The Life of Moses (1909/1910)
Vitagraph
Paul Hartigan as Moses
Vitagraph
Paul Hartigan as Moses
Charles Silver
Assistant Curator, Museum of Modern Art (New York City)
11/07/2006:
"...Because of a computer collapse I have found the time to look at THE LIFE OF MOSES. The shot in question [above, with right arm raised) is, indeed, from the film. Moses is warning Pharaoh of the dire consequences of not letting the Jews leave. In front of Moses (on the floor) is a snake. Subsequent sequences document the other calamities: storm, etc. Regarding the tablets, they strongly resemble the Dore (one tablet with two arches and about the size of that in the Dore.) They have dark lettering on a white background. There seems to be no main-title, but each commandment has a full line of print (presumably in Hebrew, but I can't be sure)."
Assistant Curator, Museum of Modern Art (New York City)
11/07/2006:
"...Because of a computer collapse I have found the time to look at THE LIFE OF MOSES. The shot in question [above, with right arm raised) is, indeed, from the film. Moses is warning Pharaoh of the dire consequences of not letting the Jews leave. In front of Moses (on the floor) is a snake. Subsequent sequences document the other calamities: storm, etc. Regarding the tablets, they strongly resemble the Dore (one tablet with two arches and about the size of that in the Dore.) They have dark lettering on a white background. There seems to be no main-title, but each commandment has a full line of print (presumably in Hebrew, but I can't be sure)."
The image above is based on the Dore engraving, “Moses Coming Down From Mt. Sinai” (1866), within a frame of film circa 1910.