The Ten Commandments 

is a 1956 American epic religious drama film produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille,[5] shot

in VistaVision (color by Technicolor), and released by Paramount Pictures. Based on the 1949 novel Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke
Wilson,[6] the 1859 novel Pillar of Fire by J. H. Ingraham,[7] the 1937 novel On Eagle's Wings by A. E. Southon,[8] and the Book of
Exodus, The Ten Commandments dramatizes the biblical story of the life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the
deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and thereafter leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives, from God,
the Ten Commandments. The film stars Charlton Heston in the lead role, Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G.
Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, and John Derek as Joshua; and features Sir Cedric
Hardwicke as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka, among
others.[5]

Filmed on location in Egypt, Mount Sinai and the Sinai Peninsula, The Ten Commandments was DeMille's most successful work, his first
widescreen film, his fourth biblical production, and his final directorial effort before his death in 1959.[9] It is a remake of the prologue of
his 1923 silent film of the same title, and features one of the largest exterior sets ever created for a motion picture.[9] Four screenwriters,
three art directors, and five costume designers worked on the film. The interior sets were constructed on Paramount's Hollywood
soundstages. The original roadshow version included an onscreen introduction by DeMille and was released to cinemas in the United
States on November 8, 1956, and, at the time of its release, was the most expensive film ever made.[9]

In 1957, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual
Effects (John P. Fulton, A.S.C.).[10] DeMille won the Foreign Language Press Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director. [11] Charlton
Heston was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama).[10] Yul Brynner won
the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for this film as well as Anastasia and The King and I.[10] Heston, Anne Baxter, and
Yvonne De Carlo won Laurel Awards for Best Dramatic Actor, 5th Best Dramatic Actress, and 3rd Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
[12]
 It is also one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing approximately $122.7 million (equivalent to $1.17 billion in
2020) at the box office during its initial release; it was the most successful film of 1956 and the second-highest-grossing film of the
decade. According to Guinness World Records, in terms of theatrical exhibition it is the eighth most successful film of all-time when the
box office gross is adjusted for inflation.

In 1999, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being
"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten
films in ten American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The film was listed as the tenth best
film in the epic genre.[13][14] Network television has aired the film in prime time during the Passover/Easter season every year since 1973.

Plot[edit]
After hearing the prophecy of a Hebrew deliverer, Pharaoh Rameses I of Egypt orders the death of all newborn Hebrew
males. Yochabel saves her infant son by setting him adrift in a basket on the Nile. Bithiah, the Pharaoh Rameses' recently widowed
daughter (and sister of the future Pharaoh Seti I), finds the basket and decides to adopt the boy even though her servant, Memnet,
recognizes the child is Hebrew. Bithiah names the baby Moses.
Prince Moses grows up to become a successful general, winning a war with Ethiopia and establishing an alliance. Moses and Nefretiri fall
in love, but she must marry the next Pharaoh to preserve the royal line. While working on the building of a city for Pharaoh Seti I's
jubilee, Moses meets the stonecutter Joshua, who tells him of the Hebrew God. Moses saves an elderly woman from being crushed not
knowing that she is his biological mother, Yochabel, and he reprimands the taskmaster and overseer Baka.
Moses reforms the treatment of slaves on the project, but Prince Rameses, Moses's adoptive brother and Seti's son, charges him with
planning an insurrection. Moses says he is making his workers more productive, making Rameses wonder if Moses is the man the
Hebrews are calling the Deliverer.
Nefretiri learns from Memnet that Moses is the son of Hebrew slaves. She kills Memnet but reveals the story to Moses after he finds the
piece of Levite cloth he was wrapped in as a baby, which Memnet had kept. Moses follows Bithiah to Yochabel's house where he meets
his biological mother, brother Aaron, and sister Miriam.
Moses learns more about the slaves by working with them. Nefretiri urges him to return to the palace so he may help his people when he
becomes pharaoh, to which he agrees after he completes a final task. Moses saves Joshua from death by killing Baka, telling Joshua that
he too is Hebrew. The confession is witnessed by the overseer Dathan, who then reports to Prince Rameses. After being arrested, Moses
explains that he is not the Deliverer, but would free the slaves if he could. Seti I declares Prince Rameses his sole heir, and Rameses
banishes Moses to the desert. At this time Moses learns of the death of his mother.
Moses makes his way across the desert to a well in Midian. After defending seven sisters from Amalekites, Moses is housed with the girls'
father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, who worships the God of Abraham. Moses marries Jethro's eldest daughter Sephora. Later, he finds
Joshua, who has escaped from the hard labor imposed on the Hebrews in Egypt. While herding, Moses sees the burning bush on the
summit of Mount Sinai and hears the voice of God. Moses returns to Egypt to free the Hebrews.
Moses comes before Rameses, now Pharaoh Rameses II, to win the slaves' freedom, turning his staff into a cobra. Jannes performs the
same trick with his staves, but Moses's snake swallows his. Rameses prohibits straw from being provided to the Hebrews to make their
bricks. Nefretiri rescues Moses from being stoned to death by the Hebrews wherein he reveals that he is married.
Egypt is visited by plagues. Moses turns the river Nile to blood at a festival of Khnum and brings burning hail down upon Pharaoh's
palace. Moses warns him the next plague to fall upon Egypt will be summoned by Pharaoh himself. Enraged at the plagues, Rameses
orders that all first-born Hebrews will die, but a cloud of death instead kills all the first-born of Egypt, including the child of Rameses and
Nefretiri. Despairing at the loss of his heir, Pharaoh exiles the Hebrews, who begin the Exodus from Egypt.
After being taunted by Nefretiri, Rameses takes his chariots and pursues the Hebrews to the Red Sea. Moses uses God's help to stop the
Egyptians with a pillar of fire and parts the Red Sea. After the Hebrews make it to safety, Moses releases the walls of water, drowning the
Egyptian army. A devastated Rameses returns empty-handed to Nefretiri, stating that he now acknowledges Moses's god as God.
Moses again ascends the mountain with Joshua. He sees the Ten Commandments created by God in two stone tablets. Meanwhile, an
impatient Dathan urges a reluctant Aaron to construct a golden calf idol. A wild and decadent orgy is held by most of the Hebrews.
After God informs Moses of the orgy, the latter descends from the mountain and reunites with Joshua. Enraged at the sight of decadence,
he throws the tablets at the golden calf, which explodes, killing the wicked revelers, and causing the others to wander in the wilderness for
40 years. An elderly Moses later leads the Hebrews towards Canaan. However, he cannot enter the Promised land due to a mentioned
previous disobedience to the Lord. He instead names Joshua as leader, and bids farewell to the Hebrews at Mount Nebo.