History Trivia / TheTenCommandments

** Creator/BurtLancaster was considered for Moses.

** Creator/CecilBDeMille originally wanted Creator/AudreyHepburn for Nefretiri, but she was deemed too slim to wear Egyptian gowns.[[note]]This may have been an excuse. The Egyptian ideal of beauty for both sexes, but especially for women, was a very slender youthful appearance. Look at [[http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/beauty.htm any wall painting]]. The girls are all built exactly like her. A more likely explanation is that Audrey was too modest to wear the sheer, see-through gowns De Mille had in mind. (In the "Hounds & Jackals" scene Anne Baxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]] Ann Blyth, Vanessa Brown, Joan Evans, Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Jane Griffiths, Jean Marie, Jane Russell, Joan Taylor, and Creator/VivienLeigh were also considered.
** [=DeMille=] also wanted Creator/GraceKelly for Sephora, but she was unavailable. Judith Ames, Anne Bancroft, Anne Baxter, Shirley Booth, Diane Brewster, Peggie Castle, June Clayworth, Linda Darnell, Laura Elliot, Rhonda Fleming, Rita Gam, Jacqueline Green, Barbara Hale, Allison Hayes, Frances Lansing, Patricia Neal, Marie Palmer, Jean Peters, Ruth Roman, Barbara Rush, and Elizabeth Sellers were also considered before Yvonne De Carlo was selected.

* ActingForTwo: Creator/CharltonHeston also voices God. Make of that what you will.

* TroubledProduction: Completely {{averted|Trope}} with the 1956 film. The only thing that went wrong during production was when Creator/CecilBDeMille suffered a heart attack after he climbed 130 feet to check a malfunctioning camera on one of the giant gates used for the Exodus scene. After taking a break for a few days, [=DeMille=] went against doctor's orders and returned to complete the film.

* TroubledProduction: {{Averted|Trope}}. The only thing that went wrong during production of the 1956 remake was when Creator/CecilBDeMille suffered a heart attack after he climbed 130 feet to check a malfunctioning camera on one of the giant gates used for the Exodus scene. After taking a break for a few days, [=DeMille=] went against doctor's orders and returned to complete the film.

* TroubledProduction: {{Averted|Trope}}. The only thing that went wrong during production of the the 1956 remake was when Creator/CecilBDeMille suffered a heart attack after he climbed 130 feet to check a malfunctioning camera on one of the giant gates used for the Exodus scene. After taking a break for a few days, [=DeMille=] went against doctor's orders and returned to complete the film.

* TroubledProduction: {{Averted|Trope}}. The only thing that went wrong was when Creator/CecilBDeMille suffered a heart attack after he climbed 130 feet to check a malfunctioning camera on one of the giant gates used for the Exodus scene. He returned to complete the film against doctor's orders.

** Creator/CecilBDeMille originally wanted Creator/AudreyHepburn for Nefretiri, but she was deemed too slim to wear Egyptian gowns.[[note]]This may have been an excuse. The Egyptian ideal of beauty for both sexes, but especially for women, was a very slender youthful appearance. Look at [[http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/beauty.htm any wall painting]]. The girls are all built exactly like her. A more likely explanation is that Audrey was too modest to wear the sheer, see-through gowns De Mille had in mind. (In the "Hounds & Jackals" scene Anne Baxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]] Creator/VivienLeigh was also considered.
** [=DeMille=] also wanted Creator/GraceKelly for Sephora.

** Victor Young, a longtime composer for [=DeMille=]'s films, was considered to write the score for the 1956 film with Elmer Bernstein writing the diegetic music. However, due to Young's deteriorating health, the latter declined and Bernstein wrote the score in his place; Young died only two days after the film's release.

** Quite a few cast members, such as Anne Baxter, Debra Paget, John Derek and Nina Foch, had to wear brown contact lenses as [=DeMille=] felt that their light-colored eyes didn't suit their characters. However, it was averted with Yvonne De Carlo, who asked the director to make an exception for her; [=DeMille=] accepted her request.

** Victor Young was considered to write the score for the 1956 film with Elmer Bernstein writing the diegetic music. However, due to Young's deteriorating health, the latter declined and Bernstein wrote the score in his place; Young died only two days after the film's release.

