Did You Know?

To create the effect of the sandstorms, in the narrated desert sequence, as Moses left Egypt and headed to Midian, Cecil B. DeMille used the engine blast from tied-down Egyptian Air Force planes.

The orgy sequence took 3 weeks to film.

Up until the release of The Passion of the Christ in 2004, The Ten Commandments was the highest grossing religious epic in history, earning over $65.5 million in 1956. (This translates into $446 million [$446,000,000 numerically], in current figures and inflation, throughout the years.)

Last film directed and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, who, despite his fame and success, won Oscar's in Samson and Delilah and The Greatest Show on Earth - not for any of his numerous Biblical spectacular films.

The film is usually very slightly edited for TV transmission, although because of numerous and lengthy commercial breaks, most showings clock in at close to four-and-a-half hours. Its length is 3:40, three hours and 40 minutes, commercial-free and continuous on two DVD's. This has led to some humorists commenting as if it had been "trimmed to seven commandments".

Just under 5% of the film was actually shot in Egypt.

The highest-earning live-action film after, Gone with the Wind, which was finally broken by The Sound of Music.

One day in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, a casting director for this film approached Jack Peters and his son Jon Peters to ask if Jon wanted to appear in the film, as 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. He was so excited that he refused to wash off the makeup, when he went home, that night, so he would not have to put it back on the next day.

Cecil B. DeMille's original choice for Moses was William Boyd, best known as "Hopalong Cassidy". Boyd turned down the role, fearing his "Hopalong Cassidy" popularity, would hurt the movie's fame, deeply.

When Woody Strode reported to work, he presented Cecil B. DeMille with an antique Bible, that Woody 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.

Special Effects Property Master William Sapp created the effects that turned the waters of the Nile red. Red dye was pumped into the water through a hose at the point where Aaron touched the river, with his staff. Sapp also created the vessel that was used by Rameses' priest in an attempt to restore the waters. The vessel had two chambers: one that was filled with clear water and which was located near the vessel's opening, while the other chamber was filled with red-dyed water was located near the bottom of the vessel. As the vessel was tipped to empty its contents, the clear water poured out first, and as the vessel was tipped further, this released the red-dyed water into the "river" on the sound stage. There were six of these vessels that were made for the film, but only two were used during production. The reverse shot showing the red water extending out into the sea was created through animation onto shots of the Red Sea that had been photographed in Egypt.

Animation was employed to create the fiery hailstones, (like the ones that destroyed evil cities, Sodom and Gomorrah) as it was falling from the sky in the background, but popcorn that had been spray-painted white fell as "hail" onto the pavilion of Rameses' palace. It was light so it could not hurt the actors, it bounced like real hail; and it could be swept up and used again for additional takes of the scene. The fire that burned from the hail was created by animation.

Atleast 14,000 extras and 15,000 animals were used, during the production and acting, as the movie was being filmed.

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.

When asking the Egyptian authorities for permission to film there, Cecil B. DeMille was pleasantly surprised to find out they were fans of his film The Crusades. "You treated us [Arabs in the film] so well, you may do anything here you want," they told him.

The last line of the film "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof" was taken from Leviticus 25:10 in The Bible. The verse is also engraved on the Liberty Bell.

Despite being credited as costume designers, John L. Jensen and Arnold Friberg did not work primarily in designing any costumes. Jensen was the lead sketch artist, and only worked in sketching out designs for certain costumes. Friberg was primarily hired to design the film's titles, which were hand lettered and photographed over a colored leather background. Friberg also contributed sketches regarding the costuming. The costume for Moses as a shepherd was patterned after one Friberg had already painted, a portrayal of an ancient prophet for "The Childrens Friend", a magazine published by the Primary Association, the children's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Friberg is a member.

Pre-production work on this film included over 1,200 storyboard sketches.

Producer/Director Cecil B. DeMille reached 75 years of age during the production of this film, making him the oldest working Hollywood director. He later suffered a heart-attack on the set, returning to the set only two days later. After this was completed, he planned on another epic production. He died in 1959, before he could direct or produce another, making this his final film.

