The Ten Commandments
is a 1956 American
epic
religious
drama film
produced, directed, and narrated by
Cecil B. DeMille
,
[5]
shot in
VistaVision
(color by
Technicolor
), and released by
Paramount Pictures
. The film is based on the 1949 novel
Prince of Egypt
by
Dorothy Clarke Wilson
,
[6]
the 1859 novel
Pillar of Fire
by
J. H. Ingraham
,
[7]
the 1937 novel
On Eagle's Wings
by
A. E. Southon
,
[8]
and the
Book of Exodus
, found in the
Bible
.
The Ten Commandments
dramatizes the
biblical
story of the life of
Moses
, an adopted
Egyptian
prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved
Hebrews
, and thereafter leads
the Exodus
to
Mount Sinai
, where he receives, from
God
, the
Ten Commandments
. The film stars
Charlton Heston
in the lead role,
Yul Brynner
as
Rameses
,
Anne Baxter
as
Nefretiri
,
Edward G. Robinson
as
Dathan
,
Yvonne De Carlo
as
Zipporah
,
Debra Paget
as Lilia, and
John Derek
as
Joshua
; and features
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
as
Seti I
,
Nina Foch
as
Bithiah
,
Martha Scott
as
Yochabel
,
Judith Anderson
as Memnet, and
Vincent Price
as Baka, among others.
[5]
Filmed on location in
Egypt
,
Mount Sinai
, and the
Sinai Peninsula
,
The Ten Commandments
was DeMille's most successful work, his first
widescreen film
, his fourth biblical production, and his final
directorial effort
before his death in 1959.
[9]
It is a remake of the prologue of his
1923 silent film of the same title
, and features one of the largest exterior sets ever created for a motion picture.
[9]
Four screenwriters, three art directors, and five costume designers worked on the film. The interior sets were constructed on Paramount's Hollywood soundstages. The original
roadshow
version included an onscreen introduction by DeMille and was released to cinemas in the United States on November 8, 1956, and, at the time of its release, was the
most expensive film
ever made.
[9]
In 1957, the film was nominated for seven
Academy Awards
, including
Best Picture
, winning the
Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
(
John P. Fulton
,
A.S.C.
).
[10]
DeMille won the Foreign Language Press Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.
[11]
Charlton Heston was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award
for
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)
.
[10]
Yul Brynner won the
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
for this film, as well as for
Anastasia
and
The King and I
.
[10]
Heston, Anne Baxter, and Yvonne De Carlo won
Laurel Awards
for Best Dramatic Actor, 5th Best Dramatic Actress, and 3rd Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
[12]
It is also one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing approximately $122.7 million at the box office during its initial release; it was the most successful
film of 1956
and the second-highest-grossing film of the decade. According to
Guinness World Records
, in terms of theatrical exhibition, it is the
eighth most successful film of all-time
when the box office gross is
adjusted for inflation
.
In 1999, the film 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, the
American Film Institute
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 film was listed as the tenth best film in the epic genre.
[13]
[14]
The film has
aired annually
on U.S. network television in
prime time
during the
Passover
/
Easter
season since 1973.
After hearing the prophecy of a
Hebrew
deliverer,
Pharaoh
Rameses I
of
Egypt
orders the death of all newborn Hebrew males.
Yochabel
saves her infant son by setting him adrift in a basket on the
Nile
.
Bithiah
, the Pharaoh Rameses's recently widowed daughter (and sister of the future Pharaoh
Seti I
), finds the basket and decides to adopt the boy, even though her servant, Memnet, recognizes that the child is Hebrew. Bithiah names the baby
Moses
.
Prince Moses grows up to become a successful general, winning a war with
Ethiopia
and establishing an alliance. Moses falls in love with the princess
Nefretiri
. But, she is betrothed to whomever Seti chooses to become the next Pharaoh. While working on the building of a city for Pharaoh
Seti I
's jubilee, Moses meets the stonecutter
Joshua
, who tells him of the Hebrew God. Moses saves an elderly woman from being crushed, not knowing that she is his biological mother, Yochabel, and he reprimands the taskmaster and overseer Baka.
Moses reforms the treatment of
slaves
on the project, but Prince
Rameses
, Moses's adoptive brother and Seti's son, charges him with planning an insurrection. Moses says he is making his workers more productive, making Rameses wonder if Moses is the man the Hebrews are calling the Deliverer.
Nefretiri learns from Memnet that Moses is the son of Hebrew slaves. She kills Memnet, but reveals the story to Moses after he finds the piece of
Levite
cloth he was wrapped in as a baby, which Memnet had kept. Moses follows Bithiah to Yochabel's house, where he meets his biological mother, brother Aaron, and sister Miriam.
Moses learns more about the slaves by working with them. Nefretiri urges him to return to the palace, so that he may help his people when he becomes pharaoh, to which he agrees after he completes a final task. Moses saves Joshua from death by killing Baka, telling Joshua that he, too, is Hebrew. The confession is witnessed by the Hebrew overseer
Dathan
, who then reports to Prince Rameses. After being arrested, Moses explains that he is not the Deliverer, but would free the slaves if he could.
