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(Redirected from The Ten Commandments (1956 movie))
'''The Ten Commandments''' is a 1956 motion picture dramatizing the Biblical story of Moses, an Egyptian prince-turned deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. It was released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starred Charlton Heston in the lead role. Co-stars included Yul Brynner as his adoptive brother, Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, John Derek as Joshua, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Vincent Price as Baka, and John Carradine as Aaron. Heston also provided the voice of God uncredited. Charlton Heston's newborn son, Fraser appeared as the infant Moses. According to author Katherine Orrison in the commentary of the DVD versions of ''The Ten Commandments'', DeMille deliberately timed the filming of his scenes when Heston was about three months of age. This, and other stories about the making of the film, were related to her by producer/actor Henry Wilcoxon and his wife, Joan Woodbury. Orrison later wrote the book ''Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments''.
This was the last film that Cecil B. DeMille directed. He was set to direct his own remake of ''The Buccaneer'', but his final illness forced him to relinquish the directing chores for that one to his then-son-in-law, Anthony Quinn.
The 1956 version of ''The Ten Commandments'' is partially a remake of DeMille's 1923 silent film. Some of the cast and crew of the 1956 version worked on the original.
Adjusted for inflation, it is the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time, with collections of $838,400,000.[1] In non-adjusted dollars, it held the record as the highest-grossing film with a religious theme until the 2004 film, ''The Passion of the Christ.''
The film covers the life of Moses from his discovery in a basket floating on the Nile as a baby by Bithiah, a childless young widow and daughter of the then-Pharaoh, Rameses I, to his eventual departure from Israel in the wake of God's judgment that he not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. In between, the film depicts the early adulthood of Moses as a beloved foster son of Pharaoh Seti I (successor of Rameses I and brother of Bithiah) and general of his armies, his romance with Throne Princess Nefertari (or Nefretiri, as she is called in the film) and rivalry with the Pharaoh's own son, Prince Rameses II.
Moses is charged with building a treasure city for Seti's Jubilee, that Rameses failed to complete. When Moses assumes control of the project, he institutes numerous reforms concerning the treatment of the slave workers such as one day in seven to rest and even going so far as to raid temple granaries for necessary food supplies. Rameses uses these changes as proof that Moses is planning an insurrection by currying the slaves' favor, and points out that the slaves are calling Moses the "Deliverer" of prophecy. However, when Seti confronts Moses, Moses argues he is simply making his workers more productive by making them stronger and happier. He proves his point with such impressive progress on the project that Seti becomes convinced that Rameses falsely accused his foster brother. Seti promises that Moses will get credit for the new city. Rameses, meanwhile, has been charged by his father with the task of finding out if there really is a Hebrew fitting the description of the Deliverer, and is having no luck.
Prince Moses learns that he is not a prince at all, but the son of Hebrew slaves. Shortly after his birth, Rameses I had ordered the slaying of all firstborn male Hebrews to prevent the prophecy of the Deliverer from coming true. Moses' mother had set him adrift on the Nile to escape. Declaring he is not ashamed ("Egyptian or Hebrew, I'm still Moses"), but curious, he spends time working among the slaves to learn of their hardship, only to be rescued from the mudpits by Nefretiri. Moses then saves Joshua, a Hebrew stonecutter, from death at the hands of the Egyptian Master Builder Baka; he kills Baka, while Dathan, the devious and ambitious Hebrew overseer who's been charged by Rameses to help him find the Deliverer, watches from hiding. Moses confesses to Joshua that he himself is Hebrew; Joshua excitedly proclaims Moses the Deliverer, and although Moses denies it, Dathan has all the proof he needs. Revealing what he knows to Rameses, Dathan bargains for Baka's house, a post as Governor of Goshen and the ownership of Joshua's betrothed Lilia.
Moses is arrested and brought in chains before Seti, who begs him to say he is not the Deliverer. Moses does so, but avows that he would free the slaves if he could. Bithiah confesses to her brother Seti that she took Moses from the Nile knowing by the design on his blankets that he was Hebrew. In a short, impassioned speech, Moses says that it is evil to enslave or oppress people, "to be stripped of spirit, and hope and faith, all because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a God, He did not mean this to be so!" This causes Seti to imprison him and order his name stricken from all records and monuments, to be unspoken in Egypt forever thereafter. Rameses banishes Moses to the desert, fearing to execute him lest he create a martyr. Meanwhile, Seti proclaims Rameses to be the next Pharoah. Nefretiri as the Throne Princess is required to marry the arrogant prince, to her great distress.
Moses makes his way across the desert, nearly dying of hunger and thirst. He comes to a well in the land of Midian. After drinking and eating dates from a nearby palm tree he passes out, to be awakened by the sound of seven sisters watering their flocks. Bullying Amalekites appear, pushing the girls aside, whereupon Moses wakes. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere he thrashes the Amalekites soundly with his staff, forcing them to wait their turn at the well. Moses finds a home in Midian with the girls' father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, and marries his eldest daughter, Sephora.
Back in Egypt, Seti dies heartbroken, with Moses' name on his lips, and Rameses succeeds him as Pharaoh (becoming Rameses II), taking Nefretiri as his Queen. Herding sheep in the desert, Moses finds Joshua, who has escaped from hard labour in the copper mines. Moses sees the Burning Bush on the summit of Mount Sinai; climbing up to investigate, he hears the voice of God. Naming himself "I Am That I Am", God charges Moses to return to Egypt and free His chosen people.
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, only to have the Pharaoh decree 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; but when she attempts to resume their relationship, he spurns her, reminding her that not only is he on a mission, having been touched by God, but that he is also married. As Moses continues to challenge Pharaoh's hold over his people, Egypt is beset by divine plagues. 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 Pharaoh's own child. Meanwhile, Bithiah is released to Moses.
