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Fruit of the Loom
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Fruit of the Loom, Inc.
Industry
Retail
Founded
1851; 166 years ago (1851)
Warwick, Rhode Island, United States
Founder
Robert Knight
Headquarters
Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Products
Clothing, Underwear
Parent
Berkshire Hathaway (since 2002)
Subsidiaries
Russell Brands
Website
www.fruit.com
Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002 it has been a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
Contents
[hide]
1 Company profile
2 History
3 References
4 External links
Company profile[edit]
Fruit of the Loom headquarters building in Bowling Green, Kentucky
Fruit of the Loom is one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of men's and boys' underwear, women's and girls' underwear, printable T-shirts and fleece for the activewear industry, casualwear, women's jeanswear and childrenswear. The company employs more than 32,400 people worldwide.
Fruit of the Loom also controls another long-known underwear brand, B.V.D. (Bradley, Voorhees, and Day). Other brands also manufactured and sold by the company are Funpals/FunGals, Screen Stars and Underoos. Brands once owned or marketed by Fruit of the Loom include Gitano, Munsingwear, Salem Sportswear, and Pro Player, which once had the naming rights to what is now Hard Rock Stadium (originally Joe Robbie Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida from 1996 to 2005, despite bankruptcy by the parent company in 1999.[citation needed]
Hanes and Jockey are the main competitors of Fruit of the Loom.
The company's familiar logo comprising a red apple, leaves, green grapes, currants, and purple grapes forms a widely recognizable trademark. The company is a vertically integrated manufacturer. In TV commercials for the brand, actors play the roles of only four of the logo's parts: the apple, green grapes, purple grapes, and leaves. The role of "Apple" is played by Rad Daly, and the "Leaf" was at one time played by Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, and has been played by Gene Steichen since the Fruit Guys were re-introduced to the public in 2001. "Green Grapes" is played by Richard Steven Horvitz. "Purple Grapes" is played by Wayne Wilderson.
Robert Knight, founder of Fruit of the Loom
Fruit of the Loom acquired Russell. Brands includes Russell Athletic, Brooks Running and Spalding among other names in athletic wear.
History[edit]
1921 newspaper ad for Fruit of the Loom muslin fabric
The Fruit of the Loom brand dates back to 1851 in Rhode Island[1][2] when Robert Knight, a textile mill owner, visited his friend, Rufus Skeel. Skeel owned a small shop in Providence that sold cloth from Knight's mill. Skeel's daughter painted images of apples and applied them to the bolts of cloth. The ones with the apple emblems proved most popular. Mr. Knight thought the labels would be the perfect symbol for his trade name, Fruit of the Loom – an expression referring to clothes, paralleling the phrase "fruit of the womb" meaning "children", which can be traced back to use in the Bible (Psalm 127:3).
In 1871, just one year after the first trademark laws were passed by Congress, Knight received trademark number 418 for the brand "Fruit of the Loom".
Much of its athletic outerwear was sold under the "Pro Player" label, a now defunct division.
The company was part of Northwest Industries, Inc., until NWI was purchased by William F. Farley in 1985 and renamed Farley Industries, Inc.[3] Farley served as president, chief executive officer (CEO), and majority shareholder for 15 years. Fruit of the Loom's sales revenue rose from approximately $500 million at the time of NWI's purchase to roughly $2.5 billion nearly 15 years later. Debt financing, once seen as brilliant, proved difficult to manage even as sales revenue quintupled.[citation needed]
On March 23, 1987, it sold its subsidiary General Battery to Exide Corporation.[4]
Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1999 shortly after posting a net loss of $576.2 million.[5] Its 66 million shares of outstanding common stock dropped in value from about $44 per share in early 1997 to just more than $1 by spring 2000. Reasons for the bankruptcy are varied. A large debt load which was assumed in the 1980s, a common practice at the time, did not help. William F. Farley, the company's former chairman, CEO, and chief operating officer (COO), was forced out prior to bankruptcy in late 1999, after having piloted the company into massive debt and unproductive business ventures, including structuring the company into an off-shore entity in the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes.[citation needed]
The company was bought from bankruptcy by Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, controlled by investor Warren Buffett, who wanted the valuable brand. He agreed in January 2002 to purchase the company for approximately $835 million in cash. The deal was concluded on April 29, 2002. A condition of the purchase required that former COO and then interim CEO John Holland remain available to be the CEO for the company.[6]
The company purchased Russell Corporation, effectively taking the former competitor private, in a deal valued at $598.3 million that was completed August 1, 2006.[7]
The company announced the purchase of VF Corporation's intimate apparel company named Vanity Fair Intimates for $350 million in cash on January 23, 2007.[8]
In 2010, Rick Medlin was named president and CEO of Fruit of the Loom. Longtime CEO John Holland became the company's chairman.[9]
In 2014, the company closed its Jamestown (Kentucky) plant, which had once been the second manufacturing plant in the state, and laid off all 600 employees.[10] The company said it was moving the plant's operations to Honduras to reduce production costs.[11]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Fruit of the Loom". fotlinc.com. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
Jump up ^ Rhodes, Margaret (March 24, 2014). "Why Fruit Of The Loom Is Designing More Than Just Undies". Fast Co Design. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
Jump up ^ Northwest Industries Inc. The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2005 Chicago Historical Society.
Jump up ^ company-news-fruit-of-the-loom.html
Jump up ^ "Fruit of the Loom Files for Chapter 11". Los Angeles Times. December 30, 1999. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
Jump up ^ Buffett, Warren (February 28, 2002). "Chairman's letter". Berkshire Hathaway. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
Jump up ^ "Berkshire agrees to buy Russell for $598.3M in cash". MarketWatch. April 17, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
Jump up ^ "VF Corp. sells intimate apparel unit to Fruit of the Loom". MarketWatch. January 23, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2007. This company was renamed Vanity Fair Brands and is operated as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Jump up ^ Maze, Brent (August 10, 2010). "New CEO to lead Fruit | The Alexander City Outlook". AlexCityOutlook.com. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
Jump up ^ Estep, Bill (March 21, 2015). "Jobs gone, Fruit of the Loom's unpaid property tax bill remains in Russell County". Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ Beam, Adam (April 3, 2014). "Fruit of the Loom to close U.S. plant, move jobs to Honduras". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Associated Press. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
Kentucky portal
Companies portal
Fashion portal
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fruit of the Loom.
Fruit of the Loom underwear
The Fruit of the Loom Guys Creator
Farley looks for Congressional help November 1, 1999.
Berkshire Hathaway Announcement of Fruit of the Loom Acquisition April 30, 2002.
Buffett's Berkshire to buy Russell April 17, 2006.

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The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the 1923 film, see The Ten Commandments (1923 film).
