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The Ten Commandments

  • 1923
  • Passed
  • 2h 16m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2.4K
YOUR RATING
Theodore Roberts in The Ten Commandments (1923)
BiographyDramaFantasy

After hearing the story of Moses, the sons of a devout Christian mother go their own ways, and the atheist brother's breaking of the Ten Commandments leads to tragedy.After hearing the story of Moses, the sons of a devout Christian mother go their own ways, and the atheist brother's breaking of the Ten Commandments leads to tragedy.After hearing the story of Moses, the sons of a devout Christian mother go their own ways, and the atheist brother's breaking of the Ten Commandments leads to tragedy.

  • Director
    • Cecil B. DeMille
  • Writer
    • Jeanie Macpherson
  • Stars
    • Theodore Roberts
    • Charles de Rochefort
    • Estelle Taylor
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    2.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Cecil B. DeMille
    • Writer
      • Jeanie Macpherson
    • Stars
      • Theodore Roberts
      • Charles de Rochefort
      • Estelle Taylor
    • 41User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 1 nomination

    Photos94

    Edythe Chapman, Richard Dix, Leatrice Joy, and Rod La Rocque in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Richard Dix and Leatrice Joy in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Theodore Roberts in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Theodore Roberts and Estelle Taylor in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Charles de Rochefort in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Charles de Rochefort in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Charles de Rochefort, Pat Moore, and Theodore Roberts in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    The Ten Commandments (1923)
    Theodore Roberts in The Ten Commandments (1923)
    The Ten Commandments (1923)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Theodore Roberts
    Theodore Roberts
    • Moses - The Lawgiver - Prologue
    Charles de Rochefort
    Charles de Rochefort
    • Rameses the Magnificent - Prologue
    • (as Charles De Roche)
    Estelle Taylor
    Estelle Taylor
    • Miriam - The Sister of Moses - Prologue
    Julia Faye
    Julia Faye
    • The Wife of Pharaoh - Prologue
    Pat Moore
    Pat Moore
    • The Son of Pharaoh - Prologue
    • (as Terrence Moore)
    James Neill
    James Neill
    • Aaron - Brother of Moses - Prologue
    Lawson Butt
    Lawson Butt
    • Dathan - The Discontented - Prologue
    Clarence Burton
    Clarence Burton
    • The Taskmaster - Prologue…
    Noble Johnson
    Noble Johnson
    • The Bronze Man - Prologue
    Edythe Chapman
    Edythe Chapman
    • Mrs. Martha McTavish
    Richard Dix
    Richard Dix
    • John McTavish - Her Son
    Rod La Rocque
    Rod La Rocque
    • Dan McTavish - Her Son
    Leatrice Joy
    Leatrice Joy
    • Mary Leigh
    Nita Naldi
    Nita Naldi
    • Sally Lung - A Eurasian
    Robert Edeson
    Robert Edeson
    • Redding - An Inspector
    Charles Ogle
    Charles Ogle
    • The Doctor
    Agnes Ayres
    Agnes Ayres
    • The Outcast
    Leon Beaumon
    Leon Beaumon
    • Egyptian Calvaryman
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Cecil B. DeMille
    • Writer
      • Jeanie Macpherson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The enormous sets of ancient Egypt have become a Hollywood legend in themselves. The "City of the Pharaohs" was constructed of wood and plaster in the Guadalupe Dunes, an 18-mile stretch of coastal sand 170 miles north of L.A. The sets featured four 35-foot-tall statues of the Pharaoh Ramses, 21 five-ton sphinxes, and city walls over 120 feet high. An army of 2,500 actors, extras, carpenters, plasterers, painters, cooks, staff, and film crew members inhabited the set for three months, housed in a virtual army camp that featured nearly 1,000 tents. (3,500 animals, used in recreating the scenes of ancient Egypt, were housed in a huge corral downwind of the camp.) When shooting wrapped, Cecil B. DeMille simply had the massive Egyptian city sets bulldozed, and buried in a huge pit beneath the sand, where they remain to this day. For years, the legendary "Lost City of DeMille" was spoken of by locals in Guadalupe who had worked on the film set. Artifacts from the Egyptian sets were found in the dunes, and can sometimes be found in local houses in the area. (DeMille even said in his autobiography, "If 1,000 years from now, archaeologists happen to dig beneath the sands of Guadalupe, I hope that they will not rush into print with the amazing news that Egyptian civilization extended all the way to the Pacific Coast of North America.") In 1983, documentary filmmaker Peter Brosnan located the remains of the DeMille sets, still buried beneath the dunes. The site is now recognized as an official archaeological site by the state of California, and it is against the law to remove artifacts from the site. Brosnan has been trying for many years to raise money from the Hollywood studios to excavate the site, but so far has been unable to do so.
    • Goofs
      The type of staff used by Moses and his followers has a Star of David on the end. The Star of David didn't become a symbol of Judaism until the Middle Ages.
    • Quotes