Seti I
declares Prince Rameses his sole heir, and Rameses banishes Moses to the desert. At this time, Moses learns of the death of his mother.
Moses makes his way across the desert to a well in
Midian
. After defending seven sisters from
Amalekites
, Moses is housed with the girls' father
Jethro
, a Bedouin sheik, who worships the God of Abraham. Moses marries Jethro's eldest daughter
Zipporah
(called Sephora in the film). Later, he finds Joshua, who has escaped from the hard labor imposed on the Hebrews in Egypt. While herding, Moses sees the
burning bush
on the summit of
Mount Sinai
and hears the voice of God. At God's command, Moses returns to Egypt to free the Hebrews.
Moses comes before Rameses, now Pharaoh
Rameses II
, to win the slaves' freedom, turning his staff into a
cobra
.
Jannes
performs the same trick with his staves, but Moses's snake swallows his. Rameses prohibits straw from being provided to the Hebrews to make their bricks. Nefretiri rescues Moses from being stoned to death by the Hebrews wherein he reveals that he is married.
Egypt is visited by
plagues
. Moses turns the river Nile to blood at a festival of
Khnum
, and brings burning hail down upon Pharaoh's palace. Moses warns him that the next plague to fall upon Egypt will be summoned by Pharaoh himself. Enraged at the plagues, Rameses orders that all first-born sons of Hebrews will die, but a cloud of death instead kills all the first-born sons of Egypt, including the child of Rameses and Nefretiri. Despairing at the loss of his heir, Pharaoh exiles the Hebrews, who begin
the Exodus
from Egypt.
After being taunted by Nefretiri, Rameses takes his chariots and pursues the Hebrews to the
Red Sea
. Moses uses God's help to stop the Egyptians with a
pillar of fire
, and
parts the Red Sea
. After the Hebrews make it to safety, Moses releases the walls of water, drowning the Egyptian army. A devastated Rameses returns empty-handed to Nefretiri, stating that he now acknowledges Moses's god as God.
Moses again ascends the mountain with Joshua. He sees the
Ten Commandments
created by God in
two stone tablets
. Meanwhile, an impatient Dathan tells the people that Moses is dead and urges a reluctant Aaron to construct a
golden calf
idol. A wild
saturnalia
occurs and a decadent
orgy
is held by most of the Hebrews.
After God informs him of the Hebrews' fall into debauchery, Moses descends from the mountain with Joshua. Enraged at the sight of decadence, he deems the Hebrews unworthy and smashes the tablets at the golden calf. The calf explodes, killing Dathan and the wicked revelers. The remaining Hebrews are forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years. An elderly Moses later leads the Hebrews towards
Canaan
. However, he cannot enter the Promised Land because of a previous disobedience to the Lord (angering God at the Water of Strife). He instead names Joshua as leader, and bids farewell to the Hebrews at
Mount Nebo
.
The final shooting script was written by
Aeneas MacKenzie
,
Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
,
Jack Gariss
, and
Fredric M. Frank
.
It also contained material from the books
Prince of Egypt
by
Dorothy Clarke Wilson
,
Pillar of Fire
by
Joseph Holt Ingraham
, and
On Eagle's Wings
by
Arthur Eustace Southon
.
Henry Noerdlinger, the film's researcher, consulted ancient historical texts such as the
Midrash Rabbah
,
Philo
's
Life of Moses
, and the writings of
Josephus
and
Eusebius
, in order to "fill in" the missing years of Moses' life,
and, as the film's last opening title card states, "the Holy Scriptures".
During the early stages of pre-production, DeMille considered casting a middle-aged man in the role of Moses.
He offered the part to fifty-six year old actor and
Hopalong Cassidy
star
William Boyd
, but Boyd turned it down because he felt his cowboy fame would interfere with his portrayal of Moses.
Charlton Heston
, who had previously worked with DeMille in
The Greatest Show on Earth
, finally won the role after he impressed DeMille (at his audition) with his knowledge of
ancient Egypt
and his strong resemblance to
Michelangelo
's
sculpture of Moses
.
Heston was also chosen to be the voice of God in the form of a burning bush,
[15]
toned down to a softer and lower register.
DeMille described the role of
Rameses II
as "a part equal in dramatic strength to that of Moses".
Rory Calhoun
,
Jeff Chandler
,
Anthony Dexter
,
Mel Ferrer
,
Stewart Granger
,
William Holden
, and
Michael Rennie
were considered to play the film's leading antagonist.
DeMille saw
Yul Brynner
in the Broadway musical
The King and I
, and went backstage to meet him. He told Brynner the story of the film from Rameses' point of view, and offered him the role.
Columnist
Louella Parsons
regarded the part of
Nefretiri
as "the most sought-after role of the year".
[25]
Ann Blyth
,
Vanessa Brown
,
Joan Evans
,
Rhonda Fleming
,
Coleen Gray
,
Jane Griffiths
,
Audrey Hepburn
,
Jean Marie
,
Vivien Leigh
,
Jane Russell
, and
Joan Taylor
were considered to portray the film's leading female character.
