The Ten Commandments Information

The Ten Commandments is a 1956 epic film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. It starred Charlton Heston in the lead role, Yul Brynner as his adoptive brother, Pharaoh Rameses II, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, and John Derek as Joshua. The supporting cast includes Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yoshebel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, Vincent Price as Baka, and John Carradine as Aaron. The film was released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956.

The Ten Commandments, which DeMille narrated, was the last film that he directed. He was set to direct the 1958 remake of his 1938 film The Buccaneer, but his final illness forced him to relinquish the directing chores to his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn. DeMille had also planned to film the life of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Scout movement, with David Niven; this project was never realized. The Ten Commandments is a partial remake of DeMille's 1923 silent film. Some of the cast and crew of the 1956 version worked on the original. It has since been remade as a television miniseries broadcast in April 2006.

The Ten Commandments is one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing over $65 million at the U.S. box office. Adjusting for inflation, this makes it the sixth highest-grossing film domestically, with an adjusted total of $1,025,730,000 in 2012. The box office website "The Numbers" lists the domestic gross at $80 million. In 1999, The Ten Commandments was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten""?the best ten films in ten American film genres"?after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Ten Commandments was listed as the tenth best film in the epic genre.

The film received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Charlton Heston was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor in the drama category. Yul Brynner won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his role as Rameses, along with his other roles in The King and I and Anastasia.

Plot

The Egyptian Pharaoh has ordered the death of all firstborn Hebrew males, but a Hebrew woman ("Yoshebel") sets her infant son adrift on the Nile in order to save him. The infant is rescued from the Nile by an Egyptian princess ("Bithiah") who decides to adopt the boy even though her servant ("Memnet") recognizes that the child is Hebrew and protests.

As a young man, Moses becomes a successful general, claiming victory in a war with the Nubians of Ethiopia and then entering Egypt into an alliance with them. Moses loves Nefretiri, who is the "throne princess" and must marry the next Pharaoh. An incident occurs when an elderly woman, who is greasing the ground for the pillar of stone to move easier, is almost crushed to death when her scarf gets caught under the slab of stone, prompting Moses to scold overseer Baka. Moses frees the elderly woman from her dangerous chore, not realizing that the elderly woman was his natural mother Yoshebel. While working on the building of a treasure city for Seti's Jubilee, Moses meets the stonecutter Joshua, who tells him of the Hebrew God.

Moses institutes numerous reforms concerning the treatment of the slaves on the project, and eventually Rameses charges Moses with planning an insurrection, pointing out that the slaves are calling Moses the "Deliverer" of prophecy. Moses defends himself against the charges, arguing that he is simply making his workers more productive by making them stronger and happier and proves his point with the impressive progress he is making. During this time, Rameses has been charged by his father with finding out whether there really is a Hebrew fitting the description of the Deliverer.

Nefretiri learns from the servant Memnet that Moses is the son of Hebrew slaves. Nefretiri kills Memnet and reveals the story to Moses, who goes to Bithiah to learn the truth. Bithiah evades his questions, but Moses follows her to the home of Yoshebel and thus learns the truth.

Moses spends time working amongst the slaves to learn more of their lives. During this time the master builder Baka steals Liliah, who is engaged to the stonecutter Joshua. Joshua rescues Liliah but is captured himself; Moses frees Joshua but strangles Baka. Moses confesses to Joshua that he too is Hebrew; the confession is witnessed by the ambitious Hebrew overseer Dathan. Dathan uses the information to bargain with Rameses for Baka's house, a post as Governor of Goshen, and the ownership of the slave Liliah.

Based on Dathan's information, Moses is arrested and brought before Seti. Moses tells Seti that he is not the Deliverer, but would free the slaves if he could. Bithiah tells her brother Seti the truth about Moses, and Seti orders his name stricken from all records and monuments. Moses is banished to the desert, but not before, he receives the word that Yoshebel had died before she delivered the piece of a Levite cloth, and Rameses is declared the next Pharaoh.

