WHAT: The Ten Commandments (1956, 4K DCP) 70th anniversary
WHEN: Sunday, March 22, 2026 1 PM only
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
HOW MUCH: All seats $10.
“I feel that the subject of Moses and the Ten Commandments is particularly timely today. Not only does it provide all the ingredients for exciting and spectacular motion picture entertainment for mass audiences of all ages throughout the world, but it is in line with the spiritual reawakening of all nations of the free world in these troubled times. A constant stream of letters to me from all parts of America and from foreign countries for the past few years, and particularly of late, have proved this and has largely influenced me to the subject of Moses, the heroic figure revered by Jews and Christians alike.” ~Cecil B. DeMille
“I like DeMille, his images, his theatricality. Forget the script– you’ve got to concentrate on the special effects, the texture, the color. The Angel of Death killing the firstborn in green smoke. The Red Sea, the lamb’s blood of the Passover, the parting of the waters. DeMille put a dreamlike quality on film that was so real, it excited me as a child and stuck with me for life.” ~Martin Scorsese
Since 1973, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956) has been broadcast on network television during the Easter/Passover holidays. However, this showing is always preceded by a disclaimer indicating that the film has been “reformatted and edited” to fit in the time slot allotted. For the film’s 70th anniversary in 2026, we will present an unedited theatrical screening. A big film like The Ten Commandments deserves no less. No matter how many times one has seen it on TV, it’s a motion picture that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime in a movie theatre. One of the most rewarding movie experiences of my adult life was watching an IB Technicolor print of the film at the Portage Theatre in Chicago in 2012. It was a long night since it started at 7 PM, but by making that effort to attend, I was able to really appreciate the majesty, detail and beauty of the film in a way I never had before. In order to make our experience at the Pickwick more accommodating for fans, we will be screening the film on Sunday, March 22, at 1 PM. There will be an on-screen intermission.
The Ten Commandments was the culmination of Cecil B. DeMille’s career. It was his final film as a director before his death in 1959. He went out on top, and that’s something that can rarely be said of any director’s last work. The film was his most successful endeavor– and arguably his greatest legacy. DeMille was one of the founders of Hollywood itself– the man who put Paramount on the map. Like his contemporary, D. W. Griffith, DeMille was a pioneer from the silent movie days. But whereas Griffith’s career stalled in the early sound era, DeMille adapted and thrived in the decades that followed. Films like The Sign of the Cross (1932) and Cleopatra (1934)– both starring Claudette Colbert– were two of his best films artistically. DeMille was never recognized critically until The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) took the Best Picture Academy Award. It was during the making of the latter that he decided to remake one of his silent movies, 1923’s The Ten Commandments.
Initially, the studio brass at Paramount Pictures was reluctant to make a religious picture. After all, their prized director had found tremendous success with a modern film– a circus drama. But DeMille was insistent that the story of Moses be told. Moses was a great prophet whose influence spans three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. DeMille believed that the ancient story could sell tickets. Skeptics needed to look no further than to Samson and Delilah, which was based on a Bible story; it was one of the most commercially successful films of 1950. His 1923 version of The Ten Commandments had only been partially based on the Bible with the main storyline being a modern morality play set in the 1920s. This new version, by contrast, would take place exclusively in 1300 BC. Almost no one in the studio board room wanted to remake The Ten Commandments, but it was Adolph Zukor, one of the original founders of Paramount (along with DeMille and Jesse L. Lasky), who came to the director’s defense. The project was ultimately given the go-ahead. The Ten Commandments would be made in color and shot in VistaVision (which offered a larger frame without “squeezing” the image anamorphically).
Cecil B. DeMille had a saying that “movies are made at my desk.” With three years of pre-production, he already had everything mapped out long before it came time to shoot. There were illustrations, paintings and storyboards made that essentially depicted everything that would be filmed. And DeMille never started a film until he had a shooting script. The highly detailed 321-page screenplay is credited to four writers: Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., Jack Gariss and Fredric M. Frank. The story takes its inspiration from the Book of Exodus as well as the novels Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Pillar of Fire by J. H. Ingraham, and On Eagle’s Wings by A. E. Southon. The assigned writers worked independently on specific sections of the story detailing Moses as: the Prince of Egypt, the Outlaw Shepherd, the Chosen Deliverer, and the Lord’s Lawgiver.