* DyeingForYourArt: When Creator/YulBrynner was told he would be playing Pharaoh Rameses II opposite Creator/CharltonHeston's Moses and that he would be shirtless for a majority of the film, he began a rigorous weightlifting program because at 5'8" he did not want to be physically overshadowed by 6'2" Heston.
** Katherine Orrison, in the DVDCommentary, said Brynner was already in great shape, since he was pretty active, and "a lot of that was just ''him''."

* EnforcedMethodActing: Of a sort. Heston, many years later, told of how on one Egyptian location shoot, many of the locals were rounded up to serve as a huge crowd of extras... many of whom didn't even need to be dressed up as they were still wearing that sort of clothes today, and didn't really have the scene explained to them other than very basically. As Heston walked through the crowd in costume during the scene, he heard many of them whispering "Mosah! Mosah!"... and realized they thought that ''he actually was Moses''.

** De Mille, normally very kind to his actors, said mildly nasty stuff to Deborah Paget before the scene where she becomes Dathan's sex slave, so she would be appropriately distraught. He even ''warned'' his actors ahead of time that he might do this, and asked them to please understand he wanted to set the proper moods. [[NiceGuy Awwww]].

* SelfAdaptation: Creator/CecilBDemille remade his 1923 silent film.

* CareerResurrection: Creator/EdwardGRobinson said that Creator/CecilBDeMille saved his career by hiring him for this movie. Robinson had been almost blacklisted for his left-wing political activism, and offers of work had dried up as a result. DeMille hiring Robinson for this film undermined the Hollywood blacklist.

* ActorAllusion: On behalf of the two main leads.
** Creator/CharltonHeston's [[Film/BenHur1959 other best-known role]] also has him playing a Jewish character, who returns after being years away to set things right.
** In Creator/YulBrynner's case, it's good to be the king. Prior to this role, [[Theatre/TheKingAndI he's running Siam and wooing the English tutor]] in both the Broadway musical and later the film. Ironically in that role, Anna tells the story of Moses, and he responds,"This Moses is a fool." Three years later, Brynner would go on to play [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_and_Sheba King Solomon.]]

** Creator/CecilBDeMille originally wanted Creator/AudreyHepburn for Nefretiri, but she was deemed too slim to wear Egyptian gowns.[[note]]This may have been an excuse. The Egyptian ideal of beauty for both sexes, but especially for women, was a very slender youthful appearance. Look at [[http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/beauty.htm any wall painting]]. The girls are all built exactly like her. A more likely explanation is that Audrey was too modest to wear the sheer, see-through gowns De Mille had in mind. (In the "Hounds & Jackals" scene Anne Baxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]]

** Creator/BetteDavis was interviewed for Memnet.

** When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1989, the introduction was reinstated, and future VHS and Laserdisc releases for the next decade had the introduction before the Overture with the exception of the 1991 35th anniversary letterbox release, which presented the introduction after the Overture, as originally released to theaters. As of the 1999 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction after the Overture, though ABC's airings still don't have it.

** When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1989, the introduction was reinstated, and future VHS releases for the next decade had the introduction after the Overture. As of the 1999 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction before the Overture, as originally shown in theaters, though ABC's airings still don't have it.

** When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1989, the introduction was reinstated, and future VHS releases for the next decade had the introduction after the Overture. As of the 1999 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction before the Overture as originally shown, though ABC's airings still don't have it.

* EditedForSyndication: When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1989, the introduction was reinstated, and future VHS releases for the next decade had the introduction after the Overture. As of the 1999 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction before the Overture as originally shown, though ABC's airings still don't have it.

* EditedForSyndication: When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1989, the introduction was reinstated, and future VHS releases for the next decade had the introduction after the Overture. As of the 1999 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction before the Overture as originally shown, though ABC's airings still don't have it.

* MissingEpisode: Not the whole film, but a part of it. When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1990, the introduction was reinstated, but removed again from home video releases after that. As of the 2001 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction intact, though ABC's airings still don't have it.

* MissingEpisode: Not the whole film, but a part of it. When the film was first reissued in 1966, Paramount removed [=DeMille=]'s introduction from the beginning of the movie, before the Overture and opening credits, and this version was the basis for future screenings of the movie for over 24 years, as well as ABC's annual broadcasts of the movie. When ''The Ten Commandments'' was restored in 1990, the introduction was reinstated, but removed again from home video releases after that. As of the 2001 DVD release, all home video releases of the movie have the introduction intact.