Moses makes his way across the desert, nearly dying of hunger and thirst before he comes to a well in the land of Midian. At the well, he defends seven sisters from Amalekites who try to push them away from the water. Moses finds a home in Midian with the girls' father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, who reveals that he is a follower of "He who has no name," whom Moses recognizes as the God of Abraham. Moses impresses Jethro and the other sheiks with his wise and just trading, and marries Jethro's eldest daughter ("Sephora", the Greek form of her name used in the film).

While herding sheep in the desert Moses finds Joshua, who has escaped from the copper mines that he was sent to after the death of Baka. Moses sees the Burning Bush on the summit of Mount Sinai and hears the voice of God (Charlton Heston, who was not credited for this secondary role). God charges Moses to return to Egypt and free His chosen people. In Egypt, Seti dies and Rameses succeeds him as Pharaoh.

At Pharaoh's court, Moses comes before Rameses to win the slaves' freedom, turning his staff into a snake to show Rameses the power of God. Rameses decrees that the Hebrews be given no straw to make their bricks, but to make the same tally as before on pain of death. As the Hebrews prepare to stone Moses in anger, Nefretiri's retinue rescues him; however when she attempts to resume their relationship he spurns her, reminding her that not only is he on a mission he is also married.

As Moses continues to challenge Pharaoh's hold over his people, Egypt is beset by divine plagues. Moses warns him that the next plague to fall upon Egypt will be summoned by Pharaoh himself. Enraged at the plagues and Moses' continuous demands, as well as his generals and advisers telling him to give in, Rameses orders all first-born Hebrews to die. Nefretiri warns Sephora to escape with her son ("Gershom") on a passing caravan to Midian, and Moses tells the Queen that it is her own son who will die. In an eerily quiet scene, the Angel of Death creeps into Egyptian streets in a glowing green cloud, killing all the firstborn of Egypt, including the adult son of Pharaoh's top general, and Pharaoh's own child. The Hebrews who have marked their doorposts and lintels with lamb's blood are eating a hasty meal and preparing to depart. Broken and despondent, Pharaoh orders Moses to take his people, and cattle, and go. The Hebrews begin their exodus from Egypt.

Nefretiri goads Pharaoh into a rage so that he arms himself and pursues the former slaves to the shore of the Red Sea. Held back by a pillar of fire, the Egyptian forces watch as Moses parts the waters. As the Hebrews race over the seabed, the pillar of fire dies down and the army rides in hot pursuit. The Hebrews make it to the far shore as the waters close on the Egyptian army, drowning every man and horse. Rameses looks on in despair. All he can do is return to Nefretiri, confessing to her, "His god is God."

The former slaves camp at the foot of Sinai and wait as Moses again ascends the mountain. During his absence, the Hebrews lose faith and, urged on by the evil Dathan, build a golden calf as an idol to bear before them back to Egypt, hoping to win Rameses' forgiveness. They force Aaron to help fashion the gold plating. The people indulge their most wanton desires in an orgy of sinfulness.

High atop the mountain, Moses witnesses God's creation of the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. When he finally climbs down, Moses beholds his people's iniquity and hurls the tablets at the idol in a rage. The idol explodes, and Dathan and his followers are killed. After God forces them to endure forty years' exile in the desert wandering lost, to kill off the rebellious generation, the Hebrews are about to arrive in the land of Canaan. An elderly Moses, who, however, is not allowed to enter the promised land, because he disobeyed the lord at the waters of strife, not shown in the film, then appoints Joshua to succeed him as leader, says a final good bye to Sephora, and goes forth to his destiny.

