TRIVIA

To create the effect of the sandstorm
in the narrated desert sequence,
Cecil B. De Mille use the engine blast
from tied-down Egyptian air force planes.

Director Cecil B. De Mille suffered
a heart attack during the production
after climbing 130 feet to check
a faulty camera perched on one of
the giant gates used in the exodus sequence.
He took a couple of days off and then,
against his doctor's orders,
returned to work to complete the film.

DeMille gave his old actor friend,
H.B. Warner, his last speaking role as
the old man wanting to die in
the desert in the Exodus sequence.
H.B. Warner came to fame after
Demille cast him the lead as Jesus
in his silent film, King of Kings (1927).

This was legendary film composer
Elmer Bernstein's first major project.
Bernstein had just had some
success with his jazz score for
Man with the Golden Arm (1955).
However, he was not DeMille's first
choice to score the film.
DeMille had a long relationship
with Paramount contract composer,
Victor Young, who had been working with
DeMille since the 1940 film, Northwest Mounted Police.
Unfortunately, Victor Young had become
very ill and could not accept the project.

One day in Griffith Park in Los Angeles,
a casting director for The Ten Commandments
approached Jack Peters and his son
to ask if Jon wanted to appear in the film.
Multitudes of people with dark hair and
complexions were needed to cross the Red Sea.
Jon was chosen to ride a donkey
and lead a goat by rope.
Jon was so excited that he
refused to wash off his makeup
when he went home at night.

Cecil B. De Mille previously filmed
this story as The Commandments (1923).

Considerable controversy exists over
who supplied the voice of God for the film,
for which no on-screen credit is given.
The voice used was heavily modified
and mixed with other sound effects,
making identification extremely difficult.
Various people have either claimed
or been rumored to have supplied the voice:
DeMille himself (he narrated the film),
Charleton Heston and 'Jewkes, J.D.' to name a few.
DeMille's publicist and biographer,
Donald Hayne, maintains that
Heston provided the voice
of God at the burning bush,
but he himself provided the voice of
God giving the commandments.
In any event, only two people knew for sure:
DeMille and sound director Loren L. Ryder,
both of whom are now dead.

Cecil B. De Mille's first choice for
Moses was William Boyd,
best known as Hopalong Cassidy.
Boyd turned the role down,
fearing the Hopalong Cassidy
identification would hurt the movie.

Charleton Heston was chosen for the
role of Moses by Cecil B. DeMille
because he bore a resemblance to
Michelangelo's statue of Moses in Rome.

When Woody Strode reported to work,
he presented Cecil B. De Mille with
an antique bible Strode's wife had found.
DeMille was so impressed with
the gift, he not only put Strode in
two parts in the film but told Strode
that if he ever wanted a
part in a future DeMille film,
all he had to do was ask.
Unfortunately, this project was
Demille's final film due to declining health.

In adjusted-for-inflation gross,
this movie is the top grossing movie
in the US that has not benefited
from multiple releases.
It is generally in the top 3 to top 10 of
all-time top grossing films (depending
on who made the list and
how they accounted for re-releases),
adjusted for inflation.

Decades later, some of the props used in this film
- in particular cups, glasses and tableware -
turned up in an episode of
"Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)" called "Tapestry".

Celluloid art created the special effects
of the Red Sea parting by pouring 300,000
gallons of water into a tank
and then playing the film backward.

14,000 extras and 15,000 animals
were used in the production of the movie.

The illusion of the Red Sea parting was
achieved by using the same technique
perfected for DeMille's version
of The Commandments (1923):
two blocks of gelatin were
placed side-by-side, melted with
blow-torches and shot in extreme close-up,
and the footage was then seen in reverse.

Ann Baxter's character's name was
changed from Nefertiti to Nefertiri
because Cecil B. DeMille was afraid
people would make double entendre jokes.

Father and son both played
Moses in this movie as Fraser
Heston played Moses as an infant.

There is a longstanding rumor that
future Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is
an extra in this film, possibly playing a soldier.
In her book "My Lucky Stars",
Shirley MacLaine recalls asking Castro
if he indeed was in the film,
and receiving an ambiguous answer.

The special effects work was so
extensive that it was not
completed by the final edit.
The released version contains
fringing during some blue screen shots
which the crew did not have time to correct.

DISC SPECIFICATIONS

Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

DVD Encoding: Region 1

Available Audio Tracks:
English (Dolby Digital 5.1),
English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround),
French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)

Available subtitles: English

Color, Closed-captioned

Commentary by author/historian Katherine Orrison

New 6-part documentary

Photo gallery

Trailers

Number of discs: 2