The Ten Commandments
Original theatrical release poster
Directed by
Cecil B. DeMille
Produced by
Cecil B. DeMille
Screenplay by
Aeneas MacKenzie
Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
Jack Gariss
Fredric M. Frank
Based on
Prince of Egypt
by Dorothy Clarke Wilson
Pillar of Fire
by J.H. Ingraham
On Eagle's Wings
by A.E. Southon
Book of Exodus
Starring
Charlton Heston
Yul Brynner
Anne Baxter
Edward G. Robinson
Yvonne De Carlo
Debra Paget
John Derek
Narrated by
Cecil B. DeMille
Music by
Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography
Loyal Griggs
Edited by
Anne Bauchens
Production
company
Cecil B DeMille production
Distributed by
Paramount Pictures
Release date
October 5, 1956 (1956-10-05) (US)
Running time
220 minutes[1]
(with intermission)
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$13 million[2]
Box office
$122.7 million[3]
(initial release)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American biblical epic film produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille,[4] shot in VistaVision (color by Technicolor), and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson,[5] Pillar of Fire by J.H. Ingraham,[6] On Eagle's Wings by A.E. Southon,[7] and the Book of Exodus. The Ten Commandments dramatizes the biblical story of the life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and therefore leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives, from God, the Ten Commandments. The film stars Charlton Heston in the lead role, Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, and John Derek as Joshua; and features Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yoshebel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka, among others.[4]
Filmed on location in Egypt, Mount Sinai and the Sinai Peninsula, the film was DeMille's last and most successful work.[8] It is a partial remake of his 1923 silent film of the same title, and features one of the largest sets ever created for a film.[8] The film was released to cinemas in the US on October 5, 1956[9] and, at the time of its release, was the most expensive film ever made.[8]
In 1957, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (John P. Fulton, A.S.C.).[10] Charlton Heston was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for his role as Moses.[10] Yul Brynner won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his role as Rameses and his other roles in Anastasia and The King and I.[10] It is also one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing approximately $122.7 million at the box office during its initial release; it was the most successful film of 1956 and the second-highest-grossing film of the decade. According to Guinness World Records, in terms of theatrical exhibition it is the seventh most successful film of all-time when the box office gross is adjusted for inflation.
In 1999, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The film was listed as the tenth best film in the epic genre.[11][12] Network television has aired the film in prime time during the Passover/Easter season every year since 1973.
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
3.1 Writing
3.2 Casting
3.3 Art direction
3.4 Special effects
3.5 Music
4 Release
5 Reception
5.1 Box office
5.2 Critical response
5.3 Accolades
6 Popularity
7 Home media
8 Television broadcast
9 See also
10 References
10.1 Sources
11 External links
Plot[edit]
Pharaoh Rameses I of Egypt orders the death of all firstborn Hebrew males. Yoshebel saves her infant son by setting him adrift in a basket on the Nile. Bithiah, the Pharaoh's daughter, finds the basket and decides to adopt the boy even though her servant, Memnet, recognizes the child is Hebrew. Bithiah names the baby Moses.
Prince Moses grows up to become a successful general, winning a war with Ethiopia and establishing an alliance. Moses and princess Nefretiri fall in love, but she must marry the next Pharaoh. While working on the building of a city for Pharaoh Sethi's jubilee, Moses meets the stonecutter Joshua, who tells him of the Hebrew God. Moses saves an elderly woman from being crushed, and he reprimands the taskmaster and overseer Baka. Moses does not know that the woman is his biological mother, Yoshebel.
Moses reforms the treatment of slaves on the project, but Prince Rameses, Moses's adoptive brother, charges him with planning an insurrection. Moses says he is making his workers more productive. Rameses wonders if Moses is the man the Hebrews are calling the Deliverer.
Nefretiri learns from Memnet that Moses is the son of Hebrew slaves. She kills Memnet but reveals the story to Moses only after he finds the piece of Levite cloth he was wrapped in as a baby, which Memnet had kept. Moses follows Bithiah to Yoshebel's house where he meets his birth mother and family.
Moses learns more about the slaves by working with them. Nefretiri urges him to return to the palace so he may help his people when he becomes pharaoh, to which he agrees after he completes a final task. Moses saves Joshua from death by choking Baka to death while also breaking the latter's neck in the process, telling Joshua that he too is Hebrew. The confession is witnessed by the overseer Dathan. Dathan tells Rameses, who then arrests Moses. Moses explains that he is not the Deliverer, but would free the slaves if he could. Rameses is declared the next Pharaoh. Rameses banishes Moses to the desert.
Moses makes his way across the desert to a well in Midian. After defending seven sisters from Amalekites, Moses is housed with the girls' father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, who worships the God of Abraham. Moses marries Jethro's eldest daughter Sephora.
Moses finds Joshua, who has escaped hard labor. Moses sees the burning bush on the summit of Mount Sinai and hears the voice of God. Moses returns to Egypt to free the Hebrews.
Moses comes before Rameses, now pharaoh, to win the slaves' freedom, turning his staff into a cobra. Jannes performs the same trick with his staves, but Moses's snake is superior. Rameses prohibits straw from being provided to the Hebrews to make their bricks. Nefretiri rescues Moses from being stoned to death by the Hebrews. He tells her he is married.
Egypt is visited by plagues. Moses turns the river Nile to blood at a festival of Khnum and brings burning hail down upon Pharaoh's palace. Moses warns him the next plague to fall upon Egypt will be summoned by Pharaoh himself. Enraged at the plagues, Rameses orders all first-born Hebrews to die. Instead, a cloud of death kills all the firstborn of Egypt, including the child of Rameses and Nefretiri. Angrily, Pharaoh exiles the Hebrews, which begins the Exodus from Egypt.
Rameses takes his army and pursues the Hebrews to the Red Sea. Moses uses God's help to stop the Egyptians with a pillar of fire. Moses parts the Red Sea and the Hebrews struggle toward the other side. Moses releases the walls of water, drowning the Egyptian army. Rameses returns empty-handed to Nefretiri, telling her, "His god is God".
Moses again ascends the mountain with Joshua. Impatiently, Dathan urges the Hebrews to construct a golden calf idol as a gift for Rameses. A wild and decadent orgy is held by most of the Hebrews.
Moses sees the Ten Commandments created by God in two stone tablets. Moses descends from the mountain to the sight of decadence. He throws the tablets at the golden calf, which explodes, killing the wicked revelers.
Forty years later, an elderly Moses leads the Hebrews to Canaan. He names Joshua as leader, and walks alone out of Israel.
