prophet. The pictures depicting the tenth plague are finely conceived. First, we see the boy son of the King lying on a couch, attended by the women of the court, who amuse him by playing the harp and other instruments until he falls asleep. Pharaoh enters, and fondly kisses his first-born, enjoining the attendants to keep still that the boy may enjoy his sleep undisturbed. Suddenly, the lad awakes, is though seized with internal pains, and in a few seconds, after severe torture and writhing of the body, he is dead on his back, the victim of the threat uttered by Moses. Another deathbed scene is shown, of a lowly mill girl's son, and we see the herculean form of the father pushing two immense grindstones round, grinding corn, whilst the boy sleeps on the ground. The mother helps the father in pushing the stones round, when, with the same suddenness as was witnessed in Pharaoh's palace, the mysterious illness seizes the child, and the youngster, only about four years of age, gives a wonderful impersonation of the agony which might very well be real. Finally, he succumbs to the stroke, and then, in the hall of the Egyptian King's palace, we see the bereft parents bringing in their dead offspring to show to their equally bereaved sovereign, all cursing Moses and lamenting their loss. Then, in the background, the Prophet and his followers appear, slowly walking down the center of the enraged people, threatened at every step, but calm and serene in the power he has been the means of showing the Egyptians. Again he makes his appeal to the King for the release of the Israelites, and this time he is successful. The final scene shows a street lined with the native inhabitants, eager and expectant, awaiting the exodus of the 400 years enslaved people. On come the Israelites, pleased to go, each with his goods and chattels, the family, sheep, camels and a thousand and one impediments. Six hundred thousand was the number which left, and the Gaumont film shows a fair percentage of them.