Broken and despondent, Pharaoh orders Moses to take "your people, your cattle, your God and your pestilence" and go. Dathan is also ordered out, his position as an overseer counting for nothing with the Egyptians, the Hebrews resentful of him and refusing him the privileges he expects. The scene of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt is one of the most spectacular in all of film.
Goaded into rage by Nefretiri in her grief and anger at Moses, the Pharaoh arms himself and chases the former slaves with his armies to the shore of the Red Sea. Held back by a pillar of fire, the Egyptian forces can only watch as Moses parts the sea's waters ("''Behold His mighty hand!''") to provide his people a route of escape. As the Hebrews race over the seabed, the army rides in hot pursuit as the fire-pillar fades away. The Hebrews make it to the far shore just in time to witness God's closing of the waters on the Egyptian army, drowning every man and horse. Rameses looks on in despair, and all he can do is return to Nefretiri, informing her, "His god ''is'' God."
The former slaves camp at the foot of Sinai and wait as Moses again ascends the mountain. When Moses delays coming down from Sinai, the Hebrews lose faith and, urged on by Dathan, build a golden calf as an idol to bear before them back to Egypt, hoping to win Rameses' forgiveness. The people proceed to indulge their most wanton desires in an orgy of sinfulness. Meanwhile, 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 destroys both of the tablets in rage, a burning crevasse swallows all who do not join him at his side. After God forces them to endure forty years' exile in the desert wandering lost to prove their loyalty, the Hebrews finally arrive in the land of Israel. An elderly Moses then appoints Joshua to succeed him as leader and goes forth out of Israel to his destiny.
Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the Biblical story, affecting the film's claim to authenticity, but this has had little effect on its popularity.[2] For decades, a showing of ''The Ten Commandments'' was a popular fund-raiser among revivalist Christian churches, while the film was equally treasured among film buffs for DeMille's "cast of thousands" approach and the heroic but antiquated silent-screen-type acting. The movie traditionally airs once a year on ABC around Palm Sunday, Easter, and Passover.
In 1999, satisfying both audiences, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The parting of the Red Sea won the film its Oscar for Special Effects, while the worship of the Golden Calf owed something to opera staging of Saint-Saëns' ''Samson et Dalila.'' The giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai is also considered a dramatic highlight.
Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects, it was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Costume Design, Color (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording.
The film was adapted by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss and Fredric M. Frank from the J.H. Ingraham novel ''Pillar of Fire'', the A.E. Southon novel ''On Eagle's Wings'' and the Dorothy Clarke Wilson novel ''Prince of Egypt''.
DeMille had previously made the film in a silent version in 1923. It has since been remade again as a television miniseries broadcast in April 2006.
★ Charlton Heston as Moses
★ Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Rameses II
★ Anne Baxter as Nefertiri
★ Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
★ Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora
★ Debra Paget as Lilia
★ John Derek as Joshua
★ Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I
★ Nina Foch as Bithiah
★ Martha Scott as Yochabel
★ Judith Anderson as Memnet
★ Vincent Price as Baka
★ John Carradine as Aaron
★ Douglass Dumbrille as Jannes
★ Olive Deering as Miriam
★ Mike Connors as Amalekite Herder (under the name Touch Connors)
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, Robert Vaughn as a spearman and a Hebrew, Clint Walker as a Sardinian captain and DeMille himself as the film's narrator, all uncredited. In the film's release to theaters (and its subsequent release on home video), DeMille also appeared on screen to introduce the film.
Sets, costumes and props from The Egyptian (film) were bought and re-used for this. As the events in ''The Egyptian'' take place 70 years before the reign of Rameses II, an unintentional sense of continuity is created. DeMille did not want to cast anyone who had been in ''The Egyptian'', but did accept Michael Ansara (who'd played the Hittite Commander), Mimi Gibson (who'd played Ankhsenpaaten) and John Carradine (who'd had a cameo as a tomb robber). In addition, the white-clad girl attendants in the court of Pharaoh are played by the same actresses who had these roles in ''The Egyptian''.
The lively dance performed at Seti's birthday party, and the dancers' costumes, were copied from an actual wall painting.
One legacy of the movie are scores of public displays or monuments of the Ten Commandments that DeMille paid to be erected around the country as a publicity stunt. Known as decalogues, the displays were set up by the group Fraternal Order of Eagles, sometimes in or near government buildings. Several have been involved in court battles over whether their presence is said to violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution's Establishment Clause.
There are many differences between the film and the storyline as it is traditionally understood from the Bible. According to the DVD commentary track, some details were taken from the Koran.
In the movie, Yochabel, Moses' birth mother (Jochebed in the Bible), is shown as a slave working on the Treasure City construction site. However, the descendants of Levi (the third son of Jacob) had never been enslaved. DeMille was aware of this; he has Yochabel in a later scene saying "We are Levites, appointed Shepherds of Israel." If Moses wanted to live the life of a slave, he must not have declared himself a Levite.
Omitted from the film are the story of Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1:15-21), the attack by the Amalekites and the Battle of Rephidim, the story of Zipporah circumcising her son by Moses (Exodus 4:24-26), the stories about God providing manna, quail and water to Israel, and the account of Moses and seventy Elders of Israel eating and drinking in the presence of God (Exodus 24:9-11).
The Pharaohs are all named in the film: Ramses I, Seti I, Ramses II. In the Bible, they are all called "Pharaoh" and no other names are given. (see Pharaoh of the Exodus).