Cast[edit]
Charlton Heston as Moses and the voice of God at the Burning Bush
Fraser Heston as The Infant Moses
Yul Brynner as Rameses II
Anne Baxter as Nefretiri
Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora
Debra Paget as Lilia
John Derek as Joshua
Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi
Nina Foch as Bithiah
Martha Scott as Yochabel
Judith Anderson as Memnet
Vincent Price as Baka
John Carradine as Aaron
Olive Deering as Miriam
Douglass Dumbrille as Jannes
Frank de Kova as Abiram
Henry Wilcoxon as Pentaur
Eduard Franz as Jethro
Donald Curtis as Mered
Lawrence Dobkin as Caleb
H. B. Warner as Amminadab
Julia Faye as Elisheba
Lisa Mitchell as Jethro's daughter (Lulua)
Noelle Williams as Jethro's daughter
Joanna Merlin as Jethro's daughter
Pat Richard as Jethro's daughter
Joyce Vanderveen as Jethro's daughter
Diane Hall as Jethro's daughter
John Miljan as The Blind One
Francis J. McDonald as Simon
Ian Keith as Rameses I
Paul De Rolf as Eleazar
Woodrow Strode as King of Ethiopia
Tommy Duran as Gershom
Eugene Mazzola as Rameses' Son, Amun
Ramsay Hill as Korah
Joan Woodbury as Korah's Wife
Esther Brown as Princess Tharbis
Babette Bain as Little Miriam[13]
Production[edit]
Writing[edit]
The final shooting script was written by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, and Fredric M. Frank.[14] It also contained material from the books Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Pillar of Fire by Joseph Holt Ingraham, and On Eagle's Wings by Arthur Eustace Southon.[15] Henry Noerdlinger, the film's researcher, consulted ancient historical texts such as the Midrash Rabbah, Philo's Life of Moses, and the writings of Josephus and Eusebius in order to "fill in" the missing years of Moses' life,[15] and as the film's last opening title card states, "the Holy Scriptures."
Casting[edit]
Charlton Heston, who had previously worked with DeMille in The Greatest Show on Earth, won the part of Moses after he impressed DeMille (at his audition) with his knowledge of ancient Egypt. Interestingly enough, William Boyd, DeMille's first choice to be auditioned to be Moses in the film, refused the part. Heston was also chosen to be the voice of God in the form of a burning bush, toned down to a softer and lower register.[citation needed]
Heston's newborn son, Fraser (born February 12, 1955), was cast by DeMille (on the suggestion of Henry Wilcoxon, who said to him "The timing's just right. If it's a boy, who better to play the Baby Moses?") as soon as Heston announced to DeMille that his wife Lydia was pregnant.[16] Fraser Heston was three months old during filming.[17]
The part of Nefretiri, the Egyptian throne princess, was considered "the most sought after role of the year" in 1954.[18] Ann Blyth, Vanessa Brown, Joan Evans, Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Jane Griffiths, Audrey Hepburn, Jean Marie, Vivien Leigh, Jane Russell, and Joan Taylor were considered for the part.[19] DeMille liked Audrey Hepburn but dismissed her because of her figure, which was considered too slim for the character's Egyptian gowns.[20] Anne Baxter (who was considered for the part of Moses' wife) was cast in the role.[21]
Judith Ames, Anne Bancroft, Anne Baxter, 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, Ruth Roman, Barbara Rush, and Elizabeth Sellers were considered for the part of Sephora.[22] Grace Kelly, DeMille's first choice, was unavailable.[22] DeMille was "very much impressed" with Yvonne De Carlo's performance as a "saintly type of woman" in MGM's Sombrero.[23][24] He "sensed in her a depth, an emotional power, a womanly strength which the part of Sephora needed and which she gave it."[25] Sephora is the Douay–Rheims version of the name of Zipporah.[26]
Merle Oberon and Claudette Colbert were considered for the role of Bithiah before DeMille chose Jayne Meadows (who declined) and finally cast Nina Foch, on the suggestion of Henry Wilcoxon, who had worked with her in Scaramouche.[27]
For the role of Memnet, Flora Robson was considered and Bette Davis was interviewed (DeMille's casting journal also notes Marjorie Rambeau and Marie Windsor)[28] but DeMille chose Judith Anderson after screening Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.[27]
Henry Wilcoxon's wife Joan Woodbury was cast as Korah's wife in the Golden Calf sequence.[29]
DeMille was reluctant to cast anyone who had appeared in 20th Century Fox's The Egyptian,[30] a rival production at the time.[31] Several exceptions to this are the casting of John Carradine and Mimi Gibson (in credited supporting roles) and Michael Ansara and Peter Coe (in uncredited minor roles), who appeared in both films.
For the Large Crowd shots, at least 14,000 extras and 15,000 animals were used while filming this movie.[32]
Art direction[edit]
The Ten Commandments (shortened version) written in 10th century BC characters, like on DeMille's tablets
Commentary for the film's DVD edition chronicles the historical research done by DeMille and associates. Katherine Orrison says that many details of Moses' life left out of the Bible are present in the Quran, which was sometimes used as a source. She also presents some coincidences in production. The man who designed Moses' distinctive rust-white-and-black-striped robe used those colors because they looked impressive, and only later discovered that these are the actual colors of the Tribe of Levi. Arnold Friberg would later state that he was the one who designed Moses' costume. As a gift, after the production, DeMille gave Moses' robe to Friberg, who had it in his possession until his death in 2010. Moses' robe as worn by Charlton Heston was hand-woven by Dorothea Hulse, one of the world's finest weavers. She also created costumes for The Robe, as well as textiles and costume fabrics for Samson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba, and others.
Jesse Lasky Jr., a co-writer on The Ten Commandments, described how DeMille would customarily spread out prints of paintings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema to inform his set designers on the look he wanted to achieve. Arnold Friberg, in addition to designing sets and costumes, also contributed the manner in which Moses ordained Joshua to his mission at the end of the film: by the laying on of hands, placing his hands on Joshua's head. Friberg, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, demonstrated the LDS manner of performing such ordinations, and DeMille liked it.
Pharaoh is usually shown wearing the red-and-white crown of Upper and Lower Egypt or the nemes royal headdress. For his pursuit of the Israelites, he wears the blue Khepresh helmet-crown, which the pharaohs wore for battle.
Sets, costumes and props from the film The Egyptian were bought and re-used for The Ten Commandments. As the events in The Egyptian take place 70 years before the reign of Rameses II, an unintentional sense of continuity was created.
