The Ten Commandments Overview:

The Ten Commandments (1956) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and produced by Cecil B. DeMille and Henry Wilcoxon.

SYNOPSIS

For DeMille's last picture, Hollywood's undisputed master of the cast-of-thousands epic pulled out all the stops, topping even his 1923 silent telling of the Exodus story. Heston, in a role that became his signature, gives a highly charged performance as Moses, the Hebrew who became an Egyptian prince and then led his people out of slavery, and there isn't a false note in the production. The parting of the Red Sea, an effect that manages to remain glorious even in our age of computer graphics, was accomplished by massive amounts of water being poured into a tank and then reversed (the effects took the Oscar). The 35th anniversary video edition features an uncut 245-minute version, with Dolby stereo sound and an on-screen introduction by DeMille. The collector's edition includes a signed card from Heston.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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The Ten Commandments was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999.

Academy Awards 1956 --- Ceremony Number 29 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Albert Nozaki; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer, Ray Nominated
Best CinematographyLoyal GriggsNominated
Best Costume DesignEdith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins, Arnold FribergNominated
Best Film EditingAnne BauchensNominated
Best PictureCecil B. DeMille, ProducerNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

The Ten Commandments (1956, Cecil B. DeMille)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 7, 2019 From The Stop Button

While Yul Brynner easily gives the best performance in Ten Commandments, until the second half of the movie Anne Baxter gives the most amusing one. She's an Egyptian princess and she's going to marry the next pharaoh. The next pharaoh is either Brynner or Charlton Heston. Cedric Hardwicke ... Read full article


The Ten Commandments (1956, Cecil B. DeMille)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 7, 2019 From The Stop Button

While Yul Brynner easily gives the best performance in Ten Commandments, until the second half of the movie Anne Baxter gives the most amusing one. She's an Egyptian princess and she's going to marry the next pharaoh. The next pharaoh is either Brynner or Charlton Heston. Cedric Hardwicke ... Read full article


The Ten Commandments (1956, Cecil B. DeMille)

on Apr 7, 2019 From The Stop Button

While Yul Brynner easily gives the best performance in Ten Commandments, until the second half of the movie Anne Baxter gives the most amusing one. She's an Egyptian princess and she's going to marry the next pharaoh. The next pharaoh is either Brynner or Charlton Heston. Cedric Hardwicke ... Read full article


The Ten Commandments (1956, Cecil B. DeMille)

on Apr 7, 2019 From The Stop Button

While Yul Brynner easily gives the best performance in Ten Commandments, until the second half of the movie Anne Baxter gives the most amusing one. She's an Egyptian princess and she's going to marry the next pharaoh. The next pharaoh is either Brynner or Charlton Heston. Cedric Hardwicke ... Read full article


On the Set of The Ten Commandments ( 1956 )

By The Metzinger Sisters on Mar 31, 2018 From Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers

Tonight, as part of television tradition, ABC will be airing The Ten Commandments in honor of Passover week. For those who are unfamiliar with the film ( were you wandering in the desert wilderness with Moses? ), this 4-hour production tells the story from the Old Testament of Moses, the prince of E... Read full article


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Quotes from

Moses: It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a god.


[to Nefretiri]
Moses: You may be the lovely dust through which God works his purpose!


Nefretiri: I think I see him. No... Moses.


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Facts about

One day in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, a casting director for this film approached Jack Peters and his son Jon Peters to ask if Jon wanted to appear in the film, as multitudes of people with dark hair and complexions were needed to cross the Red Sea. Jon was chosen to ride a donkey and lead a goat by rope. He was so excited that he refused to wash off the makeup, when he went home, that night, so he would not have to put it back on the next day.
To create the effect of the sandstorms, in the narrated desert sequence, as Moses left Egypt and headed to Midian, (unknown, to him), Cecil B. DeMille used the engine blast from tied-down Egyptian air force planes.
Babette Bain, Fraser Clarke HestonBabette Bain was Little Miriam, while Fraser Clarke Heston, son of Charlton Heston was Moses, as an infant.
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Best Picture Oscar 1956






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National Film Registry

The Ten Commandments

Released 1956
Inducted 1999
(Sound)




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