Some variances in the film are simply factual errors. In the scene in which Moses refers to the monumental stele commemorating "Seti's victory over the Hittites at Kadesh", the obvious error is that it was Ramses II, not his father, Seti (I), who fought the Hittites at Kadesh. This does several things to the movie's narrative. Most obviously, it means that Yul Brynner, billed as "Ramses", is in fact playing Merenptah, Ramses II's heir, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, billed as "Seti" (I) is actually portraying Ramses II. This is further confirmed by "Seti" dying at an advanced age after a long reign; Seti (I) reigned for only 11 years, while Ramses II's reign lasted 67 years, prior to his death at age 90. (See Wikipedia entries on Seti I and Ramses II.) This error also moves the Exodus forward in time, by approximately six decades.
In the Bible, the wives of the Pharaohs are not even mentioned. In the film, we see a great deal of Queen Nefertari. Her name is a variant of Nefertari, the Great Royal Wife of Rameses II. The Bible says "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart", and the film makes clear that Nefretiri's schemes are the means through which God does this.
In the film, the young Moses is a successful military commander who defeats a Nubian army and makes the Ethiopians allies of Egypt. This is sourced in Flavius Josephus but isn't in the Bible.
In Exodus 2:11-12, Moses "looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." No such caution in the film: Moses jumps right in to fight the Egyptian. Instead of sensibly fleeing to Midian immediately, as he does in the Bible, he stays in Egypt and is arrested and exiled.
The movie adds a subplot about Joshua coming to Moses to beseech him to return to Egypt to free the Israelites.
In the Bible, Moses complains to the Lord that he is slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; in the film he only says "what words can I speak that they will heed?" DeMille considered having Moses stammer slightly, but Heston couldn't do it, and settled for speaking very slowly. Modern midrash asserts the relevance of the phrase "divine apostasia," which rehabilitates the term "apostasia" from its heretical or pejorative sense by defining it as an inability to articulate given the tools (or limitations rather) of language. This sense of the term apostasia asserts the moral humility and/or wisdom of silence or hesitance applied to speech and writing.
The film shows four of the Plagues of Egypt: Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn, omitting the rest. DeMille could not figure out a way to enact the plagues of frogs, flies and so on, without it coming out as unintentionally humorous.
In the Bible, Moses did not say, "If there is one more plague on Egypt, it will be by your word that God will bring it" as he did in the movie, and Pharoah did not decree that the firstborn of each house of Israel would die, beginning with the son of Moses. This is taken from a Midrash that expands the Biblical narrative in order to explain the origin of the tenth plague.
Pharaoh may have drowned with his army in Exodus 15:19 (it is unclear; and if so, he wasn't Rameses II). In the movie, he prudently stays in the rear and witnesses the parting of the waters.
In Exodus, the Israelites, led by Miriam, sing and dance to celebrate the death of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. In the film, they stand still in stunned silence.
In the Bible, the reception of the Ten Commandments began as a national revelation, as opposed to the private one depicted in the DeMille film.
The story of Korah and his rebellion, which occurs much later in the Bible narrative, is conflated with that of the Golden Calf in the film. Korah himself is omitted, replaced with Dathan.
The Ten Commandments has been released to DVD on three 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)
★
★ Moses
★
★ The Chosen People
★
★ Land of the Pharaohs
★
★ The Paramount Lot
★
★ The Score
★
★ 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)
★
★ Moses
★
★ The Chosen People
★
★ Land of the Pharaohs
★
★ The Paramount Lot
★
★ The Score
★
★ 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
★ During his lifetime, DeMille was reluctant to discuss technical details of how the film was made, especially the optical tricks used in the famous parting of the Red Sea. It was eventually revealed that it was accomplished (in the 1956 version) by using footage of the Red Sea and splicing in film footage (run in reverse) of water pouring from large trip-tanks set up in the studio back-lot. In the earlier version a vat of gelatin was heated to turn it from a solid state to a liquid, running state.
★ Nina Foch, who played Bithiah, is actually a year younger than Charlton Heston who played Moses.
★ Although Rameses II and Seti I were historical figures, Rameses' wife's name was Nefertari, not "Nefretiri", as in the film. This queen, though well-known, is not to be confused with the even more famous queen Nefertiti, who lived 75 years earlier. Both names mean "Beautiful."
★ Nowhere in the Bible is any Queen of Egypt even mentioned, much less named.
★ The place of the "Throne Princess" was real, and was designed to ensure legitimacy as well as symbolizing the presence of the Goddess Isis in the royal lineage. Ancient Egyptians traced heritage through the maternal, not the paternal line; the royal line of succession was through the women. [3]
★ DeMille's original choice for the role of Nefretiri was Audrey Hepburn. His ultimate decision not to cast her was due to her less-than-voluptuous figure. Anne Baxter, the final choice for the role, filled out her sheer costumes in a manner that more closely resembled period wall paintings of Egyptian ladies.
★ 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. [1] The expression "the son of your body" for a biological offspring is based on inscriptions found in Mehu's tomb. [2]
★ Heavy metal band Metallica wrote a song based on the events in the movie, titled "Creeping Death."
★ Due to the length of the movie, network telecasts would sometimes edit the film heavily, leading some humorists to comment that it had been "trimmed to seven commandments."
★ The voice of God at the burning bush scene is that of Charlton Heston's, slightly slowed down and deepened. Heston's voice was recorded for the film in the marble chapel at Fairhaven Mausoleum in Santa Ana, CA. The voice of God at the giving of the Ten Commandments is a chorus of several male voices including, principally, Heston's and DeMille's - recorded separately with one track laid on top of the other and tinkered with electronically. It is said that this was a very time-consuming and difficult process (it would be less so today). The other voices of this chorus were those of actor and singer Delos Jewkes and DeMille's publicist and biographer Donald Hayne.