Cecil B. DeMille
There were no on-set revisions as one typically finds during the making of movies. The final draft was essentially written in stone. Based on the Biblical story about the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt, the film depicted a time when the Jews were an enslaved people. They longed for a deliverer. That man finally came in the form of Moses, who had received his mission directly from God on Mount Sinai. With his brother Aaron, Moses challenged Pharaoh Rameses II to let his people go. The Egyptian leader’s stubbornness led to the devastating plagues of Egypt. The last of which, the death of the firstborn, ultimately convinced Pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves to whatever fate awaited them in the wilderness.
The Bible does not tell us the complete story of Moses as it omits about thirty years in his life. As DeMille tells his audience in his “making of” trailer for the film, he relied on historians such as Josephus and Philo to help fill in the gaps. There were other sources as well, such as the Koran, which reveals that Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh. Great pains were taken to try and construct the life story as completely as possible, but that was not an easy task for a story that takes place over three thousand years ago. Being a Hollywood film, certain liberties were taken, such as the film’s depiction of Moses’ relationship with Nefretiri. But it follows the Bible as much as possible, quoting from the King James Version, which is the version DeMille knew so well growing up. But there is also a universal thread that ties itself to the modern world; it’s a story about the bonds of enslavement, oppression, tyranny– and freedom. For DeMille, when “Moses led his people to Mount Sinai, they learned, as the world today must learn, that true freedom is freedom under God.”
During the making of The Greatest Show on Earth, DeMille had told actor William Boyd that he wanted him to play Moses in his next picture. Boyd was a DeMille discovery who had worked with him since the silent days. He was Simon of Cyrene in DeMille’s King of Kings (1927). Boyd would find his greatest fame as cowboy hero “Hopalong Cassidy.” As a result of this association– and the renewed interest of Hopalong on television– Boyd didn’t believe he was right for the part, nor did he think kids would see beyond his Western persona. He politely declined the offer, although he would later visit DeMille in Egypt during the making of The Ten Commandments.
It was associate producer/actor Henry Wilcoxon who suggested Charlton Heston, whose biggest film up until that time was The Greatest Show on Earth. He literally drew a beard on a publicity photo of Heston and showed it to DeMille, who was convinced. The physical similarities between Heston and Michelangelo’s statue of Moses were also noted, particularly in the shape of the nose. DeMille later highlighted this comparison in a trailer he released for the film. Heston’s casting was fortuitous both for the film and his own career. In the wake of the DeMille experience, Heston would become associated with the historical epic, particularly with his casting in Ben-Hur (1959). His role as Moses would be one of his finest performances and certainly one of the roles he is most identified with. (Besides Moses, Heston also performed the voice of God during the “Burning Bush” scene, although his own voice was altered to sound much deeper.)
Charlton Heston as Moses
DeMille had seen Yul Brynner on stage in The King and I and believed he would be perfect as the proud Rameses, pharaoh of Egypt. For the role of Nefretiri, Rameses’ wife, DeMille sought Grace Kelly (unavailable) and Audrey Hepburn (too slender a figure). Anne Baxter, who had recently won a Best Actress Oscar for All About Eve (1951), was eventually cast. Despite being one of the most honored actresses in the cast, it’s her performance that is sometimes criticized as being too vampy or over-the-top. But it should be noted that she is performing the kind of florid acting that DeMille wanted. Baxter is at her best, though, when she is playing the scorned lover. In addition, she is visually stunning thanks to the wardrobe designs by Edith Head. One of which, the golden vulture headdress and costume, took 5 months to design. (Dorothy Jeakins, on the other hand, would design the costumes for the star actors and crafted the blue “buzzard cape” that Yul Brynner wears to striking effect.) Also working on the film’s costumes were Ralph Jester, John Jensen, and Arnold Friberg.
