The Ten Commandments (1923 film)

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The Ten Commandments

Directed by	Cecil B. DeMille
Produced by	Cecil B. DeMille
Written by	Jeannie Macpherson
Starring	Theodore Roberts Charles de Roche Estelle Taylor Richard Dix Julia Faye Rod La Rocque
Cinematography	Edward S. Curtis Bert Glennon Donald Keyes J. Peverell Marley Ray Rennahan
Editing by	Anne Bauchens
Release date(s)	1923
Running time	146 min.
Country	USA
Language	Silent
All Movie Guide profile

This article is about the 1923 film. For the Biblical phenomenon, please see Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments is a 1923 epic silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Theodore Roberts as Moses, Charles de Rochefort as Pharaoh Rameses, Estelle Taylor as Miriam the sister of Moses, and James Neill as Aaron, the brother of Moses. The cast also included notable silent film actors Nita Naldi, Leatrice Joy, Rod La Rocque, Richard Dix, Edythe Chapman and Agnes Ayres. It was a grand spectacle of early Hollywood filmmaking, running 146 minutes, with the Exodus scenes photographed in early Technicolor. While the first half of the film tells the biblical story, the second half is a morality parable set in modern times. The movie was released by Paramount Pictures.

Despite its epic scale, the Moses story only takes up about the first half of the film. After that, the story changes to a modern setting involving the commandments. Two brothers make opposite decisions, one to follow his mother's teaching of the ten commandments and become a poor carpenter, and the other to break every one of them and rise to the top. The film shows his unchecked immorality to be momentarily gainful, but ultimately disastrous.

A thoughtful contrast is made between the carpenter brother and his mother. The mother reads the story of Moses and emphasizes strict obedience and fear of God. The carpenter, however, reads from the New Testament story of Jesus' healing of lepers. His emphasis is on a loving and forgiving God. The film also shows the mother's strict lawful morality to be flawed in comparison to her son's version.

[edit] Location

The location at which the exodus was filmed, Nipomo Dunes, San Luis Obispo County, California (near Pismo Beach), is now an active archaeological site. The filming site was originally chosen because its immense sand dunes provided a superficial resemblance to the Egyptian desert. After the filming was complete, the massive sets — which included four 35-foot tall Pharaoh statues, 21 sphinxes, and gates reaching a height of 110 feet, which were built by a small army of 1,600 workers — were dynamited and buried in the sand. However the burial location at Nipomo Dunes is exposed to relentless northwesterly gales year-round, and much of what was buried is now exposed to the elements, as the covering sand has been blown away. Portions of the modern story were filmed in San Francisco.