The Ten Commandments (1923)

 Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments"

By 1923, Cecil B. DeMille was not only an established director in Hollywood but was highly regarded as one of the best. For his next project, he outsourced ideas for a film to the public. A contest was created in which the public could submit their ideas and the winner would have their idea be DeMille's next film. The winner of the contest was F.C. Nelson of Lansing, Michigan. The first line of his submission read: "You cannot break the Ten Commandments - they will break you." Acting as his own producer, DeMille brought in Jeanie MacPhearson, a frequent collaborator. At first, Jeanie wanted to create an episodic form of the Ten Commandments, each commandment represented through a different episode. However, she and DeMille eventually decided on something even more unusual. 

The screenplay was to be split into two separate stories. The first story centers on the story of Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt. After warning Ramses the Pharoah to let the slaves of Egypt leave his possession, a curse kills his firstborn son. After the death of his son, Ramses allows Moses and the Jews to leave. However, his rage over the death of his son gets the better of him and he takes his military to follow them. Trapped between the Pharoah's army and the Red Sea, Moses performs a miracle and parts the sea, allowing his people to travel safely. Once across, the sea collapses on the pursuing army. Moses then goes into the mountains to speak to God. While away, the Jews descend into hedonism and worship a golden calf. Moses returns from the mountain with the Ten Commandments - laws regarding how to run a society.  The second story centers on two contemporary brothers, their mother, and a love interest who all interpret the commandments in various ways. The mother of the two brothers adheres strictly to the commandments, even to the point of bigotry. One of the brothers, Dan, actively defies the commandments, as he believes them to be ridiculous. The other brother, John, adheres to the commandments but isn't as narrow-minded as his mother. Their love interest, Mary, is a good person, but just doesn't take the time to learn about them. After being kicked out of his mother's house, Dan becomes a successful, yet corrupt contractor and marries Mary. He is contracted to build a church, yet uses rotten concrete. The church collapses on his mother and Dan spirals out of control. He disobeyed every commandment, even murder. Mary sees the error in marrying him and seeks solace in the good, honorable brother, John. 

Upon the film's release, many critics were just as divided as the script was. Those who saw the film remarked highly about the opening biblical sequences. However, they also felt the contemporary story was boring and detractive. In fact, when many people remember the film, they often think about the incredible spectacle of the biblical scenes and even forget the existence of the latter. 

To film the biblical scenes, DeMille had an entire Egyptian set constructed at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in northern Santa Barbara, California. The massive set included four 35-foot-tall Pharoah statues, 21 sphinxes, and gates reaching 110 feet. For the scene in which Moses parts the Red Sea, DeMille filmed a close-up shot of split jello. He combined this shot with live-action footage of the Jews walking into the distance. This illusion created the awe-inspiring shots that could not have been visually capable otherwise.

The film was a massive success for Paramount. It was the highest-grossing film of 1923 and Paramount's highest-grossing film for 25 years. That record was eventually broken by another one of DeMille's films, "Samson and Delilah."