One of the more noteworthy performances is Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, who becomes Moses’ wife after he has become an outlaw. De Carlo was so committed to the role, in fact, that she even traveled to Egypt during the making of the film despite having no scenes to film there. DeMille was impressed by her dedication. Debra Paget was cast as the water girl Lilia, but DeMille had a harder time getting the desired performance from her. She came over from 20th Century Fox, but part of the deal for this loan-out was that DeMille had to take John Derek even though he was considering other actors like Clint Walker and Cornel Wilde. The character of Joshua, Moses’ successor, would prove to be Derek’s most remembered role, and he is terrific in the part even though physically he might not look like a stonecutter.
Jack Palance, best known for his villainous, supporting role in Shane (1953), was originally going to star as Dathan who, after Rameses, was a constant thorn in the side of Moses. However, when Palance’s agent absconded with a copy of the script, DeMille changed his mind. The legendary Edward G. Robinson, who had been blacklisted by Hollywood, was cast instead. DeMille resurrected Robinson’s career, and the actor would remain ever grateful for it. The veteran actor gave a performance that DeMille didn’t initially understand when it was being shot, but seen later in the dailies, he caught the sly humor that Robinson was incorporating into the role. Vincent Price, best known for his devilish parts in horror films in the 1950s, portrayed one of the film’s other antagonists, the salacious master overseer, Baka.
Some of the other big names in the cast included the distinguished Sir Cedric Hardwicke (excellent as Sethi), Nina Foch (Bithia, although Merle Oberon and Claudette Colbert were considered), Martha Scott (as Moses’ mother, Yochabel– she would play Heston’s mother in Ben-Hur as well), Judith Anderson (Memnet) and John Carradine (as Moses’ brother, Aaron). The cast is filled with dozens of other recognizable names, many of whom were DeMille regulars going back to his silent days. DeMille made sure that all his actors had their moment to shine in the film, including those with the smallest parts. Even Heston’s newborn son, Fraser, has an appearance as baby Moses.
Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Rameses II
One of the most poignant performances in the film is the one given by H. B. Warner during the Exodus scene. Warner was a wonderful character actor who, in the 1920s, had the lead role as Christ in DeMille’s King of Kings. By 1955, Warner was dying and was living in a nursing home. Actor Donald Curtis told the story about a side of DeMille few ever saw– his compassionate side. DeMille felt it would be fitting to include Warner in the film. An ambulance was thus sent out to pick Warner up. On set, Warner could not stand and struggled with his many lines of dialogue taken from Psalm 22 (“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax…”). As Curtis tells it,
“But he couldn’t manage it. DeMille told him to say whatever he wanted to say and told the rest of us to improvise along with him. And that’s what you have on screen: H. B. Warner’s last appearance in Cecil B. DeMille’s last movie, speaking words that came directly from his heart.”
DeMille was a former actor himself and knew how to brief his actors. His one-on-one coaching was known as “office direction.” He gave every actor their motivation, and no one in the cast was unimportant to him. He famously said that he never cast “extras”– only actors. The cast for The Ten Commandments is a who’s who of Hollywood, but for some viewers, this is a distraction. These recognizable faces, like Edward G. Robinson, are so associated with a particular genre that they almost seem out-of-place here. But as the years and decades go by, this critique carries less weight. A hundred years from now, these names will simply be actors in a film– not necessarily a melange of recognizable legends associated with other movies.
Cecil B. DeMille was a very detailed director who sought accuracy as much as possible, although certain creative liberties were taken. For instance, his researcher, Henry S. Noerdlinger, was alarmed to see camels in the film even though camels would not be introduced into Egypt until the time of Christ. But DeMille knew audiences would expect to see camels in Egypt regardless! But generally, DeMille was determined to give the film the authenticity it deserved by treating the material with reverence– so much so that he wanted to travel to Egypt to walk in the footsteps of Moses himself.
Anne Baxter as Nefretiri
In the fall of 1954, the production journeyed to Egypt. Loyal Griggs was the principal cameraman and was responsible for the two Mitchell VistaVision cameras and the state-of-the art lenses that would be used. The sites that were selected included areas near the Sinai Peninsula, the Red Sea, Beni Youssef and Mount Sinai. At Beni Youssef (near Cairo), a huge set had been constructed months before by the advance company. The gate of the city of Per-Rameses had been designed by architect Anis Serag El Dine. At the time, it was said to be the largest film set ever built. They recreated Sethi’s city, which is seen to great effect during the Exodus. (Unlike the silent movie version, this time there were no sphinxes with breasts!)