Cast

• Charlton Heston as Moses and the voice of God in burning bush sequence (Heston was credited only for his role of Moses)
• Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Rameses II
• Anne Baxter as Nefretiri
• Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
• Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Moses' wife and daughter of Jethro
• Debra Paget as Lilia
• John Derek as Joshua

Supporting cast

• Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I
• Nina Foch as Bithiah, adoptive mother of Moses, sister to Seti I
• Martha Scott as Yoshebel, Hebrew mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam
• Judith Anderson as Memnet, slave attendant to Bithiah and Nefretiri
• Vincent Price as Baka the Master Builder
• John Carradine as Aaron, Moses' brother
• Olive Deering as Miriam, Moses' sister
• Douglass Dumbrille as Jannes
• Frank Dekova as Abiram
• Henry Wilcoxon as Pentaur, Rameses II's charioteer
• Eduard Franz as Jethro, sheikh of Midian
• Donald Curtis as Mered
• Lawrence Dobkin as Hur Ben Caleb
• H.B. Warner as Amminadab, Elisheba's father
• Julia Faye as Elisheba, Aaron's wife
• Lisa Mitchell as Lulua, Jethro's daughter
• Noelle Williams, Joanna Merlin, Pat Richard, Joyce Vanderveen, and Diane Hall as Jethro's daughters
• Abbas El Boughdadly as Rameses's Charioteer
• Fraser Heston as The Infant Moses
• John Miljan as The Blind One
• Francis J. McDonald as Simon
• Ian Keith as Pharaoh Rameses I, father of Seti I and Bithiah
• Paul De Rolf as Eleazar
• Woodrow Strode as King of Ethiopia
• Tommy Duran as Gershom, son of Moses and Sephora
• Eugene Mazzola as Rameses II's son
• Ramsay Hill as Korah
• Joan Woodbury as Korah's wife
• Esther Brown as Princess Tharbis

Other well-known talent in the film's "cast of thousands" included Herb Alpert as a Hebrew drummer, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as a slave, Michael Ansara as an Egyptian taskmaster, Mike Connors as an Amalekite herder, Robert Vaughn as a spearman and a Hebrew, Clint Walker as a Sardinian captain, Mary Lou Cotterman as Ishara, one of Jethro's daughters, and DeMille himself as the film's narrator, all uncredited. For the original theatrical release, DeMille filmed an onscreen introduction, which was included in home video editions of the film but not the telecasts. In some of his earlier films, DeMille had provided narration, especially at the beginning of the film. This was the first of only two times he was seen as well as heard (the other was in the 1958 remake of The Buccaneer, in which he also provided an onscreen introduction). He also narrated portions of The Ten Commandments, to provide continuity between scenes, as he had in North West Mounted Police, Reap The Wild Wind, The Story of Dr. Wassell, Samson and Delilah, and The Greatest Show on Earth.

Heston, who previously worked for DeMille on The Greatest Show on Earth, won the part after he impressed DeMille (at an audition) with his knowledge of ancient Egypt. Interestingly enough, though Moses lived sometime in the New Kingdom, it was Old Kingdom Egyptian facts Heston spouted off at his audition that won him his legendary role.

Heston's newborn son, Fraser, appeared as the infant Moses. According to DVD commentary by Katherine Orrison (a protege and biographer of Henry Wilcoxon, who played Pentaur in the film and served as associate producer), DeMille deliberately timed the filming of his scenes for when Fraser Heston was about three months old. This, and other stories about the making of the film, were related to Orrison by Wilcoxon and his wife, Joan Woodbury. Orrison later wrote the book Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments.

DeMille did not want to cast anyone who had appeared in the 1954 Michael Curtiz film The Egyptian, but did eventually hire Michael Ansara (who played the Hittite Commander), Mimi Gibson (who played Ankhsenpaaten), John Carradine (who had a cameo as a tomb robber), and Peter Coe (who played an Egyptian soldier in both films).

Production and art design

The screenplay was adapted by a committee of Joseph Holt Ingraham, Arthur Eustace Southon and Dorothy Clarke Wilson from their respective books Pillar of Fire, On Eagle's Wings and Prince of Egypt. Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., Jack Gariss, and Fredric M. Frank also contributed to the adaptation of the three books.

