Posted on 04/02/2026 12:30:27 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
As we enter the Sacred Triduum, Hollywood is celebrating Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956), if not always the underlying message contained on those two ancient stone tablets Moses received at Mount Sinai c. 1446 BC.
The American biblical epic, starring Charleton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Ramses II, was a filmmaking masterpiece three years in the making.
Narrated by DeMille himself, it tells the story of Moses as an infant, as related in Exodus 2:5, rescued by Pharoah’s daughter, played by Nina Foch, who, discovering the crying babe lying in a papyrus basket in the bulrushes, adopts him. Moses’ sister Miriam, played by Olive Deering, seeing this, arranges for their mother, played by Martha Scott, to nurse Moses as this tender yet powerful tale unfolds, showing how he is educated and formed for the mission of leading the Hebrew slaves in their Exodus.
Three months after embarking from Egypt, Moses receives the Ten Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 19:1, marking the Israelites’ transition from their status as escaped slaves to a nation living under God’s laws.
The Ten Commandments was the director’s final film — shot in VistaVision and color by Technicolor on location in Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula — and the highest-grossing film of 1956. To this day it remains one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time, its adjusted equivalent an estimated $1.1 to $2.8 billion.
The film was released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1956 -- the date chosen not for any religious significance, but to tee it up for the Academy Awards, where it garnered seven nominations and one Oscar for Best Visual Effects...
(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...
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So let it be written. So let it be done.
This says they they dumped the water in, then ran the film in reverse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VHS3P6HW6Y
Grok:
**You’re absolutely correct.**
Jethro (also called Reuel in some passages) was a **Midianite**, not a descendant of Ishmael.
### Biblical Genealogy:
- **Midian** was the son of **Abraham** and **Keturah** (Abraham’s wife after Sarah died).
- Genesis 25:1-2 explicitly states:
> “Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, **Midian**, Ishbak and Shuah.”
- The **Midianites** were therefore Abraham’s descendants through Keturah, making them **half-brothers** (in ancestry) to Isaac and his descendants (the Israelites).
- The **Ishmaelites**, by contrast, were descendants of Abraham’s son **Ishmael** (with Hagar).
This is a common mix-up in movies and popular retellings. Many films (including *The Ten Commandments*, *The Prince of Egypt*, and others) loosely refer to Jethro and the Midianites as “Arab” or imply Ishmaelite connections for simplicity, but that is historically and biblically inaccurate.
Oy vey!
I saw Charlton Heston in 1966 in a stage production of “Man for All Seasons” (playing Sir Thomas More).
“…first DVD that I ever bought.“
It looks really good on 4K disc! Not as good as the new 4K Ben-Hur but still spectacular.
Where’s Your Messiah Now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mo4mkyVoIw
Singin’ in the Rain - Moses supposes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tciT9bmCMq8&t=9s
I have to ask
Where Did That third Photo originate ?
OH wow, I did an image search and pasted it because it looked cool. You’re right it’s from Cecil B. Demille’s 1927 “King of Kings”
DISCLAIMER. :)
Thanks for that film oddity video. My memory from probably 1973 wasn’t far off. Twice in the narration it says the film of water was turned upside down to look like it was flowing upward.
DeMille deleted the filmed frog plague scenes because they became unintentionally funny.
Did you see the movie Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)?
The frog scenes has one jumping out of an Egyptian woman’s cupboard toward her face and others causing everyone to shriek and run around. Definitely humorous among the creepy scenes of blook in the Nile and impending death.
+1.
typo. Blood in the Nile.
A Ha !
.
Jesus centered about to join A Thief!
.
The commentary on ‘The Ten Commandments’
said a cameo of This Jesus was done as the Hebrews were leaving Egypt!
The gentleman was on his Death Bed and Demille brought him By an Ambulance to the film to say;
“I Am water as poured Out..”
.
What a great Movie!
-PJ
So when/ channel is it to be shown this year ?
I remember very few movies I saw as a kid, but this one I remember clearly.
Mel is the best….
It’s a classic moment…
Heston’s movie version from 1988 is not bad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_for_All_Seasons_(1988_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEa6XRZa9Vg
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