'' is a
1956 epic film from
Paramount Studios in
VistaVision directed by
Cecil B. DeMille , which tells in the broadest Hollywood style the
Bible story of
Moses (
Charlton Heston ) as he struggles to get
Pharaoh Ramesses II (
Yul Brynner ) to let the
Israelite s leave
Egypt .
It is the 5th highest grossing movie of all time, adjusted for inflation, with collections of $838,400,000.
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In non-adjusted dollars, it held the record as the highest-grossing film with a religious storyline 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 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
Nefretiri and rivalry with the Pharaoh's own son, Prince Rameses. That rivalry comes into play when Moses was charged with building a treasury city that Ramses 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. Ramses uses these changes as proof that Moses is planning an insurrection by currying the slaves' favor. However, when Seti confronts Moses on the matter, Moses argues he is simply making his workers more productive by making them stronger and happier. He proves his point with impressive progress on the project that convinces Seti that Ramses falsely accused his foster brother and declared that Moses will get credit for the new city.
Prince Moses learns that he is not a prince at all, but the son of Hebrew slaves who set him adrift on the Nile to escape the slaying of all firstborn male Hebrews by Rameses I's order, to prevent a prophecy of a Hebrew
Deliverer freeing the slaves from coming true. Shamed, he spends time working among the slaves to learn of their hardship, only to be rescued from execution by Nefretiri. Moses then saves
Joshua , a Hebrew stonecutter, from death at the hands of the Egyptian Master Builder
Baka by committing Baka's murder while
Dathan , a devious and ambitious Hebrew, watches from hiding. 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. 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.
After wandering alone for awhile and nearly dying of hunger and thirst, Moses finds a home in
Midian with the people of
Jethro , a
Bedouin sheik, and marries Jethro's 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 makes a journey to the summit of
Mount Sinai and is visited by God at the
Burning Bush , who charges him 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 seduce him again, he spurns her. As Moses continues to challenge Pharaoh's hold over his people, Egypt is beset by divine plagues. Finally, Rameses gives in and allows the Hebrews to leave after God kills all the firstborn sons of Egypt, including his own. 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 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.
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, and 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, creating an earthquake crevasse that 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 with Sephora 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. For decades, a showing of ''The Ten Commandments'' was a popular fund-raiser among revivalist
Christian Church es, 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 aired once a year on
ABC around
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 broadcasted in April 2006.
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.
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
Decalogue s, 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 violates 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. In the movie, Yochabel, Moses' birth mother, 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. Thus, when Moses made the decision to leave the royal palace, he would not have been part of the workforce. DeMille was aware of this; he has Yochabel in a later scene saying "We are Levites, appointed Shepherds of Israel."
The movie depicts the Israelites as worshipping the
Golden Calf while Moses was on the mountain, receiving the commandments. As is noted several times in the Bible, however, the reception of the Ten Commandments began as a national revelation, as opposed to the private one depicted in the DeMille film.
The Ten Commandments has been released to DVD on three occations.
released on March 30, 1999 as a two disc set, with the following specs:
''Disc One & Two'': The Movie + Extras
- Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9)
- Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Three Trailers
released on March 9, 2004 as a two disc set (Special Collectors Edition), with the following specs:
''Disc One & Two'': The Movie + Extras
- Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9)
- Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Three Trailers
- Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of Written in Stone
- Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments
- Vintage Newsreel: The Ten Commandments - Premiere in New York
- 6-Part Documentary: Moses/The Chosen People/Land of the Pharaohs/The Paramount Lot/The Score/Mr. DeMille
- Trailers:
- ---1956 "Making of" Trailer
- ---1966 Trailer
- ---1989 Trailer
- Photo Gallery
released on March 21, 2006 as a three disc set (50th Anniversary Collection), with the following specs:
''Disc One & Two'': The Movie + Extras
- Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9)
- Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Three Trailers
- Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of Written in Stone
- Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic, The Ten Commandments
- Vintage Newsreel: The Ten Commandments - Premiere in New York
- 6-Part Documentary: Moses/The Chosen People/Land of the Pharaohs/The Paramount Lot/The Score/Mr. DeMille
- Trailers:
- ---1956 "Making of" Trailer
- ---1966 Trailer
- ---1989 Trailer
- Photo Gallery
''Disc Three'': The Movie (1923 Version)
- Commentary by Katherine Orrison, Author of Written in Stone
- Hand-tinted footage of the Exodus and Parting of the Red Sea Sequence
- During his lifetime, DeMille was reticent to discuss technical details of how the film was made, especially the optical tricks used in the famous parting of the Red Sea. It eventually came out that it was accomplished (in both versions) 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.
- There actually was a Rameses II , son of Seti I , as in the movie. His favorite wife was indeed Nefertari , changed a bit in the movie to "Nefretiri." 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."
- 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".
- Star Charlton Heston did God's voice for the burning bush scene, but it is not known for sure who recorded God's voice for the giving of the ten commandments.
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 Wing''), who were listed as
Reverend s to add to credibility for the script. Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, and Fredric M. Frank also contributed.