The first footage that was actually shot (in October 1954) were the scenes depicting Heston’s Moses wandering in the wilderness of Sin and walking the path to Mount Sinai. It is at Sinai where God first revealed Himself to Moses. During the shooting of these scenes, the crew stayed at St. Catherine’s Monastery, which had been built at the base of the mountain to honor the life of Moses. It was physically demanding shooting on location, but the 73-year-old DeMille was right there with his cast going up the mountain. For the director, this was a great spiritual experience as well as a filmmaking endeavor.
During the location shoot, Charlton Heston learned to ride a chariot and was instructed by Major Abbas, an Egyptian officer. Heston would later use this experience to great advantage when he was cast as Judah Ben-Hur in William Wyler’s epic. The Third Dynasty chariots were specially constructed for this film, although DeMille’s right-hand man, Henry Wilcoxon, offered suggestions on how to make them more secure for the drivers. He designed a safety chain that later saved him from serious injury when he was doing his own scene on a chariot.
The biggest scene to shoot in Egypt was the spectacle of Moses leading the Hebrews out of the city in a two-mile long procession. Every detail had been carefully worked out, even releasing pigeons into the sky so audiences would know that what they were seeing was real and not a painted backdrop. The Hebrews were, ironically, made up mostly of 8,000 Arabs, Bedouins, and Egyptian military personnel. It was shot in three takes throughout the day, but it was prior to Take 3, while DeMille was climbing a 107-foot ladder to get to the set’s roof, that he had a heart attack. Henry Wilcoxon was with him and was able to attend to him and call for a doctor. The shoot continued, and Heston later admitted he had no knowledge of DeMille’s health until much later. DeMille didn’t want anyone to know his condition, especially the studio. He took the weekend off and then returned the following Monday. Those closest to him, such as his wife and daughter, took on greater responsibility. With Wilcoxon, they were able to delegate more tasks to others. Although DeMille was still in control, he knew he couldn’t do everything. No doubt the stress of making this picture took its toll and would undoubtedly shorten his life.
Other footage that was photographed on location included some long shots and scenes taken at the Red Sea. A lot of this was relegated to the second unit. The challenge would be to match what was shot in Egypt with what would be done on stage at the Paramount studio. In order to better join the two, portions of sets were re-used. The production actually brought their own rock formation to the location– the one that Moses would stand upon– so that it would match with the set back in Hollywood. Additionally, actors seen in Egypt were matched with those in Hollywood. For this reason, producer Wilcoxon, who had starred in DeMille’s historical epics from the 1930s like Cleopatra (1934) and The Crusades (1935), once again stepped in front of the camera– this time to portray Pentaur, the commander of the hosts.
The production returned to Hollywood where many of the interiors were photographed, such as the scenes in the throne room, Nefretiri’s barge, the brick pits, et al. In order to shoot the scene of the Hebrews traveling down between the watery sides of the Red Sea, the studio had to knock down the wall of their own stage and extend it into the adjoining RKO sound stage. This footage of the caravan would later be matted into the sequence once the special effects were completed.
The Ten Commandments is a record of Hollywood special effects magic up until that time. It was an effects movie and certainly cutting edge for its time. Decades before CG, much of the visual trickery was accomplished on set by special effects people like William Sapp, who worked on the plagues that befall Egypt. The effect of the pool turning red. for example, was done with Sapp under the surface of the water with a garden hose. Once Moses’ staff touched the water, the hose was released from the side of the wall and issued out the red dye. The shot of Rameses pouring out the jug of water, which turns to blood, was accomplished simply by designing a multi-chambered jar; once the clear water was poured out, the second chamber containing the red dye continued the stream. The hail was popcorn with some fire animated in. The green mist that represents the “Death Angel” at Passover was accomplished by the effects team using a conventional fogger and blowing a cloud along a gullied pathway on the studio floor. Keeping this mist controlled on the set was not always easy! Finally, one of the other plagues, which was ultimately cut from the film for not being scary enough, were the frogs that visit Anne Baxter’s Nefretiri as she sleeps at night. These were mechanically-designed by the effects department.