DeMille liked Audrey Hepburn, but ruled her out when he noticed her figure was not curvaceous enough for Nefretiri's extravagant costumes.
Anne Baxter
was cast in the role.
"There was only one DeMille, and there wasn't an actor in the world who didn't want to work for him just once, however short the salary or tall the corn", she wrote in her memoir.
Many actors were considered for the role of the evil overseer
Dathan
, including
Raymond Burr
,
Lee J. Cobb
,
Leo Genn
,
Victor Jory
,
Fredric March
,
Raymond Massey
,
Stephen McNally
,
Gary Merrill
,
Arnold Moss
,
Robert Newton
,
Hugh O'Brian
,
Jack Palance
,
Eric Pohlmann
,
Basil Rathbone
,
Dale Robertson
,
Robert Ryan
,
George Sanders
,
Everett Sloane
, and
Peter Ustinov
.
DeMille was enthusiastic about Jack Palance as Dathan, but Palance's agent angered DeMille when he stole a part of the script and demanded that the part be rewritten.
Raymond Massey was signed for the role, but later turned it down.
DeMille then chose
Edward G. Robinson
, who was
blacklisted
in Hollywood. In his autobiography, Robinson remembered, "Mr. DeMille ... felt I had been done an injustice, and told his people to offer me the part. Cecil B. DeMille returned me to films. Cecil B. DeMille restored my self-respect."
The name of Moses' wife,
Zipporah
, was changed to "Sephora", the spelling that appears in the
Douay?Rheims Bible
.
Judith Ames
,
Anne Bancroft
,
Anne Baxter
,
Shirley Booth
,
Diane Brewster
,
Peggie Castle
,
June Clayworth
,
Linda Darnell
,
Laura Elliot
, Rhonda Fleming,
Rita Gam
,
Grace Kelly
, Jacqueline Green,
Barbara Hale
,
Allison Hayes
, Frances Lansing,
Patricia Neal
, Marie Palmer,
Jean Peters
,
Ruth Roman
,
Barbara Rush
, and
Elizabeth Sellars
were considered for the part.
Grace Kelly, DeMille's first choice, was unavailable.
DeMille was "very much impressed" with
Yvonne De Carlo
's performance as a "saintly type of woman" in
MGM
's
Sombrero
.
[35]
[36]
He "sensed in her a depth, an emotional power, a womanly strength which the part of Sephora needed and which she gave it".
DeMille considered
Pier Angeli
,
Vanessa Brown
,
Pat Crowley
,
Piper Laurie
,
Irene Montwill
,
Lori Nelson
,
Cathy O'Donnell
,
Jean Peters
,
Donna Reed
,
Karen Sharpe
, and
Elaine Stewart
for the part of the Hebrew water girl, Lilia.
He wanted to cast Pier Angeli in the role, but
MGM
refused to loan their contract star to Paramount.
Debra Paget
was loaned from
20th Century-Fox
.
Jeff Chandler
,
Tony Curtis
,
Vince Edwards
,
Eric Fleming
,
Arthur Franz
,
Rock Hudson
,
Brian Keith
,
Cameron Mitchell
,
George Nader
,
Jack Palance
,
Michael Pate
,
Richard Todd
,
Clint Walker
, and
Cornel Wilde
were considered for the role of the stonecutter
Joshua
.
DeMille's first choice was Wilde, who had worked with him in
The Greatest Show on Earth
. Wilde's casting was widely mentioned in the press. DeMille later remarked, "Cornel Wilde declined the role ... thus giving
John Derek
his opportunity for a noteworthy performance."
Claudette Colbert
(the star of DeMille's
Cleopatra
),
Joan Crawford
,
Bette Davis
,
Rosemary DeCamp
,
Irene Dunne
,
Merle Oberon
, and
Alexis Smith
were considered for the role of
Bithiah
, before DeMille chose
Jayne Meadows
(who declined) and finally cast
Nina Foch
, on the suggestion of
Henry Wilcoxon
, who had worked with her in
Scaramouche
.
For the role of Memnet,
Flora Robson
was considered, and
Bette Davis
was interviewed (DeMille's casting journal also notes
Marjorie Rambeau
and
Marie Windsor
),
but DeMille chose
Judith Anderson
after screening
Alfred Hitchcock
's
Rebecca
.
Heston's newborn son,
Fraser
(born February 12, 1955), was cast by DeMille (on the suggestion of
Henry Wilcoxon
, who said to him: "The timing's just right. If it's a boy, who better to play the Baby Moses?") as soon as Heston announced to DeMille that his wife Lydia was pregnant.
Fraser Heston was three months old during filming.
Henry Wilcoxon's wife,
Joan Woodbury
, was cast as Korah's wife in the Golden Calf sequence.
DeMille was reluctant to cast anyone who had appeared in
20th Century Fox
's
The Egyptian
,
a rival production at the time.
Several exceptions to this are the casting of
John Carradine
and
Mimi Gibson
(in credited supporting roles) and
Michael Ansara
and Peter Coe (in uncredited minor roles), who appeared in both films.
