The Ten Commandments
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Cecil B. De Mille
Theodore Roberts
Charles De Roche
Estelle Taylor
Julia Faye
Terrence Moore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A prolog depicts the Biblical stories from Exodus: the ill-treatment of the Jews by the Egyptians; their escape across the parted water of the Red Sea; the presentation to Moses of the Ten Commandments; Moses finding the Israelites worshipping the golden calf; and his breaking of the tablets. Main Story: The remainder of the film takes place in modern-day San Francisco. Two brothers, John and Dan McTavish, love Mary Leigh. She chooses Dan, who becomes a wealthy building contractor by using inferior materials and bribing the building inspector, Redding. This is the beginning of his downfall, ending in his death when he is crushed on the rocks in a motorboat accident. Before his death, Dan kills Sally Lung, his Asian mistress, while trying to obtain bribe money and then discovers that he may have contracted leprosy from her. Drunk and panicstricken, Dan takes the fatal boatride. Mary weds John.
Director
Cecil B. De Mille
Cast
Theodore Roberts
Charles De Roche
Estelle Taylor
Julia Faye
Terrence Moore
James Neill
Lawson Butt
Clarence Burton
Noble Johnson
Edythe Chapman
Richard Dix
Rod La Rocque
Leatrice Joy
Nita Naldi
Robert Edeson
Charles Ogle
Agnes Ayres
Viscount Glerawly
Crew
Anne Bauchens
Bert Glennon
Paul Iribe
Jesse L. Lasky
Jeanie Macpherson
Jeanie Macpherson
Peverell Marley
Roy Pomeroy
Archibald Stout
Cullen Tate
J. F. Westerberg
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Remade as Ten Commandments, The (1956), again by Cecil B. DeMille.
To create the water effect for the Red Sea parting two gelatin molds were jiggled on camera.
The Egyptian set seen in the prologue was, in reality, an enormous construction, and was actually considerably larger than the Babelon sets in D.W. Griffith's _Intolerance(1916)_ , to which they are often compared.
Most of the chariot crashes in the prologue were real and unplanned.
Notes
Cecil B. DeMille also directed the 1956 Paramount production The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. Unlike the 1923 film, the later version was entirely set in biblical times.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1923
Released in United States March 1980
Released in United States November 1971
Director Mervyn LeRoy was an extra on the film.
Released in United States 1923
Released in United States March 1980 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (The Epic: A Monumental Movie Marathon) March 4-21, 1980.)
Released in United States November 1971 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (A Tribute to the American Cinema) November 4-14, 1971.)