Commentary for the film's DVD edition chronicles the historical research done by DeMille and associates. Katherine Orrison says that many details of Moses' life left out of the Bible are present in the Qur'an, which was sometimes used as a source. She also presents some coincidences in production. The man who designed Moses' distinctive rust-white-and-black-striped robe used those colors because they looked impressive, and only later discovered that these are the actual colors of the Tribe of Levi. Arnold Friberg would later state that he was the one who designed Moses' costume. As a gift, after the production, DeMille gave Moses' robe to Friberg, who had it in his possession until his death in 2010. Moses' robe as worn by Charlton Heston was hand-woven by Dorothea Hulse, one of the world's finest weavers. She also created costumes for The Robe, as well as textiles and costume fabrics for Samson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba, and others.

Jesse Lasky Jr., a co-writer on The Ten Commandments, described how DeMille would customarily spread out prints of paintings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema to inform his set designers on the look he wanted to achieve. Arnold Friberg, in addition to designing sets and costumes, also contributed the manner in which Moses ordained Joshua to his mission at the end of the film: hands on Joshua's head. Friberg, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, demonstrated the LDS manner of performing such ordinations, and DeMille liked it.

Pharaoh is usually shown wearing the red-and-white crown of Upper and Lower Egypt or the nemes royal headdress. For his pursuit of the Israelites, however, he wears the blue Khepresh helmet-crown, which the Pharaohs wore for battle.

Sets, costumes and props from the film The Egyptian were bought and re-used for "The Ten Commandments". As the events in The Egyptian take place 70 years before the reign of Rameses II, an unintentional sense of continuity was created.

An Egyptian wall painting was also the source for the lively dance performed by a circle of young women at Seti's birthday gala. Their movements and costumes are based on art from the Tomb of the Sixth Dynasty Grand Vizier Mehu.

The expression "the son of your body" for a biological offspring is based on inscriptions found in Mehu's tomb.

Katherine Orrison, who gives the audio commentary for the film's DVD edition, states that all blue-eyed actors had to wear brown contact lenses to achieve the Middle-eastern ethnic look that corresponds to Egyptians and Israelites. Some of the film's cast such as Anne Baxter, Debra Paget, John Derek, and Nina Foch were among those who had to use brown-colored contact lenses to hide their blue eyes, although they complained about the inability to see while wearing them. When Yvonne De Carlo was cast as Sephora, she was worried about having to wear these contact lenses, she also believed that her "gray-hued" blue-eyes were her best feature. And so, she asked DeMille if there could be an exception with her, he agreed expressing to the idea that De Carlo's role was special, and that Moses was to fall in love with her. As Orrison quotes, "she was tremendously relieved".

Release

Critical reception

The Ten Commandments received generally positive reviews, currently holding a 91% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "Bombastic and occasionally silly but extravagantly entertaining, Cecil B. DeMille's all-star spectacular is a muscular retelling of the great Bible story."

Box office

The Ten Commandments was the highest-grossing film of 1956, earning a net profit of $185,000,000. Adjusted for inflation, it is the sixth-highest grossing film of all time in the U.S. and Canada, with a box office gross of $1,025,730,000 calculated for 2012.

Accolades

The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. DeMille was reluctant to discuss technical details of how the film was made, especially the optical tricks used in the parting of the Red Sea. It was eventually revealed that footage of the Red Sea was spliced with film footage (run in reverse) of water pouring from large U-shaped trip-tanks set up in the studio back lot.

Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (John P. Fulton, A.S.C.), the film was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Albert Nozaki, Samuel M. Comer, Ray Moyer), Best Cinematography, Color (Loyal Griggs, A.S.C.), Best Costume Design, Color (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing (Anne Bauchens), Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording (Loren L. Ryder).

Popularity

Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the biblical story of Exodus, compromising the film's claim to authenticity, but neither this nor its nearly four-hour length has had any effect on its popularity. In fact, many of the supposed "inaccuracies" were actually adopted by DeMille from extra-biblical ancient sources, such as Josephus, the Sepher ha-Yashar, and the Chronicle of Moses. Moses's career in Ethiopia, for instance, is based on ancient midrashim. For decades, a showing of The Ten Commandments was a popular fund-raiser among revivalist Christian Churches, while the film was equally treasured by film buffs for DeMille's "cast of thousands" approach and the heroic but antiquated early-talkie-type acting.