Commentary for the film's DVD edition chronicles the historical research done by DeMille and associates.
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, one of the world's finest weavers. 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
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: by the laying on of hands, placing his 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.
The Pharaoh is usually shown wearing the
red-and-white crown
of
Upper and Lower Egypt
or the
nemes
royal headdress. For his pursuit of the Israelites, 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
?including the red-and-white double crown. 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
.
[44]
Some of the film's cast members, such as
Baxter
,
Paget
,
Derek
, and
Foch
, wore brown
contact lenses
, at the behest of DeMille, in order to conceal their light-colored eyes which were considered inadequate for their roles.
[45]
Paget once said that, "If it hadn't been for the lenses I wouldn't have got the part."
[45]
However, she also said that the lenses were "awful to work in because the
Klieg lights
heat them up".
[45]
When DeMille cast
Yvonne De Carlo
as
Sephora
, she was worried about having to wear these contact lenses; she also believed that her gray eyes were her best feature.
[46]
She asked DeMille to make an exception for her. He agreed, expressing the idea that De Carlo's role was special, and that Moses was to fall in love with her.
[46]
The Exodus set was a duplicated set from the 1923 film. It was built outside
Cairo
, and was designed by Egyptian architect El Dine. Inside the set were a mess tent, a wardrobe department, and a stable for horses. The Golden Calf prop is also a duplicate from the film, likely on its kneeled position with a few modifications.
The "
blue screen
" technique was used for this composite shot
The
special photographic effects
in
The Ten Commandments
were created by
John P. Fulton
,
A.S.C.
(who received an
Oscar
for his effects in the film), head of the special effects department at
Paramount Pictures
, assisted by
Paul Lerpae
, A.S.C. in optical photography (blue screen "
travelling matte
" composites) and
Farciot Edouart
, A.S.C., in
process photography
(
rear projection
effects).
[47]
Fulton's effects included the building of Seti's Jubilee treasure city, the Burning Bush, the fiery hail from a cloudless sky, the Angel of Death, the composites of the Exodus, the Pillar of Fire, the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the tour de force, the parting of the Red Sea.
[48]
The parting of the Red Sea was considered the most difficult special effect ever performed up to that time.
[48]
This effect took about six months of
VistaVision
filming, and combined scenes shot on the shores of the Red Sea in Egypt, with scenes filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood of a huge water tank split by a U-shaped trough, into which approximately 360,000 gallons of water were released from the sides, as well as the filming of a giant waterfall also built on the Paramount
backlot
to create the effect of the walls of the parted sea out of the turbulent backwash.
[49]
All of the multiple elements of the shot were then combined in Paul Lerpae's
optical printer
, and
matte paintings
of rocks by
Jan Domela
concealed the matte lines between the real elements and the special effects elements.
[50]
The parting of the Red Sea sequence is considered by many to be one of the greatest special effects of all time.
[51]
Unlike the technique used by ILM for
Raiders of the Lost Ark
and
Poltergeist
of injecting poster paints into a glass tank containing a salt water inversion layer, the cloud effects for
The Ten Commandments
were formed with white Britt smoke filmed against a translucent sky backing, and colors were added optically.
[52]
Striking portraits of Charlton Heston as Moses and three women in front of menacing clouds were photographed by Wallace Kelly, A.S.C. in Farciot Edouart's process (rear projection) department, in what are still considered unforgettable scenes.
[52]
DeMille used these scenes to break up the montage, framing his subjects like a Renaissance master.
[52]
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 backlot.
[53]
[54]
[55]
The voice of God in the
burning bush
scene was provided by Charlton Heston, but the voice of God in the tablet-giving scene was provided by a voice actor with a deep bass voice, Jesse Delos Jewkes, who was a member of the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
. Additionally, Jewkes' voice was enhanced by the use of the
vox humana
stop of the
Salt Lake Tabernacle organ
. De Mille, who was good friends with
LDS church
president
David O. McKay
, asked for and received permission to record the organ from McKay.
[56]
The score for
The Ten Commandments
was composed and conducted by
Elmer Bernstein
. Initially, DeMille hired Bernstein, then a relatively unknown film composer, to write and record only the
diegetic music
required for the film's dance sequences and other onscreen musical passages, with the intention of employing frequent collaborator
Victor Young
to write the score proper. However, Young turned down the assignment due to his own failing health, causing DeMille to hire Bernstein to write the underscore as well.
[57]
In total, Bernstein composed 2½ hours of music for the film, writing for a full symphony orchestra augmented with various ethnic and unusual instruments such as the
shofar
, the
tiple
, and the
theremin
. The score is written in a highly
Romantic
style, featuring unique musical
leitmotifs
for the film's characters (God, Moses, Rameses, Nefretiri, Dathan, Sephora, Lilia, Joshua, et. al) used in a manner inspired, at DeMille's direction, by the opera scores of
Richard Wagner
.
[57]
Bernstein recorded both the diegetic music and the score at the Paramount Studios Recording Stage in sessions spread from April 1955 to August 1956.
