Held the record for being the highest-grossing Biblical movie for 48 years, until finally being surpassed by "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004.
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When Moses leads the Hebrews from Egypt, he pauses before them to deliver a little speech before they head out into the desert. He faces the camera and lifts his staff up with his left hand. But on the cutaway shot from behind, he is holding the staff in his right hand. See more...
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Ten Commandments (1956) - 9 trivia entries
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson (add more)
Held the record for being the highest-grossing Biblical movie for 48 years, until finally being surpassed by "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004.
The baby Moses was played by Fraser Heston, Charlton Heston's son.
To promote this film, MGM donated 2,000 replicas of the Stone Tablets to local civic organizations, to be placed in front of courthouses and the like. To this day, they remain controversial, the subject of an intense church-and-state debate.
Future famous musician Herb Alpert has a cameo as a drummer boy during the massive Exodus scene.
Some of the props used in the film - in particular cups, glasses and tableware - were used in the episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) called "Tapestry".
In the film, Moses discovers he is Jewish and joins the Israelite slaves. This is not so. According to sacred Jewish tradition, Moses knew very well he was Jewish and knew who his family was. And though he worked for Pharaoh, he suggested that the Israelites be given one day off from their tasks. Pharaoh agreed to this, and let Moses pick the day; Moses selected Saturday for it was the seventh day, the day of rest.
The film shows Joshua escaping and meeting up with Moses. According to holy Jewish texts, this is not so; no one could escape Egypt at the time, what with its highly occult powers. Only Moses could lead them out. And when he did lead them out, that was when Joshua went along.
The narrator of the film is actually the director, Cecil B. DeMille.
The voice of God giving the Ten Commandments is a chorus of several male voices including, principally, Charlton Heston's and Cecil B.DeMille's, recorded separately with one track laid on top of the other and altered electronically. The other voices in the chorus were those of actor and singer Delos Jewkes and Donald Hayne, DeMille's publicist/biographer.
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