Home media

The Ten Commandments has been released to DVD in the United States on four occasions:

First Edition released on March 30, 1999 as a two disc set, with the following specs:

Disc One & Two: The Movie (1956, 220 minutes) + Extras

• 1.78:1 Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9)
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0), French (Dolby Mono 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Scene Selection (48 Chapters)
• Trailers:
  • 1956 "Making of" Trailer
  • 1966 Re-Release Trailer
  • 1989 Re-Release Trailer

Second Edition released on March 9, 2004 as a two disc set (Special Collector's Edition), with the following specs:

Disc One & Two: The Movie (1956, 220 minutes) + Extras

• 1.78:1 Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9)
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0), French (Dolby Mono 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Scene Selection (48 Chapters)
• Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments
• 6-Part Documentary: (Approximately 37 minutes)

1. "Moses"
2. "The Chosen People"
3. "Land of the Pharaohs"
4. "The Paramount Lot"
5. "The Score"
6. "Mr. DeMille"

• Vintage Newsreel: The Ten Commandments "? Premiere in New York
• Trailers:
  • 1956 "Making of" Trailer
  • 1966 Re-Release Trailer
  • 1989 Re-Release Trailer

Third Edition released on March 21, 2006 as a three disc set (50th Anniversary Collection), with the following specs:

Disc One & Two: The Movie (1956, 220 minutes) + Extras

• 1.78:1 Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9)
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0), French (Dolby Mono 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Scene Selection (48 Chapters)
• Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments
• 6-Part Documentary: (Approximately 37 minutes)

1. "Moses"
2. "The Chosen People"
3. "Land of the Pharaohs"
4. "The Paramount Lot"
5. "The Score"
6. "Mr. DeMille"

• Vintage Newsreel: The Ten Commandments "? Premiere in New York
• Trailers:
  • 1956 "Making of" Trailer
  • 1966 Re-Release Trailer
  • 1989 Re-Release Trailer

Disc Three: The Movie (1923 Version, 136 minutes)

• 1.37:1 Academy Ratio (4:3 Standard)
• Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Stereo 2.0)
• Subtitles: French
• Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments
• Hand-tinted footage of the Exodus and Parting of the Red Sea Sequence

The film was released on DVD again in a two-disc set on March 29, 2011. It was also released on that date for the first time on Blu-ray in a two-disc set and a six-disc gift set with the 1923 version and DVD copies.

Television

The film has been broadcast annually on the ABC network since 1973, traditionally during the Easter holiday, as well as Passover. Like the commercial network telecasts of Ben-Hur, the lengthy film is always shown in one evening instead of being split up into two, making it necessary for ABC to pre-empt its entire network schedule between 7:00 pm and midnight/ET-PT on the nights that it is shown, although local affiliates have the right to tape delay the showing an hour ahead to 8 pm ET/PT to keep their schedules in line for early evening. Currently, the film is shown the Saturday before Easter as part of the ABC Saturday Night Movie lineup. In 2010, the film was broadcast in HDTV for the first time, which allowed the television audience to see it in its original VistaVision aspect ratio.

Ratings by year (between 2007 and 2011)

Number	Year	Episode	Rating	Share	Rating/Share (18"49)	Viewers (millions)	Rank (timeslot)	Rank (night)
1	"2007"	April 7, 2007	TBA	TBA	TBA	7.87	TBA	TBA
2	"2008"	March 22, 2008	4.7	9	2.3/7	7.91	1	1
3	"2009"	April 11, 2009	4.2	8	1.7/6	6.81	1	1
4	"2010"	April 3, 2010	TBA	TBA	1.4/5	5.88	2	3
5	"2011"	April 23, 2011	TBA	TBA	1.6/5	7.05	1	1

See also

• The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1963)