The Ten Commandments
About The Ten Commandments
A prologue follows Moses, played by Theodore Roberts, from Egypt through the Red Sea to the tablets and the golden calf. In San Francisco, brothers Dan and John both love Mary. Dan, a crooked contractor, cheats on her with Sally Lung and builds a cathedral with bad materials. A falling wall kills their mother, Dan kills Sally, and he dies in a boat crash. John takes Mary in, and a light shows the disease she fears has not marked her.
Cast & crew
More about The Ten Commandments
Cecil B. DeMille produced and directed. Jeanie MacPherson wrote it. Wikipedia times it at 136 minutes. Wikidata says 146 minutes. Wikipedia dates the Los Angeles premiere December 4, 1923, and the New York premiere December 21, 1923. Wikidata lists November 23, 1923. Rod La Rocque plays Dan. Richard Dix plays John. Leatrice Joy plays Mary. Nita Naldi, Estelle Taylor, Charles de Rochefort, Charles Stanton Ogle, and Agnes Ayres are billed. Hugo Riesenfeld wrote the music. Photographers include Bert Glennon, J. Peverell Marley, Edward S. Curtis, Ray Rennahan, and Archie Stout. Some scenes use Technicolor process 2. Wikipedia states a budget of $1.5 million and a box office of $4.2 million. The Red Sea was shot at Seal Beach. A slab of Jell-O, sliced and filmed as it shook, stood in for the walls of water and was combined with the walkers.
Themes
In film history
First film in DeMille's biblical trilogy. The 1956 version returns only to the Exodus half.
Making
The sea trick is a Jell-O slab shot close and married to the live walk through.
Audiences
Wikipedia calls it a box-office hit and gives the figure $4.2 million against a $1.5 million budget.
Look
Bert Glennon, J. Peverell Marley, Edward S. Curtis, Ray Rennahan, and Archie Stout photographed it. The Red Sea walls were a sliced, shaking slab of Jell-O filmed at Seal Beach and combined with the live action.
Technique
Technicolor process 2 is used in part of the picture. The Red Sea effect combines a Jell-O shot with the Israelites walking.
Music
Hugo Riesenfeld composed the score.
Preservation
Entered the public domain in the United States in 2019.
Notes
- The modern half is the test of the commandments. The prologue is the Exodus.
- Public domain in the United States in 2019.
- The 1956 DeMille remake keeps the Exodus and drops the San Francisco story.
- It is the first of DeMille's biblical trilogy, before The King of Kings (1927) and The Sign of the Cross (1932).
Scenes
- The sea parts by means of the Jell-O shot.
- The golden calf.
- Dan's cathedral wall falls and kills his mother.
Influenced
- The Ten Commandments (1956)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Ten Commandments (1923).webm)