Another of the key personnel on the effects team was John Fulton. He had been hired in 1953 to run Paramount’s effects department, replacing Gordon Jennings. Fulton would be the man tasked to part the Red Sea. His career went back to the early 1930s where he designed the effects for classic horror movies like Universal’s The Invisible Man (1933). One of his pivotal tasks was to match the location work shot in 1954 with the studio footage in 1955. The prime example being the crossing of the Red Sea. This sequence was the centerpiece of the film, at least in terms of its visual effects. It remains one of the most impressive moments in cinema history. In Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille, author Scott Eyman elaborates on how this scene was done:
“John Fulton accomplished it by constructing, in the middle of the Paramount parking lot, a giant tank with twelve smaller tanks on either side that sequentially released a total of 360,000 gallons of water. Filmed in slow motion, with footage from both the Red Sea and the outcropping at Abu Rudeis, the shots were used for the opening of the sea. The parallel walls of water between which the Israelites pass were created by mounting cameras shooting straight down at water that was being agitated at the bottom of an eighty-foot ramp to create the effect of churn. The walls of water were shot separately in segments and combined using soft-edged mattes.”
Scott Eyman continues,
“The most difficult shot in the entire film was, of course, the money shot: the extreme long shot of the sea parting, with hundreds of extras gathered around Heston in the foreground. The blue screen behind the actors was twenty-five by eighty feet, and when DeMille was composing his shot through the viewfinder, he realized that he needed extras beyond the parameters of the blue screen. The special effects technicians painted a moving silhouette matte around the extras and composited it with the blue screen matte. By the time they were through with the shot, it involved thirty-four original negatives.”
The sound design for this sequence was advanced for its time. In Paul Mandell’s article in CineMagic (October 1986), entitled, “His Mighty Hand: How the Paramount special effects team parted the Red Sea, in VistaVision and blazing Technicolor,” he writes,
“To produce the sound of the distant twister, a 600 gallon tank was built. After opening the valve, the water was drained until it reached 100 gallons, and a microphone was placed near the drain for the suction effect. The track was reversed and synchronized with the same track running forward for the Opening of the Sea. In addition, another tank was built and equipped with air hoses and 300 pounds of dry ice. Air was pumped into approximately 1,200 gallons of water. This air noise plus the sound created by the dry ice was used for the roll-back of the waves, as per DeMille’s specifications.”
Crossing the Red Sea in the Paramount sound stage…
One of the most famous scenes in The Ten Commandments is the golden calf sequence. This was shot on the double sound stage. It’s an excellent juxtaposition between a wild orgy depicting the waywardness of the Israelites and God giving the law to Moses at the top of Mount Sinai. (The tablets that Heston carries were actually carved from the granite of Mount Sinai itself.) Originally, DeMille’s actors were not being wild enough, and it had to be re-shot with more exotic dancing. DeMille wanted to depict “an orgy Sunday school children could watch.” Today, of course, this scene would be acted out quite differently!
From grand spectacle like the crossing of the sea to the smaller moments, such as Moses’s staff turning into a snake and then back into a staff, The Ten Commandments is a visual masterpiece of technique, and certainly one of the most extraordinary effects movies of its era. To this day, viewers are mesmerized by moments like the haunting, claw-like cloud seen in the night sky, descending down upon Egypt. The film incorporates every technique then known, such as matte paintings, miniatures, blue screen opticals and even animation (as seen in the pillar of fire that blocks the Egyptian chariots).
Adding to the atmosphere and drama of the film is the score by Elmer Bernstein. Originally, Victor Young, a frequent DeMille collaborator, was going to score the film, but he physically couldn’t handle the demands of the movie and its director. Young suggested Bernstein, who had been assigned just the incidental and dance music heard in the film. Over the course of 18 months, Bernstein learned much from DeMille about movie music. He later had to rewrite the Exodus music because his first attempt was too slow. Bernstein wrote the music to match the slower tempo of what he was seeing on the screen, but DeMille explained that if he wrote faster music, the scene would play faster. This was the case, as Bernstein discovered. Ironically, DeMille requested for the Exodus music similar to “Onward Christian Soldiers”! During these months, Bernstein was able to compose a Wagnerian-like score that incorporated musical leitmotifs for all the main characters. The result was one of the most memorable film scores of all time. The experience of making the film would be one of the highlights of Bernstein’s long career in film scoring.
