I first saw this outstanding documentary at Brigham Young University with Kevin Brownlow in attendance and have always felt it to be the best filmed overview of DeMille's career. BYU in Provo, UT houses the massive DeMille collection and supplied a number of things for the documentary. Wanting to teach a mini course on DeMille I went looking for the availability of CECIL B. De MILLE: American EPIC only to learn that it is not available on DVD. Originally it had been made for TCM and that seems to be the only place that it has had screenings. Checking with BYU about its availability I learned that it has not and likely never will be released as a DVD as clearing the rights of material used in the documentary would be far too costly. One of the nicest things about this work is that Elmer Bernstein, who composed the score for THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, not only appears in the documentary but also scored this work -- and the music is outstanding. It sad that monetary requirements keep such a fine documentary out of print.
Review of Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
