Talk:The Ten Commandments (1956 film)

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Contents

[edit] Liberties

"Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the Biblical story, affecting the film's claim to authenticity," But this was a Cecil B. DeMille film! With a cast of thousands! Use of unattributed "critics" is often a prelude to a stumble. See also bathos.--Wetman 13:26, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Then perhaps there should be a mistakes section, as there are numerous blatant manipulations of the original biblical story in contrast with the movie's presentation. The same has been done in The Passion of the Christ article, and it certainly should be done here. SF2K1
The commentary track on the DVD reveals that a lot of those "liberties" were actually details of Moses' life that appear in the Q'ran which was used as a source. --Bluejay Young 16:26, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Just don't let the moderately sophisticated reader think we're killing a mouse with a sledgehammer here. --Wetman 05:38, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

Oop! here they go ! beginning a perfectly serious list of "Differences between the film and the biblical story"— in a film in which Anne Baxter plays an Egyptian princess! ...and no one dare laugh. This is Absolut Wikipedia! --Wetman 07:06, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

But killing mice with sledgehammers is fun! Besides, can we really expect them to have done acting and casting better considering this is a movie from 1956? Seriously though, I enjoy the movie immensly each time I watch it, same goes for The Prince of Egypt (but that wasn't as popular). I just think this movie is important enough to warrent a "differences" treatment, and the comparison to the passion is apropriate (in original story modification as well as popularity). Any movie based on a book is bound to be different, biblical basis seems to cause more trouble though. SF2K1

It is a great irony that most people, not being Bible scholars, have the notion that the movie adheres closely and literally to the Biblical narrative. This is certainly not the case! Another amusing irony is that in the Bible story, Moses proceeds very cautiously, afraid of being caught, while Pharaoh very boldly leads his army. In the movie, it is the opposite. Also, the Torah contains 613 commandments given by God through Moses. The movie only has ten, leaving out 603. Erudil 17:54, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] G-d?

Is it really necessary to use dashes instead of o's here? Should we rename God to G-d? I've temporarily changed them; if there is disagreement, I'm happy to discuss. Jonathan Christensen 15:26, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

I concur. john k 15:50, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Me, too. I hadn't noticed that dash-ification of the diety ... wonder when it snuck in? - DavidWBrooks 16:07, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
Probbly was me. G-d is a Jewish way of writting God so you don't have to write God to not abuse the referance God when speaking about God or something like that. I go back and forth. Doesn't matter which it is for this article really. SF2K1 20:25, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
In my day, "G-d" was a "polite" way of referring to a curse, along the lines of "S.O.B." or "the F-word" or whatever. "God" is an English word that is used to mean either a deity in general or, when captialized, as the "name" of "the" Deity, but it is not God's "real" name, nohow. It's not much different from using "Adonai". I'm not saying you're wrong about the Jewish usage, just that it's not mainstream. Wahkeenah 12:10, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Many Orthodox Jews consider writing the word "God" as a violation of the third Commandment, "You may not take God's name in vain." That is the origin of the habit of writing "God" as "G-d." I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home.66.108.4.183 05:00, 11 May 2006 (UTC) Allen Roth

[edit] Place in Highest Grossing Films

I noticed that there's a disparity on the topic of the placement of The Ten Commandments in terms of highest grossing movies of all time. The article says it's 5th when adjusted for inflation, making $838,000 when adjusted for inflation, but by wikipedia's own list of highest grossing films, this puts it in 26th place in the "adjusted for inflation" list. I don't know which fact is the correct one.

Go back and look again. I think you've lost a zero or three. 70.189.74.104 00:04, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Ten Commandments

"The ABC Television Network, along with Hallmark Entertainment, will present a new interpretation of the story of The Ten Commandments in the Spring of 2006."

This was posted in the moses article, is it true, and should we talk about it here?

[edit] Airing

Does ABC still continue to air the movie once a year around Passover / Easter? I remember they used to show the film at least once a year around this time, but I thought in recent years they stopped doing that.
JesseG

Yes, there was a time......when the only way you could see a film that had already "run" was waiting for it to come on television (and hoping that it would). If you lived in a large city with a "revival house" that showed old films, you could hope to see it there. "The Ten Commandments" was usually shown around Passover/Easter, and "King of Kings" around Christmas, and "The Wizard of Oz" around Thanksgiving, and "It's a Wonderful Life" also around Christmas. Now, everyone has his "Collector's Edition" DVD's, and can watch it in sensurround whenever he wants to...LOL How the world has changed... 66.108.105.21 20:26, 7 December 2006 (UTC) Allen Roth

Ooo. That poster that just went up is nice. --Bluejay Young 16:26, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] miscategorized?