★ Heston's version of Moses has been parodied numerous times, most notably in ''History of the World, Part I'', in which Mel Brooks, playing Moses, brings fifteen commandments, with the extra five written on a third tablet. He drops and breaks the third tablet and hastily says, "Fifteen, er, ten commandments!"
★ The Paramount mountain at the beginning of the movie is replaced with Mount Sinai and the sky is red.
★ The Second Edition DVD was the subject of some controversy, as the pictures in magazines for it stated "Thou Shalt Covet," making a sacrilegious parody of the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet."
★ Heston (Moses), Paget (Lilia), Foch (Bithia), and Connors (Amalekite Herder) are the only remaining surviving main cast members to date (May 01, 2007).
The screenplay was the creation of a committee of writers, headed by "Rev." J. H. Ingraham (actually a novelist who wrote ''Pillar of Fire'') and "Rev." A. E. Southon (actually the novelist of ''On Eagle's Wings''), who were listed as reverends to add credibility to the script. Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, and Fredric M. Frank also contributed.
In the commentary for the DVD edition, Katherine Orrison (a protege and biographer of Henry Wilcoxon), describes the historical research that DeMille and associates did at the time. Orrison says that many details of Moses' life which were left out of the Bible are present in the Koran, which was sometimes used as a source. She also describes some coincidences in production; the man who designed Moses' distinctive rust-white-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's costume. As a gift, after the production, DeMille gave Moses's robe to Mr. Friberg who still has it in his possession.
Artist Arnold Friberg, in addition to designing sets and costumes, also contributed the manner of Moses ordaining 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. For his pursuit of the Israelites, however, he wears the blue Uraeus helmet-crown, which the Pharaohs wore for battle.
1. "Top grossing films adjusted for inflation", BoxOfficeMojo
2. In fact, many of the supposed "inaccuracies" were actually adopted by DeMille from extrabiblical but 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. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Philadelphia 1967; A. Shinan, "Moses and the Ethiopian Woman: Sources of a Story in The Chronicle of Moses," Scripta Hierosolymitana 27 (1978).
3. Clark, Rosemary, ''The Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt''. Llewellyn, 2000, p. 97.
★ Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments, Orrison, Katherine, , , Vestal Press, 1990, ISBN 1-879511-24-X
★
★ Famous quotes from ''The Ten Commandments''
'''The Ten Commandments''' is a 1956 motion picture dramatizing the Biblical story of Moses, an Egyptian prince-turned deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. It was released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starred Charlton Heston in the lead role. Co-stars included Yul Brynner as his adoptive brother, Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, John Derek as Joshua, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Vincent Price as Baka, and John Carradine as Aaron. Heston also provided the voice of God uncredited. Charlton Heston's newborn son, Fraser appeared as the infant Moses. According to author Katherine Orrison in the commentary of the DVD versions of ''The Ten Commandments'', DeMille deliberately timed the filming of his scenes when Heston was about three months of age. This, and other stories about the making of the film, were related to her by producer/actor Henry Wilcoxon and his wife, Joan Woodbury. Orrison later wrote the book ''Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments''.
This was the last film that Cecil B. DeMille directed. He was set to direct his own remake of ''The Buccaneer'', but his final illness forced him to relinquish the directing chores for that one to his then-son-in-law, Anthony Quinn.
The 1956 version of ''The Ten Commandments'' is partially a remake of DeMille's 1923 silent film. Some of the cast and crew of the 1956 version worked on the original.
Adjusted for inflation, it is the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time, with collections of $838,400,000.[1] In non-adjusted dollars, it held the record as the highest-grossing film with a religious theme until the 2004 film, ''The Passion of the Christ.''
| Contents |
| Plot Summary |
| Popularity |
| Cast |
| Casts/Character |
| Uncredited Casts |
| Decalogues |
| Differences from the Bible |
| DVD |
| Trivia |
| Production |
| Footnotes |
| References |
| External links |
Plot Summary
The film covers the life of Moses from his discovery in a basket floating on the Nile as a baby by Bithiah, a childless young widow and daughter of the then-Pharaoh, Rameses I, to his eventual departure from Israel in the wake of God's judgment that he not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. In between, the film depicts the early adulthood of Moses as a beloved foster son of Pharaoh Seti I (successor of Rameses I and brother of Bithiah) and general of his armies, his romance with Throne Princess Nefertari (or Nefretiri, as she is called in the film) and rivalry with the Pharaoh's own son, Prince Rameses II.
Moses is charged with building a treasure city for Seti's Jubilee, that Rameses failed to complete. When Moses assumes control of the project, he institutes numerous reforms concerning the treatment of the slave workers such as one day in seven to rest and even going so far as to raid temple granaries for necessary food supplies. Rameses uses these changes as proof that Moses is planning an insurrection by currying the slaves' favor, and points out that the slaves are calling Moses the "Deliverer" of prophecy. However, when Seti confronts Moses, Moses argues he is simply making his workers more productive by making them stronger and happier. He proves his point with such impressive progress on the project that Seti becomes convinced that Rameses falsely accused his foster brother. Seti promises that Moses will get credit for the new city. Rameses, meanwhile, has been charged by his father with the task of finding out if there really is a Hebrew fitting the description of the Deliverer, and is having no luck.
