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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)

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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The Ten Commandments 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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The Ten Commandments Quotes:

Dathan: We shall wander north from Egypt! Do you know why?
Israelites: For peace?
Dathan: No! For food!
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.
[Nefretiri and Sephora look upon one another for the only time]
Sephora: The Queen of Egypt is beautiful... as he said.
Rameses: So, Moses, it is I who own your woman. I know that when I hold you in my arms, it will be his face that you will see, not mine.
Nefretiri: Yes, only his face.
Rameses: I have defeated you in life, Moses. You shall not defeat me with your death. The dead do not scorch in the desert of desire, suffer from the thirst of passion, nor stumble blindly towards some mirage of lost love. But you, Hebrew, will suffer all these things, by living.
Nefretiri: You will let him live?
Rameses: I will not make him a martyr for you to cherish. No phantom will come between you and me in the night. Yes, I will let him live. From where I send him there is no return. You will never know if he has found forgetfulness in some other woman's arms. Now, look upon each other for the last time.
[to Nefretiri]
Rameses: You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more - and trust you less.
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The Ten Commandments Facts
There is a longstanding rumor that future Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was an extra in this film, possibly playing an Egyptian soldier. In her book "My Lucky Stars", Shirley MacLaine recalls asking Castro if he indeed was in the film, and she received an ambiguous answer.
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.
Actress, Nina Foch, had role of Bithiah, was actually one year younger than Charlton Heston, her 30-year on-screen son, Moses.
According to author Simon Louvish in his Cecil B. DeMille biography 'Cecil B. DeMille: A Life in Art', the role of Moses was originally intended for (and first offered to) actor William Boyd, who had also played the coveted cameo role of Simon the Cyrene in DeMille's silent film The King of Kings. Boyd was obliged to decline the role in "The Ten Commandments" due to his commitment to the production of his enormously popular Hopalong Cassidy television series, which was scheduled to continue production simultaneous to the filming of the DeMille picture. DeMille was persuaded to hire actor Charlton Heston for the role after being presented with a statuette likeness of Moses by the Israeli government, and noting the Heston's resemblance to the statuette.
Atleast 14,000 extras and 15,000 animals were used, during the production and acting, as the movie was being filmed.
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