History YMMV / TheTenCommandments

* For the 1923 original, see [[Film/TheTenCommandments1923 HERE]]
* For the 1956 remake, see [[Film/TheTenCommandments1956 HERE]]

* AdaptationDisplacement: Everyone knows it's an extremely loose adaptation of [[Literature/TheBible the book of Exodus]], but this movie is also an extremely loose adaptation of three different novels, the writings of Philo and Josephus (which Creator/CecilBDeMille's acknowledges in his opening remarks), and Literature/TheQuran, and a remake of [=DeMille's=] own 1923 movie [[Film/TheTenCommandments1923 of the same name]].
* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Suffice it to say that most post-1956 adaptations of the Exodus story bear the unmistakable fingerprints of ''The Ten Commandments''. Most notably, it's down to this film that the Pharaoh of the Exodus is ''almost always'' identified as Rameses II in popular culture.
** Many adaptations since have portrayed Moses as being raised as a prince and potential heir to the Pharaoh, while also unaware of his heritage until shortly before or after his murder of the overseer. Neither of these plot elements are present in the original Exodus. In fact, it is strongly suggested there that Moses was aware of his true heritage all his life.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack, but especially the freeing of the slaves. It was composed by Music/ElmerBernstein, after all.
%%* EnsembleDarkhorse: Sethi, Memnet, Aaron and Jannes.
* EvilIsSexy:
** Rameses. A heart of stone and a body that looks like it's made of stone, courtesy of Creator/YulBrynner.
** To a certain extent, Baka. (Well, after all, ''Vincent Price.'')
** Nefretiti. Though at first she is more spoiled and then becomes progressively evil, being played by a woman as attractive as Creator/AnneBaxter means that the more evil she becomes, the more sexier she becomes too, oddly enough.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/VincentPrice play enemies in this film - both men would later play the lead role in cinematic adaptations of ''Literature/IAmLegend'', Price in ''Film/TheLastManOnEarth'' and Heston in ''Film/TheOmegaMan''.
** Rameses is not a fan of Moses. Nor was another character Yul Brynner played in [[Theatre/TheKingAndI another popular 1956 movie]].
** So, the overseer who gets killed by Moses is named UsefulNotes/{{Baka}}, eh?
* HollywoodHomely: The "plain" Sephora, played by [[http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/De%20Carlo,%20Yvonne/Annex/Annex%20-%20De%20Carlo,%20Yvonne_02.jpg Yvonne De Carlo]].
* JerkassWoobie:
** Nefretiri becomes bitchier and bitchier as the movie goes on, but it's easy to understand and sympathize given the conditions, especially when her son dies.
** Rameses II can definitely be seen as this, as the plagues bringing down his kingdom is his own fault.
** In a more humorous sense, Jannes the High Priest as Moses and God consistently humiliate and discredit him and his gods in front of Rameses II and the Royal Court.
* MemeticMutation: "Where is your God now?" (A line which [[BeamMeUpScotty appears nowhere in the movie, incidentally.]])
* MoralEventHorizon: When Rameses orders the death of the firstborn of Israel.
* {{Narm}}:
** Any time Nefretiri says Moses. "Moooses, Moooses..."
** A good chunk of the movie swings between this and NarmCharm. It was already kind of old-fashioned for 1956, as more films were being made with naturalistic acting. However, [=DeMille=] was a Victorian born and bred, and conceived this picture as a series of theatrical set pieces, called ''tableaux''. You can almost see the curtain fall at the close of each scene. And so the actors spoke that way too. An anonymous poster on [[https://www.datalounge.com/thread/6020504-random-horrible-lines-of-movie-dialogue The Data Lounge]] sums it up:
--->Hint: this film has no dialogue only exclamatory sentences to no one in particular.
** The expressions on the three womens faces as Moses parts the Red Sea.
** The absolutely terrible acting of the woman who spots Pharaoh's troops coming--"The chariots! Run! Run for your lives!" (Like many of the extras who played the children of Israel, she was an Egyptian local and not a professional actress.)
* NarmCharm: Try not to grin at "Moses, [[AccidentalInnuendo there is a man]] [[BestialityIsDepraved among the sheep]]!"
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/RobertVaughn makes his film debut as a spearman/Hebrew at the Golden Calf.
** Creator/ClintWalker has an early role in this as the Sardinian Captain, the captain seen with the viking hat in the background in the pharaoh's room.
* SignatureScene: Moses parting the Red Sea, along with his delivery of "'''BEHOLD, HIS MIGHTY HAND!!!'''"
* SpecialEffectFailure:
** Nina Foch is clearly wearing a white cap in lieu of white hair to demonstrate that Bithiah's aging in the time between Moses' exile and his return. Egyptian ladies did sometimes wear snoods like that, especially when traveling; so it works in context.
** The film contains a lot of ChromaKey, which was invented sixteen years earlier for ''[[Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940 The Thief of Bagdad]]''. Let's just say the technology was still primitive in 1956.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The parting of the Red Sea, accomplished by ''digging out two parking lots and the section of street between them'', to create an artificial waterfall on either side (as miniatures were deemed unconvincing). Years later, it's ''still'' the greatest scene ever photographed.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical:
** The movie is about godly people seeking freedom from a pagan dictator. In the introduction (theatrical and DVD/Blu-ray releases only), De Mille discusses the central theme of the film as about whether men are free individuals or the property of the state. Remember [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar the era this film was produced in]], and consider its possible hidden meanings.
** One of the film's themes is that people should be ruled over by set laws rather than the unrestricted whims of a dictator. Thus, the Ten Commandments are framed in quasi-Enlightenment terms as a proto-version of the Magna Carta or the U.S. Bill of Rights. Reinforced by [=DeMille=] encouraging the Fraternal Order of Eagles to distribute the now-controversial sculptures of the Ten Commandments tablets to courthouses across the country.
** He's also making a clear ShoutOut to the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, in which he fervently believed.
* TheWoobie: Lilia. Almost becomes a sex slave to Baka, separated from Joshua and forced to give in to Dathan to save Joshua, and nearly becomes a human sacrifice. The lyrics to her {{Leitmotif}} are "Death cometh to me to set me free".

** Many adaptations since has portrayed Moses as being raised as a prince and potential heir to the Pharaoh, while also unaware of his heritage until shortly before or after his murder of the overseer. Neither of these plot elements are present in the original Exodus. In fact, it is strongly suggested there that Moses was aware of his true heritage all his life.

** Every adaptation since has portrayed Moses as being raised as a prince and potential heir to the Pharaoh, while also unaware of his heritage until shortly before or after his murder of the overseer. Neither of these plot elements are present in the original Exodus. In fact, it is strongly suggested there that Moses was aware of his true heritage all his life.

* TheyCopiedItNowItSucks: The movie was criticized for copying the Moses in a basket scene from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''.

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Suffice it to say that most post-1956 adaptation of the Exodus story bears the unmistakable fingerprints of ''The Ten Commandments''. Most notably, it's down to this film that the Pharaoh of the Exodus is ''almost always'' identified as Rameses II in popular culture.