Prince Moses learns that he is not a prince at all, but the son of Hebrew slaves. Shortly after his birth, Rameses I had ordered the slaying of all firstborn male Hebrews to prevent the prophecy of the Deliverer from coming true. Moses' mother had set him adrift on the Nile to escape. Declaring he is not ashamed ("Egyptian or Hebrew, I'm still Moses"), but curious, he spends time working among the slaves to learn of their hardship, only to be rescued from the mudpits by Nefretiri. Moses then saves Joshua, a Hebrew stonecutter, from death at the hands of the Egyptian Master Builder Baka; he kills Baka, while Dathan, the devious and ambitious Hebrew overseer who's been charged by Rameses to help him find the Deliverer, watches from hiding. Moses confesses to Joshua that he himself is Hebrew; Joshua excitedly proclaims Moses the Deliverer, and although Moses denies it, Dathan has all the proof he needs. Revealing what he knows to Rameses, Dathan bargains for Baka's house, a post as Governor of Goshen and the ownership of Joshua's betrothed Lilia.
Moses is arrested and brought in chains before Seti, who begs him to say he is not the Deliverer. Moses does so, but avows that he would free the slaves if he could. Bithiah confesses to her brother Seti that she took Moses from the Nile knowing by the design on his blankets that he was Hebrew. In a short, impassioned speech, Moses says that it is evil to enslave or oppress people, "to be stripped of spirit, and hope and faith, all because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a God, He did not mean this to be so!" This causes Seti to imprison him and order his name stricken from all records and monuments, to be unspoken in Egypt forever thereafter. Rameses banishes Moses to the desert, fearing to execute him lest he create a martyr. Meanwhile, Seti proclaims Rameses to be the next Pharoah. Nefretiri as the Throne Princess is required to marry the arrogant prince, to her great distress.
Moses makes his way across the desert, nearly dying of hunger and thirst. He comes to a well in the land of Midian. After drinking and eating dates from a nearby palm tree he passes out, to be awakened by the sound of seven sisters watering their flocks. Bullying Amalekites appear, pushing the girls aside, whereupon Moses wakes. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere he thrashes the Amalekites soundly with his staff, forcing them to wait their turn at the well. Moses finds a home in Midian with the girls' father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, and marries his eldest daughter, Sephora.
Moses at Rameses II court.
Back in Egypt, Seti dies heartbroken, with Moses' name on his lips, and Rameses succeeds him as Pharaoh (becoming Rameses II), taking Nefretiri as his Queen. Herding sheep in the desert, Moses finds Joshua, who has escaped from hard labour in the copper mines. Moses sees the Burning Bush on the summit of Mount Sinai; climbing up to investigate, he hears the voice of God. Naming himself "I Am That I Am", God charges Moses to return to Egypt and free His chosen people.
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, only to have the Pharaoh decree 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; but when she attempts to resume their relationship, he spurns her, reminding her that not only is he on a mission, having been touched by God, but that he is also married. As Moses continues to challenge Pharaoh's hold over his people, Egypt is beset by divine plagues. 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 Pharaoh's own child. Meanwhile, Bithiah is released to Moses.
Broken and despondent, Pharaoh orders Moses to take "your people, your cattle, your God and your pestilence" and go. Dathan is also ordered out, his position as an overseer counting for nothing with the Egyptians, the Hebrews resentful of him and refusing him the privileges he expects. The scene of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt is one of the most spectacular in all of film.
''Behold His mighty hand!''.
Goaded into rage by Nefretiri in her grief and anger at Moses, the Pharaoh arms himself and chases the former slaves with his armies to the shore of the Red Sea. Held back by a pillar of fire, the Egyptian forces can only watch as Moses parts the sea's waters ("''Behold His mighty hand!''") to provide his people a route of escape. As the Hebrews race over the seabed, the army rides in hot pursuit as the fire-pillar fades away. The Hebrews make it to the far shore just in time to witness God's closing of the waters on the Egyptian army, drowning every man and horse. Rameses looks on in despair, and all he can do is return to Nefretiri, informing her, "His god ''is'' God."
The former slaves camp at the foot of Sinai and wait as Moses again ascends the mountain. When Moses delays coming down from Sinai, the Hebrews lose faith and, urged on by Dathan, build a golden calf as an idol to bear before them back to Egypt, hoping to win Rameses' forgiveness. The people proceed to indulge their most wanton desires in an orgy of sinfulness. Meanwhile, 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 destroys both of the tablets in rage, a burning crevasse swallows all who do not join him at his side. After God forces them to endure forty years' exile in the desert wandering lost to prove their loyalty, the Hebrews finally arrive in the land of Israel. An elderly Moses then appoints Joshua to succeed him as leader and goes forth out of Israel to his destiny.
Popularity
Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the Biblical story, affecting the film's claim to authenticity, but this has had little effect on its popularity.[2] For decades, a showing of ''The Ten Commandments'' was a popular fund-raiser among revivalist Christian churches, while the film was equally treasured among film buffs for DeMille's "cast of thousands" approach and the heroic but antiquated silent-screen-type acting. The movie traditionally airs once a year on ABC around Palm Sunday, Easter, and Passover.
In 1999, satisfying both audiences, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The parting of the Red Sea won the film its Oscar for Special Effects, while the worship of the Golden Calf owed something to opera staging of Saint-Saëns' ''Samson et Dalila.'' The giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai is also considered a dramatic highlight.
Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects, it was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Costume Design, Color (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording.
The film was adapted by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss and Fredric M. Frank from the J.H. Ingraham novel ''Pillar of Fire'', the A.E. Southon novel ''On Eagle's Wings'' and the Dorothy Clarke Wilson novel ''Prince of Egypt''.
DeMille had previously made the film in a silent version in 1923. It has since been remade again as a television miniseries broadcast in April 2006.