[58]
A double-LP
monaural
soundtrack album was released in 1957 by
Dot Records
, utilizing excerpts from the original film recordings. A
stereo
version of the 1957 album was released in 1960 containing new recordings conducted by Bernstein, as the original film recordings, while recorded in three-channel stereo, were not properly balanced for an LP stereo release, as the intent at the time of recording had been to mix the film masters to mono for the film soundtrack itself; this recording was later issued on CD by
MCA Classics
in 1989. For the film's tenth anniversary,
United Artists Records
released a second stereo re-recording in 1966, also conducted by Bernstein and employing different orchestral arrangements unique to this release.
[59]
For the film's 60th anniversary in 2016,
Intrada Records
released a six-CD album of the score.
[60]
The Intrada release contains the complete 2½ hour score as originally recorded by Bernstein, with much of it remixed in true stereo for the first time.
[60]
In addition, the 2016 release contains all the diegetic music recorded for the film, the original 1957 Dot album (in mono), the 1960 Dot album (in stereo), and the 1966 United Artists album, as well as a 12-minute recording of Bernstein auditioning his thematic ideas for DeMille on the piano.
[60]
The box set won the
IFMCA Award
for Best New Archival Release ? Re-Release or Re-Recording of an Existing Score.
[61]
Cecil B. DeMille
promoted the film by placing Ten Commandment monuments as a
publicity stunt
for the film in cities across the
United States
.
[62]
The Ten Commandments
premiered
at
New York City
's
Criterion Theatre
on November 8, 1956.
Among those who attended the premiere were
Cecil B. DeMille
and his eldest child, Cecilia DeMille Harper;
Charlton Heston
and his wife,
Lydia Clarke
;
Yul Brynner
;
Anne Baxter
;
Edward G. Robinson
;
Yvonne De Carlo
and her husband, Bob Morgan;
Martha Scott
and her husband,
Mel Powell
, and son, Carleton Alsop;
William Holden
and his wife,
Brenda Marshall
;
John Wayne
and his wife,
Pilar Pallete
;
Tony Curtis
and his wife,
Janet Leigh
; and Paramount Pictures president
Barney Balaban
. It played on a
roadshow
basis with reserved seating until mid-1958, when it finally entered general release.
[64]
The Ten Commandments
was re-released in 1966 and 1972, and one more time in 1989. The 1972 and 1989 re-issues included 70mm and 35mm prints that reframed the picture's aspect ratio to 2.20:1 and 2.39:1, respectively, cropping the top and bottom of the picture's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
The Ten Commandments
was released on
DVD
on March 30, 1999; March 9, 2004, as a Special Collector's Edition; and March 29, 2011, as a Special edition and Standard edition.
[66]
The Ten Commandments
received a
4K UHD
Blu-ray
release on March 30, 2021.
[67]
The Ten Commandments
was the
highest-grossing film of 1956
, and the second most successful film of the decade. By April 1957, the film had earned an unprecedented $10 million from engagements at just eighty theaters, averaging about $1 million per week, with more than seven million people paying to watch it.
[64]
It played for 70 weeks at the Criterion Theatre in New York, grossing $2.7 million.
[68]
During its initial release, it earned
theater rentals
(the distributor's share of the
box office
gross) of $31.3 million in North America, and $23.9 million from the foreign markets, for a total of $55.2 million (equating to approximately $122.7 million in ticket sales).
It was hugely profitable for its era, earning a net profit of $18,500,000,
[69]
against a production budget of $13.27 million (the most a film had cost up to that point).
[3]
By the time of its withdrawal from distribution at the end of 1960,
The Ten Commandments
had overtaken
Gone with the Wind
at the box office in the North American territory,
[70]
and mounted a serious challenge in the global market?the worldwide takings for
Gone with the Wind
were reported to stand at $59 million at the time.
[72]
Gone with the Wind
would be re-released the following year as part of the
American Civil War Centennial
, and re-asserted its supremacy at the box office by reclaiming the US record.
Also at this time,
Ben-Hur
?another biblical epic starring Charlton Heston, released at the end of 1959?would go on to eclipse
The Ten Commandments
at the box office.
A 1966 re-issue earned $6 million,
[74]
and further re-releases brought the total American theater rentals to $43 million,
[75]
[76]
equivalent to gross ticket sales of $89 million at the box office.
Globally, it ultimately collected $90,066,230 in revenues up to 1979.
[77]
It remains one of the most popular films ever made.
Adjusted for inflation
, it has earned a
box office gross equivalent to $2 billion at 2011 prices
, according to
Guinness World Records
; only
Gone with the Wind
(1939),
Avatar
(2009),
Star Wars
(1977),
Titanic
(1997),
The Sound of Music
(1965), and
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
(1982) have generated higher grosses in
constant dollars
.
The Ten Commandments
is estimated to have sold 262
million tickets at the worldwide box office.
[78]
As Mr. DeMille presents it in this three-hour-and-thirty-nine-minute film, which is by far the largest and most expensive that he has ever made, it is a moving story of the spirit of freedom rising in a man, under the divine inspiration of his Maker. And, as such, it strikes a ringing note today.