After principal photography ended in August 1955, The Ten Commandments took 14 months for post-production. The editing was done by Anne Bauchens. She had worked on all of DeMille’s films since 1918, but she would have her greatest challenge with this production given the amount of footage she had to assemble. Some trims were relatively minor– cheetahs seen in Sethi’s throne room, for instance. But more substantial scenes were taken out, even after the film’s test screening; the Exodus scene was reportedly cut in half as late as October 1956. In total, Bauchens and DeMille cut the movie down from 1,000,000 feet of film to 19,710 feet.
Despite having over a year to complete the film, it wasn’t enough time to finish all that had been intended. The opening scene, which references Genesis, was originally conceived to be a much more ambitious prologue– even incorporating the age of the dinosaurs– and the finale with Moses was to include an effects shot of the white-bearded prophet being surrounded by an animated pillar of fire. (DeMille rejected the concept as he didn’t want to equate Moses with God.) There were other issues with visible matte lines that needed additional time, but the release date was rapidly approaching and some things were scrapped. The film was eventually ready for its Salt Lake City preview on August 2, 1956. DeMille’s reasoning for selecting Utah was that if the film was a success there, it could be a success anywhere. The response was overwhelming. The film became a hit across America. Audiences loved it as well as most critics. From a budget of $13.27 million, the film initially grossed $55.2 million. It became DeMille’s greatest commercial success of his entire career.
The Ten Commandments was nominated for seven Academy Awards; however, it only won one for special effects. This was a disappointing result but in keeping with the many earlier slights Cecil B. DeMille had received from critics and the Academy. Some– then and now– never took DeMille seriously as a filmmaker. A 1952 Lifetime Achievement Award aside, DeMille deserved more recognition than what he got for this film. There were other historical epics coming out in the mid-1950s, several of which even had the same setting– films like The Egyptian (1954), Valley of the Kings (1954) and Land of the Pharaohs (1955)– but it is the DeMille film that audiences remember seventy years later. The Ten Commandments has outlived the critics and criticisms and will last well into the future– remaining one of the most-beloved epics in movie history.
It’s been said of the film that it’s very much a Victorian pageant play, and there is truth in that. DeMille was a Victorian at heart, but unlike his peers whom he surpassed, men like D. W. Griffith, he was able to adapt to the new technology at hand in order to tell old stories in a modern way. This was a man who was inspired by the pre-Raphaelite painters of his youth, and he recreated that style in VistaVision. Unlike today’s blockbusters which are strictly commercial affairs manufactured by corporate America, there is a hand-crafted quality to DeMille’s movies in general and The Ten Commandments in particular. It’s a movie with a soul. The money that DeMille spent was always up on the screen and didn’t go into some executive’s pocket. He was sincere about what he wanted to do, and based on the letters he received from his public throughout his lifetime, he accomplished his mission in bringing God to the masses. He succeeded because he was a master storyteller. DeMille himself once said, “The business of motion pictures is not to preach sermons. It is our business to tell stories.”
The Ten Commandments is told dramatically and never meanders. It’s colorful and bold, and it has a stature few other movies can claim. There are no religious epics like this one these days. There are only faith-based productions that feel more like a direct-to-video (or streaming) sermon. There are few producers or big studios willing to tell stories like this, and even if there were, there is no one like a Cecil B. DeMille to tell them. The man who helped build Hollywood also made some of the most memorable motion pictures in history. We take DeMille seriously at the Pickwick Theatre, and that’s why this Easter season, we’re proud to present this 70th anniversary event. It is Old Hollywood at its finest.
For more about the making of The Ten Commandments, we highly recommend Written in Stone (1999) by Katherine Orrison, who also provides the audio commentary on the blu-ray. Another essential is Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille (2010) by Scott Eyman.
~MCH