Originally, when Elmer Bernstein was orchestrating the music to accompany the Great Exodus of the slaves out of Egypt, the music was mournful. Upon hearing it, Cecil B. DeMille ordered him to replace it, substituting joyful, upbeat music to announce the Hebrew slaves' joy, getting their freedom.

[June 2008] Ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Epic".

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.

The cloud special effects used during the parting of the Red Sea scenes, would later be repeatedly used in various movies by director Steven Spielberg.

When Yul Brynner was told he would be playing Pharaoh Rameses II, opposite of Charlton Heston's Moses and that he would be shirtless for a majority of the film, he began a rigorous weight lifting program because he did not want to be physically overshadowed by Charlton Heston (which explains his buffer than normal physique during The King and I, his other film he was acted and on, approximately a month apart, at the time of the two films, as they were started and completed.

Charlton Heston personally requested to Cecil B. DeMille to let him be the voice of God, at the scene of the Burning Bush, and DeMille agreed.

Although by 1956 virtually all widescreen epics were being filmed with stereophonic sound, The Ten Commandments was not filmed in stereo. This makes it the only mid-to-late fifties Biblical epic not made that way, even after stereo had become the norm for spectacular widescreen epics. The sound was remixed to stereo for later releases.

In the initial Egyptian sequence, Nefretiri is referred to as "the throne princess" who "must marry the next Pharaoh." According to ancient Egyptian royal custom, this implies that she is Seti's daughter, who is expected to marry his successor, regardless of her kinship to that man. (The real Nefretiri's parentage is unknown.) But if Seti was explicitly identified as her father, it would be clear that in the end, Ramses married his sister in an incestuous union. This was evidently seen as inappropriate for a 1950s audience that would certainly include children. As a result, Nefretari was only called "the throne princess," without any explanation.

The pillar of fire, which kept the Egyptians from getting closer to the Israelites just before they crossed the Red Sea, was not achieved through the use of actual flames, but was instead, an animated fire. Of all the special effects in the film, it is the one that looks the least realistic to modern audiences, and probably seemed just as unrealistic in 1956.

The "Ten Commandments" of the title are repeated several times in the Bible. The most famous version is in Exodus 20. The King James Version of this passage is as follows: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."

H.B. Warner:  was "Amminadab", an old Israeli man about to die in the desert, during the Exodus sequence. This was his last film appearance.

Mike Sill:  uncredited former Mr. America was one of the persons helping to carry the Idol of the Golden Calf.

According to Hollywood lore, while filming the orgy sequence which precedes Moses' descent from Mount Horeb with the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments engraved, Cecil B. DeMille was perched on top of a ladder delivering his customarily long-winded directions through a megaphone to the hundreds of extras involved in the scene. After droning on to the extras for several minutes, DeMille was distracted by one young woman who was persistently talking to another woman standing next to her. DeMille stopped his speech and addressed everyone's attention to the young woman. "Here," DeMille said, "We have a young woman whose conversation with her friend is apparently more important than listening to her instructions from her director while we are all engaged in making motion picture history. Perhaps the young woman would care to enlighten us all, and tell us what the devil is so important that it cannot wait until after we make this shot." After a moment, of silence and temporary fright, she spoke up and boldly confessed, "I was just saying to my friend, 'I wonder when that bald-headed old son of a b**** is gonna call 'Lunch!'" DeMille stared at her for a moment, paused, then lifted his megaphone, and then shouted, "Lunch!"

At the end of the movie, after Charlton Heston as Moses has turned over leadership of the Israelites to Joshua, he watches as the Israelites march into Caanan. At this point, Moses was supposed to have been enveloped in the fog coming down from the mountain, but the effect was never completed. As a result, Moses is shown to be standing there watching the Israelites go, and this is closer to what is related in the actual Bible than what Cecil B. DeMille originally intended.