?
Bosley Crowther
for
The New York Times
[79]
The Ten Commandments
received generally positive reviews after its release, although some reviewers noted its divergence from the biblical text.
Bosley Crowther
for
The New York Times
was among those who lauded DeMille's work, acknowledging that "in its remarkable settings and decor, including an overwhelming facade of the Egyptian city from which the Exodus begins, and in the glowing Technicolor in which the picture is filmed?Mr. DeMille has worked photographic wonders".
[79]
Variety
described the "scenes of the greatness that was Egypt, and Hebrews by the thousands under the whip of the taskmasters" as "striking", and believed that the film "hits the peak of beauty with a sequence that is unelaborate, this being the Passover supper wherein Moses is shown with his family while the shadow of death falls on Egyptian first-borns".
[80]
James Powers of
The Hollywood Reporter
declared the film to be "the summit of screen achievement. It is not just a great and powerful motion picture, although it is that; it is also a new human experience. If there were but one print of this Paramount picture, the place of its showing would be the focus of a world-wide pilgrimage."
[81]
Philip K. Scheuer, reviewing for the
Los Angeles Times
, declared the film served as "almost as a religious experience as it is a theatrical one. C. B. remains, at 75, the ablest living director of spectacle in the grand manner. His production measures up to the best for which his admirers have hoped?and far from the worst that his detractors expected. That old-time religion has a new look."
[82]
The film's cast was also complimented.
Variety
called Charlton Heston an "adaptable performer" who, as Moses, reveals "inner glow as he is called by God to remove the chains of slavery that hold his people".
[80]
Powers felt that Heston was "splendid, handsome, and princely (and human) in the scenes dealing with him as a young man, and majestic and terrible as his role demands it. He is the great Michelangelo conception of Moses, but rather as the inspiration for the sculptor might have been than as a derivation."
[81]
Variety
also considered Yul Brynner to be an "expert" as Rameses, too.
[80]
Anne Baxter's performance as Nefretiri was criticized by
Variety
as leaning "close to old-school siren histrionics",
[80]
but Crowther believed that it, along with Brynner's, is "unquestionably apt and complementary to a lusty and melodramatic romance".
[79]
The performances of Yvonne De Carlo and John Derek were acclaimed by Crowther as "notably good".
[79]
He also commended the film's "large cast of characters" as "very good, from Sir Cedric Hardwicke as a droll and urbane Pharaoh to Edward G. Robinson as a treacherous overlord".
[79]
Leonard Maltin
, a contemporary film critic, gave the film four out of four stars, and described it as "vivid storytelling at its best... Parting of the Red Sea, writing of the holy tablets are unforgettable highlights."
[83]
The critic
Camille Paglia
has called
The Ten Commandments
one of the ten greatest films of all time.
[84]
Rotten Tomatoes
retrospectively collected 45 reviews, and reported that 84% of critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critics consensus states: "Bombastic and occasionally silly, but extravagantly entertaining, Cecil B. DeMille's all-star spectacular is a muscular retelling of the great Bible story."
[85]
Award
|
Category
|
Recipient(s)
|
Result
|
Academy Awards
[86]
|
Best Art Direction (Color)
|
Art directors:
Hal Pereira
,
Walter H. Tyler
, and
Albert Nozaki
Set decorators:
Samuel M. Comer
and
Ray Moyer
|
Nominated
|
Best Cinematography (Color)
|
Loyal Griggs
|
Nominated
|
Best Costume Design (Color)
|
Edith Head
,
Ralph Jester
,
John Jensen
,
Dorothy Jeakins
, and
Arnold Friberg
|
Nominated
|
Best Film Editing
|
Anne Bauchens
|
Nominated
|
Best Motion Picture
|
Cecil B. DeMille
, producer
|
Nominated
|
Best Sound Recording
|
Paramount Studio Sound Department and sound director
Loren L. Ryder
|
Nominated
|
Best Special Effects
|
John P. Fulton
|
Won
|
Boxoffice
Blue Ribbon Award
[87]
|
Best Picture of the Month (January 1957)
|
Cecil B. DeMille
|
Won
|
Christian Herald
Reader's Award
[88]
|
Best Picture of the Year (1957)
|
Cecil B. DeMille
|
Won
|
Film Daily
Filmdom's Famous Five Award
[89]
|
Best Performance by a Male Star
|
Charlton Heston
|
4th place
|
Best Photographed Picture
|
Loyal Griggs
|
5th place
|
Best Screenplay
|
Aeneas MacKenzie
,
Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
,
Jack Gariss
, and
Fredric M. Frank
|
5th place
(tied with
Robert Anderson
for
Tea and Sympathy
)
|
Foreign Language Press Film Critics Circle Award
[11]
|
Best Director
|
Cecil B. DeMille
|
Won
|
Fotograma de Plata Award
[90]
|
Best Foreign Actor
|
Charlton Heston
|
Won
|
Golden Globe Awards
[91]
|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture ? Drama
|
Charlton Heston
|
Nominated
|
Laurel Awards
[12]
|
Best Male Dramatic Performance
|
Charlton Heston
|
Won
|
5th Best Female Dramatic Performance
|
Anne Baxter
|
Won
|
3rd Best Female Supporting Performance
|
Yvonne De Carlo
|
Won
|
National Board of Review Awards
[92]
|
Best Actor
|
Yul Brynner
(also for
Anastasia
and
The King and I
)
|
Won
|
- American Jewish Congress
Stephen S. Wise Medallion to DeMille for "the most inspiring film of the year".