Cast
Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
★ Charlton Heston as Moses
★ Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Rameses II
★ Anne Baxter as Nefertiri
★ Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
★ Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora
★ Debra Paget as Lilia
★ John Derek as Joshua
★ Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I
★ Nina Foch as Bithiah
★ Martha Scott as Yochabel
★ Judith Anderson as Memnet
★ Vincent Price as Baka
★ John Carradine as Aaron
★ Douglass Dumbrille as Jannes
★ Olive Deering as Miriam
★ Mike Connors as Amalekite Herder (under the name Touch Connors)
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, Robert Vaughn as a spearman and a Hebrew, Clint Walker as a Sardinian captain and DeMille himself as the film's narrator, all uncredited. In the film's release to theaters (and its subsequent release on home video), DeMille also appeared on screen to introduce the film.
Sets, costumes and props from The Egyptian (film) were bought and re-used for this. As the events in ''The Egyptian'' take place 70 years before the reign of Rameses II, an unintentional sense of continuity is created. DeMille did not want to cast anyone who had been in ''The Egyptian'', but did accept Michael Ansara (who'd played the Hittite Commander), Mimi Gibson (who'd played Ankhsenpaaten) and John Carradine (who'd had a cameo as a tomb robber). In addition, the white-clad girl attendants in the court of Pharaoh are played by the same actresses who had these roles in ''The Egyptian''.
The lively dance performed at Seti's birthday party, and the dancers' costumes, were copied from an actual wall painting.
Casts/Character
| Casts | Character |
|---|---|
| Julia Faye | 'Elisheba' |
| Henry Wilcoxon | 'Pentaur' |
| Lawrence Dobkin | 'Hur Ben Caleb' |
| Fraser Clarke Heston | 'Infant Moses' |
| H.B. Warner | 'Amminadab' (his last role) |
| Woody Strode | 'King of Ethiopia/Bithiah's litter carrier-slave' |
| Rushdy Abaza | 'Rushti Abaza' |
| Henry Brandon | 'Commander of the Host' |
| Dorothy Adams | 'Slave Woman/Hebrew at Golden Calf/Hebrew at Rameses' Gate' |
| Maude Fealy | 'Slave Woman/Hebrew at Crag & Corridor' |
| Gail Kobe | 'Pretty Slave Girl' |
| Henry Corden | 'Sheik of Sinai' |
| Onslow Stevens | 'Lugal' |
| Frank Dekova | 'Abiram' |
| Ian Keith | 'Rameses I' |
| Eugene Mazzola | 'Rameses' son' |
| Paula Morgan | 'Hebrew Woman/Slave Woman' |
| Kenneth MacDonald | 'Hebrew at Crag & Corridor/Slave' |
| Dorothy Neumann | 'Hebrew at Crag & Corridor/Slave/Hebrew at Dathan's Tent' |
| Diane Gump | 'slave' |
| Donald Curtis | 'Mered' |
| Eduard Franz | 'Jethro' |
| Lisa Mitchell | 'Jethro's Daughter' |
| Noelle Williams | 'Jethro's Daughter' |
| Pat Richard | 'Jethro's Daughter' |
| Joyce Vanderveen | 'Jethro's Daughter' |
| Joanna Merlin | 'Jethro's Daughter' |
| Abbas El Boughdadly | 'Rameses' Charioteer' |
| John Miljan | 'The Blind One' |
| Francis McDonald | 'Simon' |
| Tommy Duran | 'Gershom', Moses' son |
| Ramsay Hill | 'Korah' |
| Joan Woodbury | 'Korah's wife' |
| Paul De Rolf | 'Eleazar' |
| Robert Carson | 'Eleazar as an Adult' |
| Esther Brown | 'Princess Tarbis', sister of the Ethiopian King |
| E.J. André | 'Sheik of Hazerath' |
| Eric Alden | 'High Ranking Officer/Taskmaster/Slave/officer |
| Kay Bell | 'Taskmaster/Red Bearded slave' |
| Baynes Barron | 'Taskmaster' |
| Mary Benoit | 'Guardian of the Prince/Court Woman/Hebrew at Dathan's Tent/ Hebrew at Crag & Corridor/Mother |
| Rus Conklin | 'Whip Scarred Brick Carrier/Hebrew at Dathan's Tent' |
| Babette Bain | 'Little Miriam' |
| Bobby Clark | 'Little boy in Exodus', grandson of the Blind One |
| Mimi Gibson | 'Little Egyptian Girl', granddaughter of the Blind One |
| Kem Dibbs | 'Corporal' |
| Edna Mae Cooper | 'Woman of the Women' |
| Nancy Hale | 'Court Lady in Pool' |
| June Jocelyn | 'Court lady/Hebrew at Crag & Corridor/Hebrew at Dathan's Tent/ Wife of Overseer' |
| Irene Martin | 'Tuya', one of the court ladies at the pool |
| Richard Kean | 'Old Hebrew at Moses Houses/Hebrew Toward Corridor' |
| Fred Kohler Jr | 'Foreman' |
| Peter Mamakos | 'Chief Driver' |
| George Melford | 'Hebrew at Golden Calf/Nobleman' |
| John Merton | 'Architect Assistant' |
| Amena Mohamed | 'Architect Assistant' |
| John Parrish | 'Sheik of Rephidim' |
| Amanda Webb | 'Hebrew at Golden Calf/Young Woman/Hebrew in Exodus' |
| Jeane Wood | 'Slave/Hebrew at Crag & Corridor/Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Rod Redwing | 'Taskmaster/Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Frank Wilcox | 'Wazir' |
| Addison Richards | 'Fan Bearer' |
| Keith Richards | 'Hebrew at Golden Calf/Courtier/Slave/Hebrew at Dathan's Tent/ Hebrew at Crag & Corridor/Overseer' |
| Marcoreta Starr | 'Slave/Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
Uncredited Casts
| Uncredited Casts | Character |
|---|---|
| Luis Alberni | 'Old Hebrew' |
| Herb Alpert | 'Drummer Boy' |
| Peter Baldwin | 'Courtier' |
| Dehl Berti | 'Pharaoh's Man Servant/Architects Assistant' |
| Gorgen Raymond Aghayan | 'Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Lillian Albertson | 'Slave' |
| Clare Andre | 'Slave' |
| Dorothy Andre | 'Slave' |
| Maria Elena Aza | 'Dancing Girl' |
| Bart Antinora | 'Slave' |
| Alan Aric | 'Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Joel Ashley | 'Taskmaster' |
| William Bagdad | 'Slave' |
| Judith Barrett | 'Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Norman Bartold | 'Signalman' |
| Betty Bassett | 'Court Woman' |