An Egyptian wall painting was also the source for the lively dance performed by a circle of young women at Seti's birthday gala. Their movements and costumes are based on art from the Tomb of the Sixth Dynasty Grand Vizier Mehu.[33] Some of the film's cast members, such as Baxter, Paget, Derek, and Foch, wore brown contact lenses, at the behest of DeMille, in order to conceal their light-colored eyes which were considered inadequate for their roles.[34] Paget once said that, "If it hadn't been for the lenses I wouldn't have got the part."[34] However, she also said that the lenses were "awful to work in because the kleig lights heat them up".[34] When DeMille cast Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, she was worried about having to wear these contact lenses; she also believed that her gray eyes were her best feature.[35] She asked DeMille to make an exception for her. He agreed, expressing the idea that De Carlo's role was special, and that Moses was to fall in love with her.[35]
Special effects[edit]
Rear projection, an in-camera effect, placed cloud effects behind Charlton Heston
The "blue screen" technique was used for this composite shot
The special photographic effects in The Ten Commandments were created by John P. Fulton, A.S.C. (who received an Academy Award for his effects in the film), head of the special effects department at Paramount Pictures, assisted by Paul Lerpae, A.S.C. in Optical Photography (blue screen "travelling matte" composites) and Farciot Edouart, A.S.C., in Process Photography (rear projection effects).[36] Fulton’s effects included the building of Sethi’s Jubilee treasure city, the Burning Bush, the fiery hail from a cloudless sky, the Angel of Death, the composites of the Exodus, the Pillar of Fire, the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the tour de force, the parting of the Red Sea.[37] The parting of the Red Sea was considered the most difficult special effect ever performed up to that time.[37] This effect took about six months of VistaVision filming, and combined scenes shot on the shores of the Red Sea in Egypt, with scenes filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood of a huge water tank split by a U-shaped trough, into which approximately 360,000 gallons of water were released from the sides, as well as the filming of a giant waterfall also built on the Paramount backlot to create the effect of the walls of the parted sea out of the turbulent backwash.[38] All of the multiple elements of the shot were then combined in Paul Lerpae's optical printer, and matte paintings of rocks by Jan Domela concealed the matte lines between the real elements and the special effects elements.[39] Unlike the technique used by ILM for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Poltergeist of injecting poster paints into a glass tank containing a salt water inversion layer, the cloud effects for The Ten Commandments were formed with white Britt smoke filmed against a translucent sky backing, and colors were added optically.[40] Striking portraits of Charlton Heston as Moses and three women in front of menacing clouds were photographed by Wallace Kelly, A.S.C. in Farciot Edouart’s process (rear projection) department, in what are still considered unforgettable scenes.[40] DeMille used these scenes to break up the montage, framing his subjects like a Renaissance master.[40] An abundance of blue screen spillage or "bleeding" can be seen, particularly at the top of the superimposed walls of water, but rather than detracting from the shot, this (unintentionally) gives the scene an eerie yet spectacular appearance. The parting of the Red Sea sequence is considered by many to be one of the greatest special effects of all time.[41]
DeMille was reluctant to discuss technical details of how the film was made, especially the optical tricks used in the parting of the Red Sea. It was eventually revealed that footage of the Red Sea was spliced with film footage (run in reverse) of water pouring from large U-shaped trip-tanks set up in the studio backlot.[42][43][44]
Music[edit]
The score for The Ten Commandments was composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein. Initially, DeMille hired Bernstein, then a relatively unknown film composer, to write and record only the diegetic music required for the film's dance sequences and other onscreen musical passages, with the intention of employing frequent collaborator Victor Young to write the score proper. However, Young turned down the assignment due to his own failing health, causing DeMille to hire Bernstein to write the underscore as well.[45]
In total, Bernstein composed two and a half hours of music for the film, writing for a full symphony orchestra augmented with various ethnic and unusual instruments such as the shofar, the tiple, and the theremin. The score is written in a highly Romantic style, featuring unique musical leitmotifs for the film's characters (God, Moses, Rameses, Nefretiri, etc.) used in a manner inspired, at DeMille's direction, by the opera scores of Richard Wagner.[45] Bernstein recorded both the diegetic music and the score at the Paramount Studios Recording Stage in sessions spread from April 1955 to August 1956.[46]
A double-LP monaural soundtrack album was released in 1957 by Dot Records, utilizing excerpts from the original film recordings. A stereo version of the 1957 album was released in 1960 containing new recordings conducted by Bernstein, as the original film recordings, while recorded in three-channel stereo, were not properly balanced for an LP stereo release, as the intent at the time of recording had been to mix the film masters to mono for the film soundtrack itself; this recording was later issued on CD by MCA Classics in 1989. For the film's tenth anniversary, United Artists Records released a second stereo re-recording in 1966, also conducted by Bernstein and employing different orchestral arrangements unique to this release.[47]
For the film's 60th anniversary, Intrada Records released a six-CD album of the score in 2016. The Intrada release contains the complete two and a half hour score as originally recorded by Bernstein, with much of it remixed in true stereo for the first time. In addition, the 2016 release contains all the diegetic music recorded for the film, the original 1957 Dot album (in mono), the 1960 Dot album (in stereo), and the 1966 United Artists album, as well a 12-minute recording of Bernstein auditioning his thematic ideas for DeMille on the piano.
Release[edit]
Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner at the New York premiere
Anne Baxter at the New York premiere
Yvonne De Carlo and Bob Morgan, her husband, at the New York premiere
Cecil B. DeMille promoted the film by placing Ten Commandment monuments as a publicity stunt for the film in cities across the United States.[48] The Ten Commandments premiered at New York City's Criterion Theatre on November 8, 1956.[49] Among those who attended the premiere were Cecil B. DeMille and his daughter Cecilia DeMille Harper, Charlton Heston and his wife Lydia Clarke, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo and her husband Bob Morgan, Martha Scott and her husband and son, John Wayne and his wife Pilar Pallete, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and Barney Balaban. It played on a roadshow basis with reserved seating until mid-1958, when it finally entered general release.[50] It was re-released in 1966 and 1972, and one more time in 1989. The 1972 and 1989 re-issues included 70mm and 35mm prints that reframed the picture's aspect ratio to 2.20:1 and 2.35:1, respectively, cropping the top and bottom of the picture's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.[51] The Ten Commandments was released on DVD on March 30, 1999; March 9, 2004, as a Special Collector's Edition; and March 29, 2011, as a Special edition and Standard edition.[52]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Ten Commandments was the highest-grossing film of 1956 and the second most successful film of the decade. By April 1957, the film had earned an unprecedented $10 million from engagements at just eighty theaters, averaging about $1 million per week, with more than seven million people paying to watch it.[50] During its initial release, it earned theater rentals (the distributor's share of the box office gross) of $31.3 million in North America and $23.9 million from the foreign markets, for a total of $55.2 million (equating to approximately $122.7 million in ticket sales).[3] It was hugely profitable for its era, earning a net profit of $18,500,000,[53] against a production budget of $13.27 million (the most a film had cost up to that point).[2]
By the time of its withdrawal from distribution at the end of 1960, The Ten Commandments had overtaken Gone with the Wind at the box office in the North American territory,[54] and mounted a serious challenge in the global market—the worldwide takings for Gone with the Wind were reported to stand at $59 million at the time.[55] Gone with the Wind would be re-released the following year as part of the American Civil War Centennial, and reasserted its supremacy at the box office by reclaiming the US record.[54] Also at this time, Ben-Hur—another biblical epic starring Charlton Heston released at the end of 1959—would go on to eclipse The Ten Commandments at the box office.[3][56] A 1966 reissue earned $6,000,000,[57] and further re-releases brought the total American theater rentals to $43 million,[58][59] equivalent to gross ticket sales of $89 million at the box office.[51] Globally, it ultimately collected $90,066,230 in revenues up to 1979.[60]
It remains one of the most popular films ever made. Adjusted for inflation, it has earned a box office gross equivalent to $2 billion at 2011 prices, according to Guinness World Records; only Gone with the Wind (1939), Avatar (2009), Star Wars (1977), Titanic (1997), The Sound of Music (1965), and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) have generated higher grosses in constant dollars.[61]
Critical response[edit]
As Mr. DeMille presents it in this three-hour-and-thirty-nine-minute film, which is by far the largest and most expensive that he has ever made, it is a moving story of the spirit of freedom rising in a man, under the divine inspiration of his Maker. And, as such, it strikes a ringing note today.
