MovieChat Forums > The Ten Commandments (1956) Discussion > How bad was Anne Baxter (Nefertiti) in t...

How bad was Anne Baxter (Nefertiti) in this movie?!

posted 8 years ago by Dubdub1974
18 replies | jump to latest

I didn't know what to expect when I started watching this classic. Movies of that era are very often hit or miss acting wise, some age really badly etc. But the blu ray version of this movie is stupendous, great story , great acting except for one character that constantly pulls me out of the movie every time she appears: Nefertiti. My God what a horrible actress! Totally unconvincing, wooden, like a 10 year old rubbish drama student. Everyone is "IN IT" they are playing their characters, doing their thing, some better than others sure but boy is she just terrible! Totally pulls me out of the story every time she comes on and she has key scenes with Moses, very key...darn it. Very annoying. Am on hour 1.2 of the movie right now and I just had to stop to write this cause she's so annoying...

Compare her to Yvonne De Carlo (Sephora) who is totally believable in her role (and just as, if not more stunningly beautiful than Anne Baxter) - it's night and day to me.

Don't know if anyone else got the same impression (or had an issue with another actor)?

[–] cfwente 8 years ago

I thought she was good. So did DeMille (in his Autobiography). In her scenes with Brynner after the death of their son, I thought she was especially compelling. Much more to get her teeth into.

[–] bens33 8 years ago

I thought Elizabeth Taylor's performance in Cleopatra was kind of wooden, but I would not characterize Anne Baxter's performance in TTC as being like that. Comparing her performance to DeCarlo's is like comparing apples and oranges, IMO, precisely because their characters' personalities are so different. Yes, Baxter's performance was a bit campy and over-the-top, but I think that's because that's the way the character was written. I don't have to suspend disbelief when I see her, because EVERYONE in the movie talks in poetic, biblical-type prose and not in everyday-like speech.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[–] sroy2001 8 years ago

You could probably say the same about all of the other major actors as well. Even Charlton Heston was a bit too over dramatic and stiff at times. Like another poster said, it's likely what DeMille wanted because they are supposed to be biblical characters. Add to that the fact that this movie was made in 1956, most acting in movies was still akin to stage performing during that time. It really wasn't until Stella Adler and Lee Strasbourg came on the scene that screen actors started to use methods that made them come across more natural and believable.

[–] liscarkat (18367) 5 years ago

"this movie was made in 1956, most acting in movies was still akin to stage performing during that time. It really wasn't until Stella Adler and Lee Strasbourg came on the scene that screen actors started to use methods that made them come across more natural and believable."

Absolute nonsense. There were many naturalistic actors long before "the method", and nobody was more phony and hammy than James Dean.

[–] fountainhead (323) 6 years ago

Now that you mention it, yeah, she does seem to stand out from all the other characters. But I always just accepted her campiness as part of the character's charm. She was almost the comic relief, while everyone else was so serious. The part where she gets jealous of the Ethiopian princess always makes me laugh. :)

I am a tad biased. Nefretiri was probably one of my first crushes, after watching this movie over and over as a kid. I always wanted Moses to marry her, become pharaoh, then set the Hebrews free. But then, we wouldn't have them stone tablets, right?

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 5 years ago

Yeah, I think her over-wrought performance works with the rest of the epic. It's not perfect, but the performance gets a pass in this movie where it wouldn't in others.

[–] Owlwise (1535) 5 years ago

She's one of the delights of the film! Every scene she's in has juice & energy & just screams "movie star" to the audience. And she brings an earthy, overwrought balance to the overly earnest scenes with Moses. A truly fun performance from beginning to end.

[–] kranmar (75) 2 years ago

Fountainhead, I had the exact same thought as you.....wouldn't it have been so much easier to free the Slaves by becoming pharaoh, then by living in mud and squalor as a Slave ????

[–] ATG6 (3000) a year ago

But if Moses became Pharaoh and freed the slaves, he would leave Egypt without much of its work force, wrecking the economy (for which he would then be responsible.) The best he could have done would be to improve working conditions for them, more time off, bonuses for increased productivity, better medical care, etc.

Or maybe stop building useless pyramids, so people could do productive work of their own choosing, instead of slaving away for years to glorify the Pharaoh....

[–] snepts (11123) 6 years ago

A lot of the time I want to lay blame on the Director more than the performer. Performers can be removed, but the Director should have ultimate say over the finished product. He should be advising AB to act in a convincing manner, molding her performance. Maybe the role is written poorly. It's not like Baxter was like a Marilyn Monroe, indispensable because of her appearance. Baxter should have had the acting chops, but they couldn't bring it out of her.
I suspect it was just a difficult role to play.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Yes, she was campy and over the top, but not quite campy and over the top enough to get it right.

Yul Brynner played it big and he played it theatrical, he was the one who got it spot-on! Baxter tried for the same sort of level, but didn't have the charisma to carry it off.

[–] akinco (1) 6 years ago

OMG i LOATHE anne baxter - she's not an actor, she's an over actor. she's HORRIBLE in everything she's in. it wasn't just the 10 commandments, it was in All About Eve, Guest In The House, the Columbo episode she's in - everything. a good actor can make a crappy script passable. she takes a good part (Eve in all about eve) and makes it look like a high school performance. she was just a plain awful actor.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

What?!? She was anything but wooden! She was the campiest thing in this movie, especially how she pronounced "Moses" in some scenes.

[–] raymondoz2007 (2098) a year ago

for being the sex queen of Erypt she was not that good looking.