The Ten Commandments (1956) | |
| Director(s) | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Producer(s) | Cecil B. DeMille, Henry Wilcoxon (associate) |
| Top Genres | Adventure, Drama, Epic, Historical |
| Top Topics | Ancient World, Book-Based, Exotic Lands, Religious, Sibling Rivalry |
Featured Cast:
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).
.The Ten Commandments was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999.
Academy Awards 1956 --- Ceremony Number 29 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Albert Nozaki; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer, Ray | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | Loyal Griggs | Nominated |
| Best Costume Design | Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins, Arnold Friberg | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Anne Bauchens | Nominated |
| Best Picture | Cecil B. DeMille, Producer | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923)
By Dan Day, Jr. on May 31, 2025 From The Hitless Wonder Movie BlogI've mentioned a few posts ago how I had been reading Scott Eyman's EMPIRE OF DREAMS, a biography of Cecil B. DeMille. Ironically last month Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers had on sale the Paramount DVD of DeMille's silent 1923 version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, a version I had not yet seen. Being in a... Read full article
The Ten Commandments (1956, Cecil B. DeMille)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 7, 2019 From The Stop ButtonWhile 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 ButtonWhile 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 ButtonWhile 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 ButtonWhile 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
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Quotes from
Moses: The first face I look for and the last I find.
[as Moses saw Bithiah, he knelt to her, to honor her]
Moses: Mother!
Bithiah: I was thanking the gods for your safe return. But I find you in grave danger here.
Moses: An intoxicating danger, mother.
Bithiah: Marry her if you can, my son, but never fall in love with her.
Nefretiri: Oh, I'll be less trouble to him than the Hebrew slaves of Goshen.
Bithiah: Goshen?
Commander of the Host: Let us go from this place, men cannot fight against a God.
Rameses: It is better to die in battle with a God, than to live in shame.
Bithiah: I am the Pharaoh's daughter, and this is my son. He shall be reared in my house, as the prince of the two lands.
Memnet: My mother and her mother before her were branded into the Pharaoh's service. I will not see you make this son of slaves a prince of Egypt.
Bithiah: You will see it, Memnet. You will see him walk with his head among the eagles. You will serve him as you serve me. Fill the ark with water sink it into silence.
[Memnet then shoved the floating ark, into the Nile, but kept the Hebrew cloth]
Bithiah: Raise your hands, Memnet. What you have buried in the Nile will remain buried in your heart. Swear it.
Memnet: I will be silent.
Bithiah: The day you break that oath will be the last your eyes shall ever see.
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Facts about
Another plague was filmed but was not used. According to the commentary on the 50th Anniversary DVD, in 2006. This was the plague of frogs leaving the muddied Nile, coming up onto land, frightening and chasing Nefretiri and other Egyptians through their chambers of the palace. Cecil B. DeMille felt that the scene was not frightening enough, and could even be considered too humorous; thus, he omitted it from its final filming and completion, just before he and all other directors and production staff completed it and it would start being seen, in theaters, in 1956.
Several shots that appear throughout the movie are shots that were matted together from scenes shots on location in Egypt and scenes shots at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Most notable scenes featuring this multi-location matte-shooting are the scenes which Moses and Sethi watch the Obelisk being raised; the slaves in the background were shot in Egypt, the foreground with Moses and Sethi shot in Hollywood, and the background pylons being matte paintings.
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