Bosley Crowther for The New York Times[62]
The Ten Commandments received generally positive reviews after its release, although some reviewers noted its divergence from the biblical text. Bosley Crowther for The New York Times was among those who lauded DeMille's work, acknowledging that "in its remarkable settings and décor, including an overwhelming facade of the Egyptian city from which the Exodus begins, and in the glowing Technicolor in which the picture is filmed—Mr. DeMille has worked photographic wonders."[62] Variety described the "scenes of the greatness that was Egypt, and Hebrews by the thousands under the whip of the taskmasters" as "striking," and believed that the film "hits the peak of beauty with a sequence that is unelaborate, this being the Passover supper wherein Moses is shown with his family while the shadow of death falls on Egyptian first-borns."[63]
The film's cast was also complimented. Variety called Charlton Heston an "adaptable performer" who, as Moses, reveals "inner glow as he is called by God to remove the chains of slavery that hold his people."[63] It considered Yul Brynner "expert" as Rameses, too.[63] Anne Baxter's performance as Nefretiri was criticized by Variety as leaning "close to old-school siren histrionics,"[63] but Crowther believed that it, along with Brynner's, is "unquestionably apt and complementary to a lusty and melodramatic romance."[62] The performances of Yvonne De Carlo and John Derek were acclaimed by Crowther as "notably good."[62] He also commended the film's "large cast of characters" as "very good, from Sir Cedric Hardwicke as a droll and urbane Pharaoh to Edward G. Robinson as a treacherous overlord."[62]
Leonard Maltin, a contemporary film critic, gave the film four out of four stars and described it as "vivid storytelling at its best... parting of the Red Sea, writing of the holy tablets are unforgettable highlights."[64]
Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected 33 reviews and gave the film a rating of 94% "Certified fresh" approval rating, with an average rating of 7.5/10 and the site's consensus stating: "Bombastic and occasionally silly but extravagantly entertaining, Cecil B. DeMille's all-star spectacular is a muscular retelling of the great Bible story."[65]
Camille Paglia has called The Ten Commandments one of the ten greatest films of all time.[66]
Accolades[edit]
The Ten Commandments won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects (John P. Fulton).[67] It was also nominated for Best Color Art Direction (art directors Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, and Albert Nozaki and set decorators Sam Comer and Ray Moyer), Best Color Cinematography (Loyal Griggs), Best Color Costume Design (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins, and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing (Anne Bauchens), Best Motion Picture (Cecil B. DeMille) and Best Sound Recording (Paramount Studio Sound Department and sound director Loren L. Ryder).[67] Paramount submitted the names of Yvonne De Carlo, John Derek, and Debra Paget for the supporting player categories (even though they received star billing in the film) at the 29th Academy Awards,[68] but the actors did not receive nominations.
Charlton Heston's performance as Moses was ranked as the 4th Best Performance by a Male Star of 1956 by The Film Daily's Filmdom's Famous Five Poll.[69] Heston was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama[70] and later won the Fotograma de Plata Award for Best Foreign Performer in 1959.[71]
Yul Brynner won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his performance as Rameses.[72]
Cecil B. DeMille won many special awards for the film. He received, among others, the Los Angeles Examiner Award,[73] the Boxoffice Blue Ribbon Award for the Best Picture of the Month (January 1957),[74] the Photoplay Achievement Award,[73] and The Christian Herald's Reader's Award for the Picture of the Year (1957).[73]
The Maryland State Council of the American Jewish Congress awarded the Stephen S. Wise Medallion to DeMille for "most inspiring film of the year."[73][75] Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, and Martha Scott also received awards for their acting.[75][76][77]
The film was also included in several of the annual top ten film lists, such as those featured in The Film Daily and Photoplay.[73]
The American Film Institute included the film as #10 in the epic film category in AFI's 10 Top 10, #79 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers, and named Moses as the #43 hero in AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains.
Popularity[edit]
Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the biblical story of Exodus, compromising the film's claim to authenticity, but neither this nor its nearly four-hour length has had any effect on its popularity. In fact, many of the supposed inaccuracies were actually adopted by DeMille from extra-biblical ancient sources, such as Josephus, the Sepher ha-Yashar, and the Chronicle of Moses. Moses's career in Ethiopia, for instance, is based on ancient midrashim.[78] For decades, a showing of The Ten Commandments was a popular fundraiser among revivalist Christian Churches, while the film was equally treasured by film buffs for DeMille's "cast of thousands" approach and the heroic but antiquated early-talkie-type acting.
Home media[edit]
The artist's rendering of Charlton Heston as Moses added increased muscle, as per modern physique standards, when the DVD was released
The Ten Commandments has been released on DVD in the United States on four occasions: the first edition (Widescreen Collection) was released on March 30, 1999 as a two-disc set,[79] the second edition (Special Collector's Edition) was released on March 9, 2004, as a two-disc set with commentary by Katherine Orrison,[80] the third edition (50th Anniversary Collection) was released on March 21, 2006 as a three-disc set with the 1923 version and special features,[81] and the fourth edition (55th Anniversary Edition) was released on DVD again in a two-disc set on March 29, 2011, and for the first time on Blu-ray in a two-disc set and a six-disc limited edition gift set with the 1923 version and DVD copies.[82] In 2012, the limited edition gift set won the Home Media Award for Best Packaging (Paramount Pictures and JohnsByrne).[83]
Television broadcast[edit]
With the exception of 1999,[84] The Ten Commandments has been broadcast annually on the ABC network since 1973, traditionally during the Passover and Easter holidays. Since 2006 the network has typically aired The Ten Commandments on the Saturday night prior to Easter, with the broadcast starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones and 6:00 p.m. Central and Mountain. The film is the only pre-scheduled ABC Saturday Movie of the Week of the year.
Unlike many lengthy films of the day, which were usually broken up into separate airings over at least two nights, ABC elected to show The Ten Commandments in one night and has done so every year it has carried the film, with one exception; in 1997, ABC elected to split the movie in two and aired half of it in its normal Easter Sunday slot, which that year was March 30, with the second half airing on Monday, March 31 as counterprogramming to the other networks' offerings, which included CBS' coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game.[85]
The length of the film combined with the necessary advertisement breaks has caused its broadcast window to vary over the years, and today, ABC's total run time for The Ten Commandments stands at four hours and forty-four minutes. This requires the network to overrun into the 11:00 pm (10:00 pm CT/MT) timeslot that belongs to the local affiliates, thus delaying their late local news and any other programming the station may air in the overnight hours (with some stations forgoing a late newscast entirely and giving personnel the evening off). When the film has aired on Easter Sunday, affiliates are given the ability to tape delay the showing an hour ahead to 8 p.m. ET/PT to keep their schedules in line for early evening, though at the cost of delaying their local newscasts to 12:45 a.m. (11:45 p.m. CT/MT).
