| The Ten Commandments | |
|---|---|
1956 original poster |
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| Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille Henry Wilcoxon |
| Written by | Joseph Holt Ingraham (novel Pillar of Fire) A.E. Southon (novel On Eagle's Wings) Dorothy Clarke Wilson (novel Prince of Egypt) Æneas MacKenzie Jesse L. Lasky, Jr. Jack Gariss Fredric M. Frank |
| Narrated by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Yul Brynner Anne Baxter Edward G. Robinson Yvonne De Carlo Debra Paget John Derek Sir Cedric Hardwicke |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Loyal Griggs, ASC |
| Editing by | Anne Bauchens |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 5, 1956 |
| Running time | 219 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $115 million (Domestic only) |
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film 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. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and 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 Ten Commandments, which DeMille narrated, was the last film that he ever 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 partially a 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 again 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 US box office. Adjusting for inflation, this makes it the fifth highest-grossing movie domestically, with an adjusted total of $977 million in 2010.[1] 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, AFI 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 10th best film in the epic genre.[2][3]
The film received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.[4] Charlton Heston was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in the drama category.[4] 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.[4]
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Shortly after Moses' birth, Rameses I had ordered the slaying of all firstborn male Hebrews to prevent the prophecy of the Deliverer from coming true. Moses' mother (called "Yoshebel" in the film) has him set adrift on the Nile to escape, with his sister Miriam watching from a hidden spot. Bithiah discovers the Ark while playing with other young women in the banks of the Nile. She orders them to leave, then shows her servant Memnet the baby. Memnet warns Bithiah that the swaddling cloth was Levite, so the baby was placed there to escape Bithiah's father's edict. But Bithiah declared that this baby would be her son, and names him "Moses" because she had drawn him from the Nile. Despite Memnet's protests about serving a son of Hebrew slaves, Bithiah orders her to serve him and to swear to secrecy on pain of death. Memnet hides the cloth under her clothes.
As a young general, Moses is victorious in a war with the Nubian people of ancient Ethiopia, loosing captured ibises to combat the serpents (as recorded by Josephus) and further impresses Seti I by being wily enough to enter into an alliance with the conquered Ethiopians rather than subjugate them. Moses then is charged with building a treasure city for Seti's Jubilee, which Rameses had failed to complete.
Meanwhile, Moses and Nefretiri are deeply in love; she is the "throne princess", who must marry the next Pharaoh. Rameses wants her for himself, not because of any liking for her but for the throne, but Nefretiri hates him. She tells Rameses that she would never love him, to which Ramses responds, "Does that matter?"
When Moses assumes control of the project, he rescues an old grease-woman from being left to be crushed; unknown to him it is his biological mother Yoshebel. Moses tells the Egyptian Master Builder Baka, "Blood makes poor mortar," and asks, "Are you a master builder or a master butcher?" And he frees Joshua the stonecutter who had struck an Egyptian, punishable by death, to try to save Yoshebel. Moses is impressed with Joshua's bravery and words, and 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. Moses questions Joshua about his God, and Joshua declares his strong faith but says that God's name is unknown.
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.
As Nefretiri is joyously preparing for marriage, Memnet informs her that Prince Moses is not a prince at all, but the son of Hebrew slaves. Nefretiri is furious at the accusation, whereupon Memnet produces the Levite cloth and tells Nefretiri to wrap their firstborn in it. Memnet also tells her that a little girl had led her to Yoshebel to breastfeed Moses, which she realized must be the real mother. Nefretiri kills Memnet. After doing so, Nefretiri inexplicably tells Moses what she has done.
Moses, unwilling to wait until he becomes Pharaoh, and thereby acquiring the legal ability to free his people, asks Bithiah about Memnet's stories. Bithiah dissembles and reminds him of how he never doubted her when he held his hand as he took his first step. Moses leaves, promising that no matter what he finds, he will always love her. She rushes in a chariot to Yoshebel. Bithiah pleads with her not to reveal anything, since she has put the throne of Egypt within his grasp, and also declares how much she loved and cared for him, and promised to free them and make sure they were well cared for. But Moses has followed from a distance. Yoshebel cannot look him in the eyes and deny that she is his mother. Then Yoshebel's adult children, Miriam and Aaron, introduce themselves to Moses as his sister and brother, and Bithiah sadly departs. Moses is determined to reveal his status as a Hebrew, effectively throwing away what he has gained at the Egyptian court.
Declaring he is not ashamed, 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's life again. Baka, the master builder, had taken Joshua's beloved, Lilia, intending to keep her as his sex slave until he would tire of her, whereupon he says he will return her to Joshua "more worthy." Joshua attempts to rescue Lilia, and in the process, strikes the master builder. Baka then has Joshua tied between two pillars and is in the process of whipping him to death. At this point, Moses bursts on the scene, urging, "Kill ME, master BUTCHER!" Then he strangles the horrified Baka to death, and sets Joshua free. Dathan, the devious and ambitious Hebrew overseer who has 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!" Seti is grievously hurt, since he said that he had always loved him as a son, more than his own real son Rameses. So Seti imprisons him and orders his name stricken from all records and monuments, to be unspoken in Egypt forever thereafter. Asked what punishment Moses shall receive, Seti states that he is unable to speak it and leaves the matter to Rameses' discretion. Rameses banishes Moses to the desert, fearing to execute him lest he create a martyr. Meanwhile, Seti proclaims Rameses to be the next Pharaoh. Nefretiri, as the Throne Princess, is required to marry the arrogant prince, to her great distress.
