The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American motion picture that dramatized the biblical story of Moses, an adoptedEgyptian prince-turned deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. It was released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starred Charlton Heston in the lead role. Co-stars included Yul Brynneras his adoptive brother, Pharaoh Ramesses II, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, John Derek as Joshua, Edward G. Robinson asDathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I, Vincent Price as Baka, and John Carradineas Aaron.
This was the last film that Cecil DeMille directed. He was set to direct his own remake of The Buccaneer, but his final illness forced him to relinquish the directing chores for that one to his son-in-law, Anthony Quinn. He had also planned to film the life of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Scout movement, with David Niven; this project was never realized.
The Ten Commandments is partially a remake of DeMille's 1923 silent film. Some of the cast and crew of the 1956 version worked on the original. It has since been remade again as a television miniseries broadcast in April 2006.
The Ten Commandments is one of the most financially successful films made, grossing over $65 million at the North American box office. Adjusting for inflation, this makes it the fifth highest grossing movie in North America, with an adjusted total of $977 million in 2010.
In 1999, The Ten Commandments was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "epics" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Ten Commandments was acknowledged as the tenth best film in the epic genre.