In 2010, the film was broadcast in high definition for the first time, which allowed the television audience to see it in its original VistaVision aspect ratio. In 2015, for the first time in several years, the network undertook a one-off airing of the film on Easter Sunday night, which fell on April 5.[86]
Ratings by year (since 2007)
Year
Airdate
Rating
Share
Rating/Share
(18–49)
Viewers
(millions)
Rank
(timeslot)
Rank
(night)
2007 4-07-2007 TBA 7.87 TBA TBA TBA TBA
2008 3-22-2008 4.7 9 2.3/7 7.91 1 1
2009 4-11-2009 4.2 8 1.7/6 6.81 1 1
2010[87] 4-03-2010 TBA TBA 1.4/5 5.88 2 3
2011[88] 4-23-2011 1.6/5 7.05 1 1
2012[89] 4-07-2012 6.90 TBA TBA
2013[90] 3-30-2013 1.2/4 5.90 2 2
2014[91] 4-19-2014 1.0/4 5.87 1 1
2015[92] 4-05-2015 1.4/5 6.80 TBA TBA
2016[93] 3-26-2016 0.8/3 5.42 2 2
2017[94] 4-15-2017 5.18 1 1
2018[95] 3-31-2018 0.6/3 4.75 1 1
See also[edit]
List of films based on the Bible
List of American films of 1956
The Prince of Egypt
List of films featuring slavery
Whitewashing in film
References[edit]
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^ Jump up to: a b Reported budgets:
Hall & Neale 2010, p. 159. "... a record $13,266,491".
Birchard 2004, ch. 70. The Ten Commandments. "$13,272,381".
^ Jump up to: a b c Block & Wilson 2010, p. 327.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Ten Commandments". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved November 13, 2016.
Jump up ^ Wilson, Dorothy Clarke (1949). Prince of Egypt (1st ed.). London: Westminster Press. ISBN 9781938659034.
Jump up ^ Ingraham, J.H. (2013). The Pillar of Fire (Release ed.). India: Palala Press. ASIN 1340906422. ISBN 978-1340906429. CS1 maint: ASIN uses ISBN (link)
Jump up ^ Southon, A.E. (1939). On Eagles' Wings. Oxford: Lowe and Brydone. OCLC 1436234.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Life Magazine - Nov 12, 1956, pg. 115". Life. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
Jump up ^ "The Ten Commandments". Box Office Mojo. October 5, 1956. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Internet Movie Database – Awards for The Ten Commandments (1956)". Retrieved November 17, 2011.
Jump up ^ American Film Institute (June 17, 2008). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
Jump up ^ "Top 10 Epic". American Film Institute. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
Jump up ^ "Riselle Bain: Called by the spotlight". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sarasota, Florida: New Media Investment Group. December 22, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014. When legendary director Cecile B. DeMille was screening schoolchildren for the role of Moses' older sister Miriam, he asked Riselle Bain if she could recite a poem from memory.... Bain completed all four verses of "Daffodils" and that's the short version of how she wound up in the 1956 classic The Ten Commandments.... She would likely have introduced herself as Babette, her second name, which is how she is credited in the DeMille film and her other Hollywood endeavors. (front page newspaper story with video, Sarasota, Florida) Photo as Miriam.
Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 36.
^ Jump up to: a b Eyman 2010, p. 440.
Jump up ^ Wilcoxon and Orrison, Lionheart in Hollywood. p. 245
Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 29.
Jump up ^ Parsons, Louella (June 4, 1954). "Joan Bennett Gets Top Role in Bogart Film". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 54.
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Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 49.
^ Jump up to: a b Orrison 1999, p. 54-55.
Jump up ^ Hopper, Hedda (December 29, 1956). "Yvonne DeCarlo Settles Down to Domestic Life". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
Jump up ^ Nelson, Valerie J. (January 11, 2007). "Actress Yvonne De Carlo, of 'Munsters' fame, dies". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
Jump up ^ DeMille 1959, p. 416.
Jump up ^ Noerdlinger 1956, p. 70.
^ Jump up to: a b Orrison 1999, p. 51.
Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 53.
Jump up ^ Wilcoxon and Orrison, Lionheart in Hollywood, p.309
Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 7.
Jump up ^ Orrison 1999, p. 6.
Jump up ^ "The Ten Commandments (1956) Trivia".
Jump up ^ "Party Time in Ancient Egypt".
^ Jump up to: a b c Belser, Emily (June 1, 1955). "Now Stars Change Eyes Just Like Pair Of Shoes". The Miami News. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b Katherine Orrison's audio commentary for The Ten Commandments 50th Anniversary Collection DVD (2006)
Jump up ^ The Ten Commandments (Motion picture) credits: DeMille, Cecil B.
^ Jump up to: a b Brosnan, John (1974). Movie Magic (1st ed.).St. Martin’s Press, Inc.: New York. Pp. 77-80. ISBN 0356046990.
Jump up ^ The Ten Commandments (Documentary: “Making Miracles”) (Six-Disc Limited Edition Blu-Ray/DVD Combo) Cecil B. DeMille / Paramount. Hollywood, California: Paramount Pictures.2011
Jump up ^ Matte Shot – A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX: The Wild and Wonderful World of John P. Fulton. http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2010/08/wild-and-wonderful-world-of-john.html Retrieved 5 July 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b c Mandell, Paul R. (April 1983) "Parting the Red Sea (and Other Miracles)". American Cinematographer, pp. 125-126.
Jump up ^ Stanbury, Patrick, (5 April 2004) Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic. Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Jump up ^ Den of Geek. "Top 50 Movie Special Effects Shots". Retrieved January 2, 2009.
Jump up ^ PBS. "NOVA Online/Special Effects/All About Special Effects/Trivia Quiz (Answers)". Retrieved January 2, 2009.
Jump up ^ "The Parting Of The Red Sea". The Art & Science of Movie Special Effects. Archived from the original on October 29, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b DeWald, Frank K. (2016). "So Let It Be Written. So Let It Be Done". The Ten Commandments: 60th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection. Intrada Records.
Jump up ^ "Technical Notes". The Ten Commandments: 60th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection. Intrada Records. 2016.
Jump up ^ Fake, Douglas (2016). "Tech Talk from the Producer". The Ten Commandments: 60th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection. Intrada Records.
Jump up ^ "MPR: The Ten Commandments: Religious or historical symbol?". News.minnesota.publicradio.org. September 10, 2001. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
Jump up ^ Eyman, Scott (2010). Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1439180415.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Ten Commandments (1956) – Notes". TCM database. Turner Broadcasting System. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b Block & Wilson 2010, p. 392.