| Ahmed Salah Sayed Ahmed | 'Slave' |
| Ted Allan | 'Hebrew at Rameses' Gate' |
| Vicki Bakken | 'Egyptian Courtesan' |
| Patti Balloon | 'Hebrew girl at Rameses' Gate' |
| George Baxter | '2nd Wazir' |
| Steven Benson | ' Kid in massive march ' |
| Abdullah Abbas | 'Taskmaster' |
| Arthur Batanides | 'Hebrew at Rameses' Gate/Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Prudence Beers | 'Hebrew at Crag and Corridor/Hebrew at Golden Calf' |
| Jack Baston | 'Fan Bearer' |
| Polly Burson | 'Slave' |
| Herbert Butterfield | 'Royal Physician' |
| Lesley-Marie Colburn | 'Slave Child' |
Decalogues
One legacy of the movie are scores of public displays or monuments of the Ten Commandments that DeMille paid to be erected around the country as a publicity stunt. Known as decalogues, the displays were set up by the group Fraternal Order of Eagles, sometimes in or near government buildings. Several have been involved in court battles over whether their presence is said to violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution's Establishment Clause.
Differences from the Bible
There are many differences between the film and the storyline as it is traditionally understood from the Bible. According to the DVD commentary track, some details were taken from the Koran.
In the movie, Yochabel, Moses' birth mother (Jochebed in the Bible), is shown as a slave working on the Treasure City construction site. However, the descendants of Levi (the third son of Jacob) had never been enslaved. DeMille was aware of this; he has Yochabel in a later scene saying "We are Levites, appointed Shepherds of Israel." If Moses wanted to live the life of a slave, he must not have declared himself a Levite.
Omitted from the film are the story of Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1:15-21), the attack by the Amalekites and the Battle of Rephidim, the story of Zipporah circumcising her son by Moses (Exodus 4:24-26), the stories about God providing manna, quail and water to Israel, and the account of Moses and seventy Elders of Israel eating and drinking in the presence of God (Exodus 24:9-11).
The Pharaohs are all named in the film: Ramses I, Seti I, Ramses II. In the Bible, they are all called "Pharaoh" and no other names are given. (see Pharaoh of the Exodus).
Some variances in the film are simply factual errors. In the scene in which Moses refers to the monumental stele commemorating "Seti's victory over the Hittites at Kadesh", the obvious error is that it was Ramses II, not his father, Seti (I), who fought the Hittites at Kadesh. This does several things to the movie's narrative. Most obviously, it means that Yul Brynner, billed as "Ramses", is in fact playing Merenptah, Ramses II's heir, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, billed as "Seti" (I) is actually portraying Ramses II. This is further confirmed by "Seti" dying at an advanced age after a long reign; Seti (I) reigned for only 11 years, while Ramses II's reign lasted 67 years, prior to his death at age 90. (See Wikipedia entries on Seti I and Ramses II.) This error also moves the Exodus forward in time, by approximately six decades.
In the Bible, the wives of the Pharaohs are not even mentioned. In the film, we see a great deal of Queen Nefertari. Her name is a variant of Nefertari, the Great Royal Wife of Rameses II. The Bible says "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart", and the film makes clear that Nefretiri's schemes are the means through which God does this.
In the film, the young Moses is a successful military commander who defeats a Nubian army and makes the Ethiopians allies of Egypt. This is sourced in Flavius Josephus but isn't in the Bible.
In Exodus 2:11-12, Moses "looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." No such caution in the film: Moses jumps right in to fight the Egyptian. Instead of sensibly fleeing to Midian immediately, as he does in the Bible, he stays in Egypt and is arrested and exiled.
The movie adds a subplot about Joshua coming to Moses to beseech him to return to Egypt to free the Israelites.
In the Bible, Moses complains to the Lord that he is slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; in the film he only says "what words can I speak that they will heed?" DeMille considered having Moses stammer slightly, but Heston couldn't do it, and settled for speaking very slowly. Modern midrash asserts the relevance of the phrase "divine apostasia," which rehabilitates the term "apostasia" from its heretical or pejorative sense by defining it as an inability to articulate given the tools (or limitations rather) of language. This sense of the term apostasia asserts the moral humility and/or wisdom of silence or hesitance applied to speech and writing.
The film shows four of the Plagues of Egypt: Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn, omitting the rest. DeMille could not figure out a way to enact the plagues of frogs, flies and so on, without it coming out as unintentionally humorous.
In the Bible, Moses did not say, "If there is one more plague on Egypt, it will be by your word that God will bring it" as he did in the movie, and Pharoah did not decree that the firstborn of each house of Israel would die, beginning with the son of Moses. This is taken from a Midrash that expands the Biblical narrative in order to explain the origin of the tenth plague.
Pharaoh may have drowned with his army in Exodus 15:19 (it is unclear; and if so, he wasn't Rameses II). In the movie, he prudently stays in the rear and witnesses the parting of the waters.