[88]
[93]
Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner,
Edward G. Robinson
,
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
,
Nina Foch
, and
Martha Scott
also received awards for their performances.
[93]
[94]
[95]
- Christopher Awards
to DeMille, associate producer
Henry Wilcoxon
, and screenwriters
Aeneas MacKenzie
,
Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
,
Jack Gariss
, and
Fredric M. Frank
. They were honored "because of the picture's unique significance in relating eternal truths to modern problems".
[96]
- Fame Achievement Award to DeMille, "in recognition of a career of spectacular success in motion picture production, crowned with an historic landmark of the screen,
The Ten Commandments
".
[88]
- Foreign Language Press Film Critics Circle Special Award to DeMille for Best Picture, "on the basis of [the film's] expression of human ideals and aspirations". The circle represented 44 newspapers in 19 languages.
[11]
- General Federation of Women's Clubs
Citation to DeMille for "the motion picture which had the best educational influence,
The Ten Commandments
".
[88]
- Los Angeles Examiner
Award to DeMille for "his many outstanding motion pictures which have provided some of the world's greatest entertainment during the past 43 years, his undeviating championship of Americanism, his magnificent and ageless production of
The Ten Commandments
".
[88]
- Photoplay
Achievement Award to DeMille for "the creation of one of the screen's greatest emotional and religious experiences,
The Ten Commandments
".
[88]
- Stanley Warner Theatre, Beverly Hills Plaque to DeMille for "the record run of his production,
The Ten Commandments
, united enduring truth with great entertainment, 15 November 1956 to 6 October 1957".
[88]
- Torah Award from the National Women's League of the
United Synagogues of America
, Pacific Southwest Branch, to DeMille for his "heroic conception" of
The Ten Commandments
and for "focusing attention on '
the moral law
'".
[97]
The Ten Commandments
was included in three lists of the
American Film Institute
's
AFI 100 Years... series
:
Popularity and legacy
edit
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.
[
citation needed
]
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' career in Ethiopia, for instance, is based on the
Midrash
, the original layer of the
Talmud
.
[98]
For decades, a showing of
The Ten Commandments
was a popular fundraiser among revivalist
Christian Churches
, while the film was equally treasured by film buffs for DeMille's "cast of thousands" approach and the heroic acting.
Martin Scorsese
later said it was one of his favorite films, writing in 1978 that:
I like De Mille: his theatricality, his images. I've seen
The Ten Commandments
maybe forty or fifty times. Forget the story - you've got to - and concentrate on the special effects, and the texture, and the color. For example: The figure of God, killing the first-born child, is a green smoke; then on the terrace, while they're talking, a green dry ice just touches the heel of George Reeves or somebody, and he dies. Then there's the reel Red Sea, and the lamb's blood of the Passover. De Mille presented a fantasy, dream-like quality on film that was so real, if you saw his movies as a child, they stuck with you for life.
[99]
Metallica
were inspired to write their inspired smash hit "
Creeping Death
," inspired by the
tenth plague of Egypt
after watching the second half of the movie. While watching the scene of the final plague killing every Egyptian first-born child, then bassist
Cliff Burton
remarked, "Whoa ? it's like creeping death," as the plague was represented by a fog rolling into the Pharaoh's palace in the movie. The band liked the sound of "creeping death" and decided to write a song about the plagues, using the phrase as its title.
[100]
[101]
The song's chorus also makes use of the famous line featured in the movie, "So let it be written, so let it be done."
The Ten Commandments
has been released on
DVD
in the United States on four occasions: the first edition (Widescreen Collection) was released on March 30, 1999, as a two-disc set,
[102]
the second edition (Special Collector's Edition) was released on March 9, 2004, as a two-disc set with commentary by
Katherine Orrison
,
[103]
the third edition (50th Anniversary Collection) was released on March 21, 2006, as a three-disc set with the 1923 version and special features,
[104]
and the fourth edition (55th Anniversary Edition) was released on DVD again in a two-disc set on March 29, 2011, and for the first time on
Blu-ray
in a two-disc set and a six-disc limited edition gift set with the 1923 version and DVD copies.
[105]
In 2012, the limited edition gift set won the Home Media Award for Best Packaging (Paramount Pictures and Johns Byrne).
[106]
In March 2021, a
UHD Blu-ray
was released. Using the 2010 6K scans, Paramount spent over 150 hours on new color work and clean-up.