Jump up ^ The Ten Commandments. Paramount Home Media Distribution. Paramount Pictures. March 30, 1999. ASIN 0792154649. OCLC 982298797. CS1 maint: ASIN uses ISBN (link)
Jump up ^ Steinberg, Cobbett (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 23. ISBN 0-87196-313-2.
^ Jump up to: a b Hall & Neale 2010, pp. 160–161.
Jump up ^ Oviatt, Ray (April 16, 1961). "The Memory Isn't Gone With The Wind". Toledo Blade. p. 67–68.
Jump up ^ Block & Wilson 2010, p. 324.
Jump up ^ Holston, Kim R. (2012). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. McFarland. ISBN 0786460628.
Jump up ^ "All-Time Top Film Rentals". Variety. 1998. Archived from the original on October 7, 1999. Retrieved October 7, 1999. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
Jump up ^ Stempel, Tom (2001). American Audiences on Movies and Moviegoing. University Press of Kentucky. p. 24. ISBN 9780813121833.
Jump up ^ Birchard 2004, ch. 70. The Ten Commandments.
Jump up ^ Glenday, Craig, ed. (2011). Гиннесс. Мировые рекорды 2012 [Guinness World Records 2012] (in Russian). Translated by P.I. Andrianov & I.V. Palova. Moscow: Astrel. p. 211. ISBN 978-5-271-36423-5.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Crowther, Bosley. New York Times Film Reviews: Best Picture Picks from the 1950s. The New York Times. New York City: The New York Times Company. ISBN 1625395590.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Review: "The Ten Commandments"". Varietypublisher=Penske Media Corporation. United States. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
Jump up ^ Maltin, Leonard (2009). Leonard Maltin's 2010 Movie Guide. New York City: Plume. ISBN 1101108762.
Jump up ^ The Ten Commandments at Rotten Tomatoes
Jump up ^ al., Nick James, et. "BFI - Sight & Sound - Top Ten Poll 2002 - How the directors and critics voted".
^ Jump up to: a b "The 29th Academy Awards (1957) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
Jump up ^ "Paramount Reduces 'Ten' Billings Of De Carlo, Derek, Paget To Get 'Em In Oscar Race". Variety. January 4, 1957. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ Bahn, Chester B. (December 26, 1956). "Brynner, Magnani Cop Filmland's Poll Stevens' Direction of 'Giant' Votes Year's Best In National Poll Of Critics; Perkins Is '56 Discovery; 3 Honors To Strasberg". The Sandusky Register. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
Jump up ^ "The Ten Commandments (1 nomination)". goldenglobes.org. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Palmarés década 50 - Fotogramas de Plata". fotogramas.es. Fotogramas (es). Retrieved August 19, 2013.
Jump up ^ "National Board of Review of Motion Pictures - Awards - Best Actor". nbrmp.org. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Register of the Cecil B. DeMille Photographs, ca. 1900s-1950s, 1881-1959". Brigham Young University. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Boxoffice Magazine - February 16, 1957, pg. 26". Boxoffice. Retrieved August 29, 2013. [permanent dead link]
^ Jump up to: a b "Hollywood Report: Baltimore". Boxoffice. May 4, 1957. Retrieved May 8, 2014. [permanent dead link]
Jump up ^ "DeMille Honored For Bible Movie". Spokane Daily Chronicle. March 19, 1957. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Jewish Award For DeMille". The Spokesman-Review. March 20, 1957. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
Jump up ^ L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Philadelphia 1967; A. Shinan, "Moses and the Ethiopian Woman: Sources of a Story in The Chronicle of Moses", Scripta Hierosolymitana 27 (1978).
Jump up ^ Jacobson, Colin. "The Ten Commandments (1956) - DVD Movie Guide". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
Jump up ^ "The Ten Commandments (Special Collector's Edition)". DVD Talk. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
Jump up ^ "The Ten Commandments - 50th Anniversary Collection". DVD Talk. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
Jump up ^ Tom Woodward (January 12, 2011). "Paramount has revealed official details on the 1956 Charlton Hestone movie". DVD Active. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
Jump up ^ "Home Media Award Winners by Category". Home Media Magazine. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
Jump up ^ de Moraes, Lisa (April 5, 1999). "The 'Ten Commandments': ABC's Exodus?". The Washington Post.
Jump up ^ TV Guide listings for March 29 – April 4, 1997.
Jump up ^ "ABC to Broadcast "The Ten Commandments" on Easter". Channel Guide Magazine.
Jump up ^ Robert Seidman (April 4, 2010). "TV Ratings: Duke Blows Past West Virginia, Moses". TV by the Numbers.
Jump up ^ "Network Overnight Daily TV Nielsen Ratings – Saturday, April 23, 2011". Television-Ratings.INFO. April 25, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
Jump up ^ Berman, Marc. "The Ten Commandments Lifts ABC to Saturday Victory". TV Media Insights. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
Jump up ^ "TV Ratings Saturday: NCAA Basketball Easily Wins Pre-Easter Saturday". TV by the Numbers. March 31, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
Jump up ^ "TV Ratings Saturday: Moses Knocks Out 'UFC on FOX' as 'The Ten Commandments' Wins Night; 'Dateline' & '48 Hours' Rise". TV by the Numbers. April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
Jump up ^ "TV Ratings Sunday: 'Madam Secretary' Slides, 'The Good Wife' Stays at Low + 'American Odyssey' Premieres Soft as 'A.D.: The Bible Continues' Tops Night". TV by the Numbers. April 6, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
Jump up ^ Porter, Rick (March 27, 2016). "TV Ratings Saturday: NCAA dominates for CBS, 'Ten Commandments' down a bit". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
Jump up ^ Welch, Alex (April 16, 2017). "TV Ratings Saturday: 'Ransom' finale falls, NHL Playoffs perform well". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
Jump up ^ Welch, Alex (April 1, 2018). "TV ratings Saturday: 'The Ten Commandments,' 'Dateline,' and '48 Hours' lead another quiet night". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
Sources[edit]
Birchard, Robert (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813123240.
Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061963452.
DeMille, Cecil B. (1959). The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0824057570.
Eyman, Scott (2010). Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1439180415.
Hall, Sheldon; Neale, Stephen (2010). Epics, spectacles, and blockbusters: a Hollywood history. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-3008-1.
Louvish, Simon (2008). Cecil B. DeMille: A Life in Art. Macmillan. ISBN 0312377339.
Noerdlinger, Henry (1956). Moses and Egypt. University of Southern California Press. ISBN 1258130270.
Reid, John Howard (2013). Big Screen Bible Lore. Raleigh, North Carolina: Lulu Books. p. 144. ISBN 978-1304300300.
Reid, John Howard (2006). Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24. Raleigh, North Carolina: Lulu Books. p. 315. ISBN 978-0557720866.
Orrison, Katherine (1999). Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Vestal Press. ISBN 1461734819.
Wilcoxon, Henry; Orrison, Katherine (1991). Lionheart in Hollywood: the autobiography of Henry Wilcoxon. Metuchen, NJ and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-2476-0.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Ten Commandments (1956 film).
Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
Official website
The Ten Commandments on IMDb
The Ten Commandments at the TCM Movie Database
The Ten Commandments at Box Office Mojo
The Ten Commandments at Rotten Tomatoes
Production design drawings for The Ten Commandments, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Costume design drawings for The Ten Commandments, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
[show]
v
t
e
Films directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Silent
The Squaw Man (1914)
Brewster's Millions (1914)
The Master Mind (1914)
The Only Son (1914)
The Man on the Box (1914)
The Call of the North (1914)
The Virginian (1914)
What's His Name (1914)
The Man from Home (1914)
Rose of the Rancho (1914)
The Ghost Breaker (1914)
The Girl of the Golden West (1915)
After Five (1915)
The Warrens of Virginia (1915)
The Unafraid (1915)
The Captive (1915)
The Wild Goose Chase (1915)
The Arab (1915)
Chimmie Fadden (1915)
Kindling (1915)
Carmen (1915)
Chimmie Fadden Out West (1915)
The Cheat (1915)
Temptation (1915)
The Golden Chance (1915)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916)
The Heart of Nora Flynn (1916)
Maria Rosa (1916)
The Dream Girl (1916)
Joan the Woman (1916)
Lost and Won (1917)
A Romance of the Redwoods (1917)
The Little American (1917)
The Woman God Forgot (1917)
Nan of Music Mountain (1917)
The Devil-Stone (1917)
The Whispering Chorus (1918)
Old Wives for New (1918)
We Can't Have Everything (1918)
Till I Come Back to You (1918)
The Squaw Man (1918)
Don't Change Your Husband (1919)
For Better, for Worse (1919)
Male and Female (1919)
Why Change Your Wife? (1920)
Something to Think About (1920)
Forbidden Fruit (1921)
The Affairs of Anatol (1921)
Fool's Paradise (1921)
Saturday Night (1922)
Manslaughter (1922)
Adam's Rib (1923)
The Ten Commandments (1923)
Triumph (1924)
Feet of Clay (1924)
The Golden Bed (1925)
The Road to Yesterday (1925)
The Volga Boatman (1926)
The King of Kings (1927)
Walking Back (1928)
The Godless Girl (1929)
Sound
Dynamite (1929)
Madam Satan (1930)
The Squaw Man (1931)
The Sign of the Cross (1932)
This Day and Age (1933)
Four Frightened People (1934)
Cleopatra (1934)
The Crusades (1935)
The Plainsman (1936)
The Buccaneer (1938)
Union Pacific (1939)
North West Mounted Police (1940)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
Unconquered (1947)
Samson and Delilah (1949)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Buccaneer (1958)
[show]
v
t
e
Book of Exodus media
Art
The Crossing of the Red Sea (1482)
Crossing of the Red Sea (1542)
The Crossing of the Red Sea (1634)
The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1634)
Victory O Lord! (1871)
Film
Biblical
The Ten Commandments (1923)
The Moon of Israel (1924)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Moses und Aron (1973)
Moses the Lawgiver (1974)
Moses (1995)
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
The Exodus Decoded (2006)
The Ten Commandments (2006)
The Ten Commandments (2007)
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
The Ten Commandments: The Movie (2016)
Modern settings
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
The Reaping (2007)
Exodus (2007)
Musical
Les Dix Commandements (2000)
The Ten Commandments: The Musical (2004)
The Prince of Egypt (2015)
Opera
Mosè in Egitto (1818)
Moses und Aron (1951)
Music
Creeping Death
Exodus (2002)
Plague Songs (2006)
Television
"Duke and the Great Pie War" (2005)
"Moe and the Big Exit" (2007)
Os Dez Mandamentos (2015 telenovela)
Literature
Exodus
Moon of Israel (1918)
The Tables of the Law (1944)
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Matthew 6:26
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Matthew 6:26 is the twenty-sixth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the discussion of worry about material provisions. In this verse Jesus tells his followers not to be anxious about food, but to rely on God as the birds, who are worth far less than people, are fully provided for.
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither
do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
The World English Bible translates the passage as:
See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither
do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father
feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 6:26
The opening verb in this verse can mean either consider or behold. The second meaning implies that Jesus, speaking in the open air, pointed to some birds nearby while speaking these lines. Birds of the sky literally translates as "birds in heaven," but this was a common expression for birds in flight through the air and does not imply the birds were with God.
There are several debates over this verse. Firstly it can be interpreted as a commandment to idleness, to not farm or work for your food as God will provide for you. This view can be countered by pointing out that birds are far from idle, having to go to a great deal of effort to gather their food. Martin Luther commented on this verse that God provides food, but does not drop it in their beaks.[1]
But as Hendriksen notes, this raises the question that if the birds have to do so much work to get their food, is God really the one providing for them? Hendriksen counters that God provided for them by creating a world filled with food, and giving the birds the instincts to collect it. The verse could also be read as a call for self-sufficiency or for a return to a hunter gatherer lifestyle, something advocated by the philosopher Seneca. Other verses make fairly clear this is not what is meant.[2]
How birds are without worry is also an open question. Fowler argues that it is because they are creatures of instinct. They follow the natural laws laid out by God without choice or deviation. If humans were equally as focused upon following the commands of God without hesitation we too would be without worry and anxiety.[3] Nolland notes that this reference to animals doesn't fully reflect biological reality. There are many creatures that store and save food, and there are also many animals that die from starvation.[4]
This verse quite clearly reflects the anthropocentrism that is found in both the Old and New Testaments. Jewish thought of the period and Christian theology since, have always placed man, who was created in God's image, above the animals and the rest of nature. Fowler argues the superiority of humans to birds in this verse is not so much one of theology, but more one of ability. Humans have the ability to farm, to store food in barns, and to plan for the future. Birds have no such gifts and their lives are ones of hard work for little reward. Despite these greater burdens birds have, they are not anxious about the future.[5]
This verse is paralleled in Luke 12:23, but Luke has ravens instead of birds. Harrington notes that ravens were considered unclean and they might have been removed from Matthew for this reason.[6]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ France, R.T.. The Gospel of Matthew. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007 pg. 268
Jump up ^ Hendriksen, William. The Gospel of Matthew. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976
Jump up ^ Fowler, Harold. The Gospel of Matthew: Volume One. Joplin: College Press, 1968
Jump up ^ Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005 pg. 311
Jump up ^ Fowler, Harold. The Gospel of Matthew: Volume One. Joplin: College Press, 1968
Jump up ^ Harrington, Daniel J. The Gospel of Matthew. Liturgical Press, 1991 pg. 102

Preceded by
Matthew 6:25 Gospel of Matthew
Chapter 6 Succeeded by
Matthew 6:27
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← chapter 5 Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 →
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Gospel of Matthew
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18
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Verse
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2:1-23
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7:1-24
27:1-66
28:1-16
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← Book of Malachi (chapter 4)
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