In Exodus, the Israelites, led by Miriam, sing and dance to celebrate the death of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. In the film, they stand still in stunned silence.
In the Bible, the reception of the Ten Commandments began as a national revelation, as opposed to the private one depicted in the DeMille film.
The story of Korah and his rebellion, which occurs much later in the Bible narrative, is conflated with that of the Golden Calf in the film. Korah himself is omitted, replaced with Dathan.
DVD
The artist's rendering of Charlton Heston as Moses was bulked up to modern physique standards when the DVD was released
The Ten Commandments has been released to DVD on three 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)
★
★ Moses
★
★ The Chosen People
★
★ Land of the Pharaohs
★
★ The Paramount Lot
★
★ The Score
★
★ 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)
★
★ Moses
★
★ The Chosen People
★
★ Land of the Pharaohs
★
★ The Paramount Lot
★
★ The Score
★
★ 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 Ten Commandments DVD Covers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Edition 2 Disc Set | Second Edition 2 Disc Set | Third Edition 3 Disc Set | |||
| |  |  | |||
Trivia
★ During his lifetime, DeMille was reluctant to discuss technical details of how the film was made, especially the optical tricks used in the famous parting of the Red Sea. It was eventually revealed that it was accomplished (in the 1956 version) by using footage of the Red Sea and splicing in film footage (run in reverse) of water pouring from large trip-tanks set up in the studio back-lot. In the earlier version a vat of gelatin was heated to turn it from a solid state to a liquid, running state.
★ Nina Foch, who played Bithiah, is actually a year younger than Charlton Heston who played Moses.
★ Although Rameses II and Seti I were historical figures, Rameses' wife's name was Nefertari, not "Nefretiri", as in the film. This queen, though well-known, is not to be confused with the even more famous queen Nefertiti, who lived 75 years earlier. Both names mean "Beautiful."
★ Nowhere in the Bible is any Queen of Egypt even mentioned, much less named.
★ The place of the "Throne Princess" was real, and was designed to ensure legitimacy as well as symbolizing the presence of the Goddess Isis in the royal lineage. Ancient Egyptians traced heritage through the maternal, not the paternal line; the royal line of succession was through the women. [3]
★ DeMille's original choice for the role of Nefretiri was Audrey Hepburn. His ultimate decision not to cast her was due to her less-than-voluptuous figure. Anne Baxter, the final choice for the role, filled out her sheer costumes in a manner that more closely resembled period wall paintings of Egyptian ladies.
★ 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. [1] The expression "the son of your body" for a biological offspring is based on inscriptions found in Mehu's tomb. [2]
★ Heavy metal band Metallica wrote a song based on the events in the movie, titled "Creeping Death."
★ Due to the length of the movie, network telecasts would sometimes edit the film heavily, leading some humorists to comment that it had been "trimmed to seven commandments."
★ The voice of God at the burning bush scene is that of Charlton Heston's, slightly slowed down and deepened. Heston's voice was recorded for the film in the marble chapel at Fairhaven Mausoleum in Santa Ana, CA. The voice of God at the giving of the Ten Commandments is a chorus of several male voices including, principally, Heston's and DeMille's - recorded separately with one track laid on top of the other and tinkered with electronically. It is said that this was a very time-consuming and difficult process (it would be less so today). The other voices of this chorus were those of actor and singer Delos Jewkes and DeMille's publicist and biographer Donald Hayne.
★ Heston's version of Moses has been parodied numerous times, most notably in ''History of the World, Part I'', in which Mel Brooks, playing Moses, brings fifteen commandments, with the extra five written on a third tablet. He drops and breaks the third tablet and hastily says, "Fifteen, er, ten commandments!"
★ The Paramount mountain at the beginning of the movie is replaced with Mount Sinai and the sky is red.
★ The Second Edition DVD was the subject of some controversy, as the pictures in magazines for it stated "Thou Shalt Covet," making a sacrilegious parody of the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet."
★ Heston (Moses), Paget (Lilia), Foch (Bithia), and Connors (Amalekite Herder) are the only remaining surviving main cast members to date (May 01, 2007).
Production
The screenplay was the creation of a committee of writers, headed by "Rev." J. H. Ingraham (actually a novelist who wrote ''Pillar of Fire'') and "Rev." A. E. Southon (actually the novelist of ''On Eagle's Wings''), who were listed as reverends to add credibility to the script. Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, and Fredric M. Frank also contributed.
In the commentary for the DVD edition, Katherine Orrison (a protege and biographer of Henry Wilcoxon), describes the historical research that DeMille and associates did at the time. Orrison says that many details of Moses' life which were left out of the Bible are present in the Koran, which was sometimes used as a source. She also describes some coincidences in production; the man who designed Moses' distinctive rust-white-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's costume. As a gift, after the production, DeMille gave Moses's robe to Mr. Friberg who still has it in his possession.
Artist Arnold Friberg, in addition to designing sets and costumes, also contributed the manner of Moses ordaining 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. For his pursuit of the Israelites, however, he wears the blue Uraeus helmet-crown, which the Pharaohs wore for battle.
Footnotes
1. "Top grossing films adjusted for inflation", BoxOfficeMojo
2. In fact, many of the supposed "inaccuracies" were actually adopted by DeMille from extrabiblical but 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. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Philadelphia 1967; A. Shinan, "Moses and the Ethiopian Woman: Sources of a Story in The Chronicle of Moses," Scripta Hierosolymitana 27 (1978).
3. Clark, Rosemary, ''The Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt''. Llewellyn, 2000, p. 97.
References
★ Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments, Orrison, Katherine, , , Vestal Press, 1990, ISBN 1-879511-24-X
★
External links
★ Famous quotes from ''The Ten Commandments''
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