[107]
Television broadcast
edit
The Ten Commandments
was first broadcast on the
ABC
network on February 18, 1973,
[108]
and has aired annually on the network since then, with the exception of 1999,
[109]
traditionally during the
Passover
and
Easter
holidays. Since 2006, the network has typically aired
The Ten Commandments
on the Saturday night prior to Easter, with the broadcast starting at 7:00?p.m. in the
Eastern
,
Pacific
and
Hawaii Time Zones
and 6:00?p.m. in the
Central
,
Mountain
and
Alaska Time Zones
. (Exceptions occurred in 2020 when the film aired prior to
Palm Sunday
, which that year was April 4, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
; in 2022, when the film aired on April 9, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, due to an
NBA game telecast
scheduled on the night before Easter the following week; and in 2023, when the film aired on April 1, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, due to an
NHL game telecast
scheduled on the night before Easter the following week.) The film is one of only two pre-scheduled
ABC Saturday Movies of the Week
every year, the other being
The Sound of Music
.
[110]
Unlike many lengthy films of the day, which were usually broken up into separate airings over at least two nights, ABC elected to show
The Ten Commandments
in one night and has done so every year it has carried the film, with one exception; in 1997, ABC elected to split the movie in two and aired half of it in its normal Easter Sunday slot, which that year was March 30, with the second half airing on Monday, March 31 as counterprogramming to the other networks' offerings, which included
CBS
' coverage of the
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game
.
[111]
The length of the film combined with the necessary advertisement breaks has caused its broadcast window to vary over the years; by 2023, ABC's total run time for
The Ten Commandments
stood at four hours and 44 minutes, just above one hour longer than its three-hour and 39-minute length. This requires the network to overrun into the 11:00?p.m./10:00?p.m. timeslot that belongs to the local affiliates, thus delaying their late
local news
and any other programming they may air in the overnight hours. Affiliates may also delay the film to the usual start of
prime time
at 8:00?p.m./7:00?p.m. to keep their schedules in line for early evening, at the cost of further delaying their local newscasts or forgoing them entirely.
In 2010, the film was broadcast in
high definition
for the first time, which allowed the television audience to see it in its original 1.66:1 VistaVision aspect ratio. It is also broadcast with its original
Spanish language
dub over the
second audio program
channel. In 2015, for the first time in several years, the network undertook a one-off airing of the film on Easter Sunday night, which fell on April 5.
[112]
All of ABC's telecasts omit Cecil B. DeMille's opening prologue and some musical elements (Overture, Entr'acte, and Exit Music) seen in the theatrical release.
In the Philippines, the film is traditionally aired every
Holy Week
(yearly except 2019) since it premiered on April 1, 2015, on
GMA Network
, either cut for time or in full, and dubbed in
Filipino
.
- Ratings by year (since 2007)
Year
|
Airdate
|
Rating
|
Share
|
Rating/Share
(18?49)
|
Viewers
(millions)
|
Rank
(timeslot)
|
Rank
(night)
|
2007
|
April 7
|
TBA
|
7.87
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
2008
|
March 22
|
4.7
|
9
|
2.3/7
|
7.91
|
1
|
1
|
2009
|
April 11
|
4.2
|
8
|
1.7/6
|
6.81
|
2010
[113]
|
April 4
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
1.4/5
|
5.88
|
2
|
3
|
2011
[114]
|
April 23
|
1.6/5
|
7.05
|
1
|
1
|
2012
[115]
|
April 7
|
6.90
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
2013
[116]
|
March 30
|
1.2/4
|
5.90
|
2
|
2
|
2014
[117]
|
April 19
|
1.0/4
|
5.87
|
1
|
1
|
2015
[118]
|
April 5
|
1.4/5
|
6.80
|
TBA
|
TBA
|
2016
[119]
|
March 26
|
0.8/3
|
5.42
|
2
|
2
|
2017
[120]
|
April 15
|
5.18
|
1
|
1
|
2018
[121]
|
March 31
|
0.6/3
|
4.75
|
2019
[122]
|
April 20
|
4.90
|
2020
[123]
|
April 4
|
0.6
|
4
|
5.14
|
2021
[124]
|
April 3
|
0.47
|
?
|
0.47/4
|
4.07
|
2
|
2
|
2022
[125]
|
April 9
|
?
|
?
|
0.33/3
|
3.49
|
1
|
1
|
2023
[126]
[127]
|
April 1
|
?
|
?
|
0.27/0.32
|
3.06
|
2
|
1
|
2024
[128]
|
March 30
|
?
|
?
|
0.34
|
2.89
|
2
|
2
|
- ^
"Muere Mac, el mitico cartelista de "Doctor Zhivago" y "Psicosis"
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Archived
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a
b
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Prince of Egypt
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December 24,
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.
When legendary director Cecil B. DeMille was screening schoolchildren for the role of Moses' older sister Miriam, he asked Riselle Bain if she could recite a poem from memory... Bain completed all four verses of "Daffodils", and that's the short version of how she wound up in the 1956 classic
The Ten Commandments
... She would likely have introduced herself as Babette, her second name, which is how she is credited in the DeMille film and her other Hollywood endeavors.
(front page newspaper story with video, Sarasota, Florida)
Photo as Miriam
Archived
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b
Katherine Orrison's audio commentary for
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a
b
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.
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