GFF The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil B DeMille’s silent epic The Ten Commandments (1923) was one of the most spectacular and expensive films ever made, employing more than 2,500 people. Its “City of the Pharaohs” set in the Guadalupe Dunes north of Los Angeles rose 120-feet into the air and featured 35-foot tall statues and five-tonne sphinxes. After the filming, DeMille is reported to have ordered the sets buried in the sand. In 1983, Peter Brosnan began an epic quest to discover the fate of the sets. His documentary is a film buff’s delight, bringing old Hollywood’s past to life and recounting a kind of obsession that Herzog might admire.