      Mary Leigh: I was passing by Dugan's lunch wagon when a hot dog ran out and bit me.

    • Connections
      Edited into Forgotten Commandments (1932)

    User reviews41

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Break The Ten Commandments And They'll Break You
    Going on 90 years since it was first released, the original The Ten Commandments can still overawe you with the spectacle of both the biblical prologue and the modern story. Modern in the sense that it was set during the Jazz Age Roaring Twenties, the 1923 when Paramount released what would become that studio's biggest moneymaker up to that time.

    You'll recognize the biblical prologue if you've seen the 1956 remake, it is almost a 45 minute scene for scene remake of the time that Charlton Heston and John Carradine arrive at the Egyptian court until the destruction of the Golden calf. They weren't giving Oscars back in 1923, but the parting of the Red Sea was incredible for its time and would have given Cecil B. DeMille yet another Oscar for the same event.

    You won't recognize a lot of the biblical prologue cast, but they were part and parcel of a DeMille stock company that he developed during silent era and continued to a lesser degree after the coming of sound. Best known probably was Estelle Taylor who was married to Jack Dempsey at the time as Miriam, the sister of Moses.

    The bulk of the film is the modern story which has the theme break the Ten Commandments and they'll break you. The stars are Richard Dix and Rod LaRocque a pair of brothers, one good and one bad, sons of a most pious mother Edythe Chapman. Dix is a good, honest, and steady carpenter by trade and LaRocque through his ruthlessness and who winds up breaking all the Commandments becomes the richest contractor in the state.

    LaRocque is pretty ruthless in his private affairs, he breaks the Commandments regarding those as well. He marries Leatrice Joy who Dix likes as well, but then gets a fetching Eurasian mistress in Nita Naldi. Nita is in the slinky and sexy tradition of all DeMille's bad girls.

    It all ends really bad for LaRocque as his sins catch up with him.

    During the modern story DeMille hand with spectacle is a good one in the scene of the church collapse and later on during the climatic escape LaRocque is attempting to make with a speedboat on a stormy night at sea.

    The influence of DeMille's educator father Henry and his friend David Belasco are strong here as they are in all DeMille work. The modern story is the kind of morality play that Belasco would produce and write for the stage for years. It's from the Victorian era, but the Roaring Twenties audience wanted something that reflected traditional values occasionally as if nervously waiting for its excesses to catch up. It's partly the reason why they could find comfort in a Congregationalist president of the USA in Calvin Coolidge.

    Though the story is unbelievably dated, DeMille's cinematic techniques are hardly that. The original Ten Commandments in many ways will tell you about its creator warts and all.
    helpful•10
    2
    • bkoganbing
    • Jul 16, 2010

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 4, 1923 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • None
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Mười Giới Luật
    • Filming locations
      • Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $1,475,837 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      2 hours 16 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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