Lilia begs Dathan not to shame her before her people. Dathan reminds her that he is able to influence the decision on how to punish Joshua. He can be put to death or sentenced to work in the copper mines in Sinai. To save Joshua's life, Lilia tearfully agrees to become Dathan's mistress "of her own free will."
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, who reveals that he is a follower of "He who has no name," whom Moses recognizes as the God of Abraham. Jethro explains that they are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's first-born. Moses later impresses Jethro and the other sheiks with his wise and just trading, so Jethro offers Moses one of his daughters as a wife. Moses chooses the eldest daughter, called Sephora in the film (the Greek form of her name), the least flamboyant but wisest, who was previously the one who had stood up to the Amalekites.
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 labor 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 (Charlton Heston, who was not credited for this secondary role). 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. Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8) do the same, but Moses's snake eats the others. But the Pharaoh 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; 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, the first of which is the water turned into blood. But Rameses hears of a naturalistic explanation of a mountain beyond the Nile cataract spewing red mud. But given this explanation, Rameses declared it not surprising that fish would die and frogs leave the water, and flies would bloat upon their carcasses and spread disease. So Moses predicts hot hail and three days of darkness; the hot hail comes shortly after and bursts into flame on the ground. Moses warns that the next plague would come from his own lips.
Enraged at the plagues and Moses' continuous demands, and at his generals and advisers telling him to give in. Rameses orders all first-born Hebrews to die, but just as Moses had foretold, this intention backfires. Although Nefretiri warns Sephora to escape with Gershom on a passing caravan to Midian, Moses tells her sadly that it is her own son who will die, and he cannot save him. 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. 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 when the Egyptian guards sees the sacrifice lamb's blood on the sides of his door frame, his position as an overseer counting for nothing with the Egyptians, the Hebrews resentful of him and refusing him the privileges he expects. The Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt begins.
Goaded into rage by Nefretiri in her grief and anger at Moses, the Pharaoh arms himself and gathers his armies to chase the former slaves to the shore of the Red Sea. Held back by a pillar of fire, the Egyptian forces can only watch as Moses parts the waters to provide his people an escape route. 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 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. 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. When Moses delays coming down from Sinai, 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. Aaron is forced to help fashion the gold plating. Dathan also orders Lilia to be sacrificed. The people proceed to indulge their most wanton desires in an orgy of sinfulness. Sephora, now re-united with Moses, tells the people that he has gone to receive God's Law, and Bithiah asks, "Would the God who's shown you such wonders let Moses die before his work is done?" But their defenses are mostly disregarded after Dathan's demagoguery.
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 hurls the tablets at the idol in a rage. The idol explodes, and Dathan and his followers are killed, a burning crevasse swallows all who do not join Moses at his side. After God forces them to endure forty years' exile in the desert wandering lost, to kill off the rebellious generation (except for Joshua and Caleb), the Hebrews finally are on the eve of arriving in the land of Israel. An elderly Moses then appoints Joshua to succeed him as leader (with Lilia by Joshua's side), says a final good bye to his devoted wife Sephora, and goes forth out of Israel to his destiny.
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, Mary Lou Cotterman as Ishara, one of Jethros' 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.
Charlton Heston's newborn son, Fraser, appeared as the infant Moses. According to DVD commentary by Orrison (a protege and biographer of Henry Wilcoxon, who played Pentaur in the movie 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 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.
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 had played the Hittite Commander), Mimi Gibson (who had played Ankhsenpaaten), John Carradine (who had a cameo as a tomb robber), and Peter Coe (who played an Egyptian soldier in both movies).
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 (1903–1963), one of the world's finest handweavers. 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 (1836–1912) 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. 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.[5]
The expression "the son of your body" for a biological offspring is based on inscriptions found in Mehu's tomb.[6]
Katherine Orrison, who gives the film's audio commentary, 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".
The Ten Commandments was the highest-grossing film of 1957, earning a net profit of $185,000,000.[7] Adjusted for inflation, it is the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time in the U.S. and Canada, with a box office gross of $977,260,000 calculated for 2010.[8]
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.[9][10][11]
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, Best Costume Design, Color (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording (Loren L. Ryder).[12][13]
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.[14] 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.
Due to its fame and popularity the film has been often parodied.
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
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
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
Disc Three: The Movie (1923 Version, 136 minutes)
The movie 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 giftset with the 1923 version and DVD copies.[15]
The movie has been broadcast annually on the ABC network since 1973, traditionally during the Easter holiday. 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 P.M. and midnight on the nights that it is shown.
| 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"[16] | April 3, 2010 | TBA | TBA | 1.4/5 | 5.88 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | "2011"[17] | April 23, 2011 | TBA | TBA | 1.6/5 | 7.05 | 1 | 1 |
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