History Trivia / TheTenCommandments

* AFIS100YearsSeries:

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Cecil B. DeMille originally had the Commandments carved into two stone tablets quarried from Mount Horeb. They were never used in the film, because though he was a powerful man, Heston simply could not carry their weight. The ones seen on screen are wood replicas.

* RealityEnsues: Cecil B. DeMille originally had the Commandments carved into two stone tablets quarried from Mount Horeb. They were never used in the film, because though he was a powerful man, Heston simply could not carry their weight. The ones seen on screen are wood replicas.

** Victor Young, [=DeMille=]'s longtime collaborator, was approached to compose the score for the 1956 film with Elmer Bernstein writing the diegetic music. However, Young declined due to his deteriorating health, so Bernstein wrote the score in his place. Ironically, Young died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 10, 1956, only two days after the film's release.

* FollowTheLeader: The 1956 remake inspired Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer to produce their own epic, ''Literature/BenHur'', also starring Creator/CharltonHeston, which saved them from financial ruin.

** Also one for Creator/EdwardGRobinson, who was known for portraying gangsters and/or a Trope/Anti-Hero in film noirs (such as Film/DoubleIndemnity and Film/ScarletStreet), playing Trope/TheQuisling and the overseer of the Hebrew slaves.

** Also one for Creator/EdwardGRobinson, who was known for portraying gangsters and/or a Trope/AntiHero in film noirs (such as Film/DoubleIndemnity and Film/ScarletStreet)

* AllStarCast: To name a ''few'', Creator/CharltonHeston, Creator/YulBrynner, Creator/AnneBaxter, Creator/EdwardGRobinson, Yvonne [=DeCarlo=], Debra Paget, John Derek, Creator/CedricHardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Creator/VincentPrice, Creator/JohnCarradine...

* AllStarCast: To name a ''few'', Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Vincent Price, Edward G. Robinson, John Carradine, Anne Baxter, Martha Scott and Henry Corden.

* BannedInChina: Despite having allowed it to shoot in Egypt, UsefulNotes/GamalAbdelNasser banned ''The Ten Commandments'' when it actually came out. Unfortunately, its release date happened to occur at the height of the Suez Crisis, making Nasser no longer quite so keen on a film in which Israel shows up Egypt.

** [=DeMille=] wanted Creator/GraceKelly for Sephora, but she was unavailable. Creator/AnneBancroft, Creator/AnneBaxter, Creator/RuthRoman, Judith Ames, Shirley Booth, Diane Brewster, Peggie Castle, June Clayworth, Linda Darnell, Laura Elliot, Rhonda Fleming, Rita Gam, Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Green, Barbara Hale, Allison Hayes, Frances Lansing, Patricia Neal, Marie Palmer, Jean Peters, Barbara Rush, and Elizabeth Sellers were also considered for the part before Yvonne De Carlo was selected.

* FollowTheLeader: The 1956 remake inspired Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer to produce their own epic, ''Literature/BenHur'', which saved them from financial ruin.
* PlayingAgainstType: Interestingly enough, Creator/CharltonHeston. 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.

** 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 Creator/AnneBaxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]] Creator/AnnBlyth, Creator/VivienLeigh, Vanessa Brown, Joan Evans, Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Jane Griffiths, Jean Marie, Jane Russell, and Joan Taylor were were also considered.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: Creator/{{ABC}} has televised this film [[LongRunners every year but once since 1973]], according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki. (The one year they ''didn't'' air it, in 1999, they received more complaints for that than for anything else they did that season.) It typically airs on the night of Easter Sunday or the night before, although nothing in the movie has anything to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is because Easter is ([[http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/article/ZZ/20080319/NEWS/803199973 almost!]]) always the Sunday after Passover (or the paschal full moon, technically), the feast Jesus celebrated during the Last Supper, and is linked to Passover with Jesus being the new sacrificial lamb in Christianity.

** Victor Young, [=DeMille=]'s longtime collaborator, was approached to compose the score for the 1956 film with Elmer Bernstein writing the diegetic music. However, Young declined due to his deteriorating health, so Bernstein wrote the score in his place. Ironically, Young died only two days after the film's release.

* JerkassWoobie:
** 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.

* ActingForTwo: Creator/CharltonHeston also voices God. Like Ramses as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, this would be imitated by other films down the line.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: Creator/{{ABC}} has televised this film [[LongRunners every year but once since 1973]], according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki. (The one year they ''didn't'' air it, in 1999, they received more complaints for that than for anything else they did that season.)
** It typically airs on the night of Easter Sunday or the night before, although nothing in the movie has anything to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is because Easter is ([[http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/article/ZZ/20080319/NEWS/803199973 almost!]]) always the Sunday after Passover (or the paschal full moon, technically), the feast Jesus celebrated during the Last Supper, and is linked to Passover with Jesus being the new sacrificial lamb in Christianity.

* Victor Young, [=DeMille=]'s longtime collaborator, was approached to compose the score for the 1956 film with Elmer Bernstein writing the diegetic music. However, Young declined due to his deteriorating health, so Bernstein wrote the score in his place. Ironically, Young died only two days after the film's release.

** 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 Creator/AnneBaxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]] Creator/AnnBlyth, Creator/VivienLeigh, Vanessa Brown, Joan Evans, Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Jane Griffiths, Audrey Hepburn, Jean Marie, Jane Russell, and Joan Taylor were were also considered.

** Creator/GloriaSwanson was originally cast as Memnet, but she left because she was having trouble getting a backer for a musical stage version of ''Film/SunsetBoulevard''. The musical was abandoned in the early 1960s, even after a cast album was recorded during out-of-town tryouts. Creator/BetteDavis was interviewed for the part. Flora Robson, Marjorie Rambeau, and Marie Windsor were also considered, but [=DeMille=]
chose Judith Anderson after screening Alfred Hitchcock's ''Film/{{Rebecca}}''.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: Creator/{{ABC}} has televised this film [[LongRunners every year but once since 1973]], according to Wiki/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 Creator/AnneBaxter is wearing a dress so transparent you can see her nipples. Audrey would never have gone for that.)[[/note]] Creator/AnnBlyth and Creator/VivienLeigh were also considered.
** [=DeMille=] wanted Creator/GraceKelly for Sephora, but she was unavailable. Creator/AnneBancroft, Creator/AnneBaxter and Creator/RuthRoman were also considered before Yvonne De Carlo was selected.
** Creator/GloriaSwanson was originally cast as Memnet, but she left because she was having trouble getting a backer for a musical stage version of ''Film/SunsetBoulevard''. The musical was abandoned in the early 1960s, even after a cast album was recorded during out-of-town tryouts. Creator/BetteDavis was interviewed for the part.

** Creator/ClaudetteColbert were considered for Bithiah.
** Victor Young, [=DeMille=]'s longtime collaborator, was approached to compose the score for the 1956 film with Elmer Bernstein writing the diegetic music. However, Young declined due to his deteriorating health, so Bernstein wrote the score in his place. Ironically, Young died only two days after the film's release.