** Creator/CharltonHeston's [[Film/BenHur other best-known role]] also has him playing a Jewish character, who returns after being years away to set things right.

* BeamMeUpScotty: In one of his routines, Billy Crystal made up the line "[[WhereIsYourXNow Where's your Messiah now, Moses]]?" for the Edward G. Robinson character. It stuck, even though nobody in ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' ever talks about the Messiah. The closest line that Robinson says is "There goes your deliverer," which he addresses to a crowd of Hebrews after they're told to make bricks without straw while Moses is taken away.

** Katherine Orrison, in the DVD commentary, said Brynner was already in great shape, since he was pretty active, and "a lot of that was just ''him''."

* PlayingAgainstType: Interestingly enough, Charlton Heston. Prior to this old Chuck had mostly played tough, cynical men, while this gave him his first real chance to play a truly wise and noble hero.
* RealLifeRelative: Moses as an infant was played by Charlton Heston's real life son, Frasier Heston.
* ScullyBox: While they were both rugged, muscular men with deep commanding voices, there was simply no getting around the fact that Yul Brynner was a lot shorter than Creator/CharltonHeston, so all they could do was have Creator/YulBrynner either stand on a box out of frame or otherwise have him standing on something like a staircase so Brynner would appear eye level with Heston. The one place you can really see it is the water temple scene. Brynner pours clear water out of an urn, then drops it as the water turns red; immediately following is a wide shot of the two confronting each other across the stage.

* DawsonCasting: Seti I was less than forty when he unexpectedly died. Cedric Hardwicke was sixty-three when he played him.

* [[BackedByThePentagon Backed by the Egyptian Army]]: The Egyptian Cavalry Corps played the Pharaoh's chariot host. The EAF also helped create sand storms by using their jet engines.

* EverybodyHatesHades: Rameses II lays his dead son in the arms of an idol he addresses as "Dread Lord of Darkness". The lighting, background music and Brynner's attitude suggest he's praying to Satan. Actually, this is Sokar, better known as Seker, the guide of the dead, a kindly disposed deity who is also a form of the risen Osiris [[note]]i.e., an Ancient Egyptian equivalent of ''Jesus Christ''[[/note]] and patron of craftspeople and builders. De Mille DidTheResearch on this too. Both Seti I and Rameses II had art depicting Seker in their private chambers. He is one of the oldest Egyptian deities.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: Creator/{{ABC}} has televised this film [[LongRunners every year but once since 1973]], according to TheOtherWiki. (The one year they ''didn't'' air it, they received more complaints for that than for anything else they did that season.)

** Creator/CecilBDeMille originally wanted Creator/AudreyHepburn for Nefretiri, but she was deemed too slim to wear Egyptian gowns.[[note]]This may have been an excuse. The Egyptian ideal of beauty for both sexes, but especially for women, was a very slender youthful appearance. Look at [[http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/beauty.htm any wall painting]]. The girls are all built exactly like her. A more likely explanation is that Audrey was too modest to wear the sheer, see-through gowns De Mille had in mind. (In The "Hounds & Jackals" scene Anne Baxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]]
** DeMille also wanted Creator/GraceKelly for Sephora.

* ScullyBox: While they were both rugged, muscular men with deep commanding voices, there was simply no getting around the fact that Yul Brynner was a lot shorter than Creator/CharltonHeston, so all they could do was have Creator/YulBrynner either stand on a box out of frame or otherwise have him standing on something like a staircase so Brynner would appear eye level with Heston.

** Creator/CecilBDeMille originally wanted Creator/AudreyHepburn for Nefretiri, but she was deemed too slim to wear Egyptian gowns.

* [[BackedByThePentagon Backed by the Egyptian Army]]: The Egyptian Cavalry Corps played the Pharaoh's chariot host.
* BeamMeUpScotty: In one of his routines, Billy Crystal made up the line "[[WhereIsYourXNow Where's your Messiah now, Moses]]?" for the Edward G. Robinson character. It stuck, even though nobody in ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' ever talks about the Messiah.

* DyeingForYourArt: When Creator/YulBrynner was told he would be playing Pharaoh Rameses II opposite Creator/CharltonHeston's Moses and that he would be shirtless for a majority of the film, he began a rigorous weightlifting program because he did not want to be physically overshadowed by Heston.