The Ten Commandments 1956

type: Movie

language: English

duration: 220 min

genre: drama

theme: epic

director: Cecil B. DeMille

Score: 7 / 10

The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic religious drama film produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, shot in VistaVision (color by Technicolor), and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Pillar of Fire by J. H. Ingraham, On Eagle's Wings by A. E. Southon, and the Book of Exodus. 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 Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, and John Derek as Joshua; and features Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka, among others.

Plot

After hearing the prophecy of the 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' recently widowed daughter (and sister of the future Pharaoh Sethi), finds the basket and decides to adopt the boy even though her servant, Memnet, recognizes the child is Hebrew. Bithiah names the baby Moses.

Awards

Cast

More details

author	Fredric M. Frank Jack Gariss Jesse Louis Lasky Jr. Æneas MacKenzie
award	Academy Award for Best Special Effects National Film Registry
contentLocation	Africa
director	Cecil B. DeMille
editor	Anne Bauchens
events	slavery
genre	drama
keywords	amalekites ancient egypt arrest baby biological mother bithiah build burn burning bush canaan cobra crossing the red sea crush dathan drown egypt ethiopia exodus farm final task golden calf hard labor hear hebrew hebrew god israelite jannes jannes and jambres jethro jochebed joshua khnum kill levite married midian moses mount sinai nefertari nefretiri nile parts the red sea pharaoh pillar of fire plan ram rameses i ramesses i ramesses ii red sea river sephora sethi seti i slave sole heir stone summon tablets of stone ten commandments turn two stone tablets voice voice of god widow win yahweh yochabel zipporah
musicBy	Elmer Bernstein
nomination	Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Color Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing Academy Award for Best Special Effects
producer	Cecil B. DeMille
productionCompany	Cecil B DeMille production
publisher	Paramount Pictures
theme	epic silent