in the categories at the bottom of the page, this is listed as a Christian film. I have to disagree. The story, while common to several religions, is classically a Jewish story. The film is even classified on the Talk Page as a Jewish film. should we change the category then? 151.202.37.184 02:29, 7 April 2007 (UTC){{subst:image source|Image:10com3.jpg)) Betacommand (talk • contribs • Bot) 01:01, 25 May 2007 (UTC) {{missing rationale|Image:10com3.jpg

I agree. It has nothing to do with Christianity per se, except to the extent that Christianity still acknowledges the Old Testament as a sacred text, and the ten commandments form the basis of the Christian commandments. But that is also true for Judaism and Islam. Just because it gets dragged out for broadcast on TV at Easter, does not make it a Christian story any more than "Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas" makes Dolly Parton an important part of the Christmas message. -- JackofOz 11:13, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

There really isn't anything Jewish about having Moses recieve the ten commandments, instead of the entire nation hearing them, as this national revelation (as opposed to one prophet saying G-d spoke to him) is the one of the greatest claims to truth of Judaism 141.151.178.221 00:50, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Another error?

In the movie, Moses, is surprised as an adult to discover that he's a Hebrew and not an Egyptian prince at all. While it's not explicit in the book of Exodus, there's no epiphany moment and it seems fairly obvious that Moses knows his heritage -- the first episode of his adult life relayed is his murder of the overseer who was abusing his countrymen. In fact, since his own mother was retained as his wet nurse, he was probably aware of his heritage from childhood! Is my reading off base here? --Jfruh (talk) 03:14, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Page moved to disambiguation page

Why was the title of this page changed? I can find no discussion about this, and I strongly object this change. A title like "The Ten Commandments (film)" appears to suggest that this is the one and only film of that title, but as becomes apparent from the article, this was only a remake of the 1923 film. Do see The Ten Commandments (1923 film). I am interested in learning:

  • an explanation of this change
  • more opinions

It is a bit strange that "The Ten Commandments (film)" was a redirect and not the disambiguation page that it should have been since 20 November 2005, which is the date the second article was made. Can the titlechanger, or anyone else who cares enough, please change it back and make a beginning with the writing of that disambiguation page at "The Ten Commandments (film)"? I think it should look something like

The Ten Commandments (film) may refer to:

{{disambig}}

Thank you in advance, 83.116.155.133 23:04, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Differences from the Bible - and Other Differences

The 5th paragraph in the "Differences from the Bible" section should be a separate section on its own, since it does not really have anything to do with the Bible. Erudil 17:52, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] CBDM's introductory comments?

Hey there, I just heard that (some version of?) The Ten Commandments has a well-known introduction delivered by the director himself... Is this true? And if so, what were the words (or better yet, any video clip found online?) BTW I heard this because the Sodenbergh film "Schizopolis" apparently parodies it by having him appear before the film saying "If you don't understand this movie, the problem is with YOU, not with the movie..." 199.214.27.209 19:20, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

I don't remember his words, but it's certainly been there every time I've ever seen the film - and that would be about 20 times. He comes out from behind a curtain on a theatre stage, and says whatever it was he says. -- JackofOz 07:40, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Problematic Pharaoh identifications?

This section is totally inappropriate and uncalled for. I'm sorry but just because the movie credits the character of Seti I with the victory over the Hittites and later shows him dying after a long reign does not mean that Sir Cedric Hardwicke's character is "really" Rameses II or that Yul Brynner is "really" playing Merenptah. It just means that the writers took facts from the life of one person and ascribed them to another.

Also, the actual result of the battle of Kadesh wouldn't have mattered to the Egyptians. They had no ethical tradition requiring them to record history accurately. That way of thinking came a thousand years later with Herodotus. To view the walls of Egyptian temples, one would think they won every battle they ever faught. What is even more interesting is that for some battles we have accounts from both sides and both sides claimed to have won an overwhelming victory! At Kadesh, Egyptian accounts credit Rameses II (yeah, ok, it was Rameses, not Seti) with holding off the entire Hittite army, singlehanded with bow and arrow, from his chariot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Beetfarm Louie (talk • contribs) 03:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Ten-commandments22.jpg

Image:Ten-commandments22.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 08:47, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:R2 2 010223.jpg

Image:R2 2 010223.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 04:02, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Uncredited cast

If the cast is uncredited, where do these actor names come from? Also, I find it strange / odd / bizarre / highly implausible that all of the uncredited cast members have last names that begin with the letter "A" or "B". That can't possibly be? Is this some incomplete list that someone started with the "A" and "B" actor surnames, and never completed? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 22:48, 8 March 2008 (UTC))

[edit] Baby Moses

At the time that Moses was discovered in a basket, it was during Ramses I's reign (father of Sethi I & grandfather of Ramses II). GoodDay (talk) 21:25, 25 March 2008 (UTC)