The Ten Commandments (1956 film)

The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American film about the Egyptian Prince, Moses, who learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people.

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss and Fredric M. Frank from the J.H. Ingraham novel Pillar of Fire, the A.E. Southon novel On Eagle's Wings and the Dorothy Clarke Wilson novel Prince of Egypt.

It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a God.(taglines)

Moses

It is not treason to want freedom.
I do not know what power shapes my way, but my feet are set upon a road that I must follow.
A city is made of brick, Pharaoh. The strong make many. The starving make few. The dead make none. So much for accusations.
It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a god. And I am no god, I am but a man. A man who asks by what right any man may enslave another of a different race or creed. But if I could free these people, I would.
There is a beauty beyond the senses, Nefretiri. Beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters. Beauty of the spirit that you cannot understand.
Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel: "Let my people go!"
You gave me this staff to rule over scorpions and serpents, but God made it a rod to rule over kings. Hear His word, Rameses, and obey.
Hear, O Israel! Remember this day, when the strong hand of the Lord leads you out of bondage!
The Lord of Hosts will do battle for us! BEHOLD HIS MIGHTY HAND!!!

Seti I

The man best able to rule Egypt will follow me. I owe that to my fathers, not to my sons.

Ramses II

[To Nefretiri] You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more - and trust you less.
[banishing Moses to the desert] I commend you to your Hebrew god who has no name. If you die, it will be by His hand, not by mine.
Farewell, my one-time brother.
This is work for a butcher, not a Pharaoh. Destroy them all. But bring Moses to me alive.

Nefretiri

First friend of the Pharaoh, Keeper of the Royal Seal, Prince of On, Prince of Memphis, Prince of Thebes, Beloved of the Nile god, Conqueror of Ethiopia, General of Generals, Commander of the Egyptian host...a man of mud!
I cursed you. Each time Rameses took me in his arms, I cursed you, not him, because I loved you.
Does a Pharaoh harden his heart against his son? If you let the Hebrews go, who will build his cities? You told Moses to make bricks without straw. Now he tells you to make cities without bricks. Who is the slave, and who is the Pharaoh? Do you hear laughter, Rameses? Yes. The laughter of kings in Babylon, in Cannan, in Troy, as Egypt surrenders to the god of slaves.

Narrator (Cecil B. DeMille)

[Introductory speech before the film]

Ladies and gentlemen, young and old, this may seem an unusual procedure, speaking to you before the picture begins, but we have an unusual subject - the story of the birth of freedom - the story of Moses. As many of you know, the Holy Bible omits some 30 years of Moses' life... From the time, when he was a three-month old baby, and was found in the bulrushes, by Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh and adopted into the court of Egypt, until he learned that he was Hebrew and killed the Egyptian. To fill in those missing years, we turn to ancient historians, such as Philo and Josephus. Philo wrote at the time when Jesus of Nazareth walked the Earth and Josephus wrote some 50 years later, and watched the destruction of Jerusalem, by the Romans. These historians had access to documents long since destroyed - or perhaps lost, like the Dead Sea Scrolls. The theme of this picture is whether man ought to be ruled by God's law, or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator, like Rameses. Are man the property of the state or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today. Our intention was not to create a story, but to be worthy divinely inspired story, created 3,000 years ago, the five books of Moses. The story takes three hours and 39 minutes to unfold. There will be an intermission. Thank you for your attention.

[Introduction]

And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And from this light, God created life upon Earth And man was given dominion over all things upon this Earth, and the power to choose between good and evil, but each sought to do his own will because he knew not the light of God’s law. Man took dominion over man. The conquered were made to serve the conqueror. The weak were made to serve the strong. And freedom was gone from the world. So did the Egyptians cause the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, and their cry came up unto God and God heard them. And cast into Egypt, into the lowly hut of Amram and Yochabel, the seed of a man upon whose mind and heart would be written God’s law and God’s commandments. One man to stand alone against an empire.

[After Moses is exiled from Egypt]

Into the blistering wilderness of Shur, the man who walked with kings...now walks alone.

Torn from the pinnacle of royal power; stripped of all rank and earthly wealth; a forsaken man without a country, without a hope; his soul in turmoil like the hot winds and raging sands that lash him with the fury of a taskmaster's whip. He is driven forward, always forward, by a god unknown, toward a land unseen…

Into the molten wilderness of sin, where granite sentinels stand as towers of living death to bar his way.

Each night brings the black embrace of loneliness. In the mocking whisper of the wind, he hears the echoing voices of the dark. His tortured mind wondering if they call the memory of past triumphs, or wail foreboding of disasters yet to come, or whether the desert's hot breath has melted his reason into madness.

He cannot cool the burning kiss of thirst upon his lips, nor shade the scorching fury of the sun. All about is desolation. He can neither bless not curse the power that moves him, for he does not know from where it comes.

Learning that it can be more terrible to live than to die, he is driven onward through the burning crucible of desert, where holy men and prophets are cleansed and purged for God's great purpose, until at last, at the end of human strength, beaten into the dust from which he came, the metal is ready for the Maker's hand.

And he found strength from a fruit-laden palm tree, and life-giving water flowing from the well of Midian.

[After Intermission]

And the Lord said unto Moses, "Go. Return into Egypt". And Moses took his wife and his son, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

[On the day of the Hebrews’ freedom]

And it came to pass, after the stifling night of terror, came a day such as the world had never seen. From east and west, from north and south, they came with all they had, driving their flocks and their herds and their camels before them. By tens, by hundreds, by thousands, unending streams of man and beast and burden, and even very much cattle, poured into the Avenue of Sphinxes. Beneath the stone feet of the four colossal images of Rameses, which their own sweat and blood and sinew had hewn from solid rock, a nation arose and freedom was born into the world.

Like Dathan, they did not know where they were going, and they cared no more than the flocks and herds they drove. Now they used the brick yokes to carry a very different burden. And there went forth among them planters of vineyards and sowers of seeds, each hoping to sit under his own vine and fig tree. Out off this glorious chaos, it is Joshua who brings order and purpose.

And he brought forth the people with joy and gladness. He bore them out of Egypt as an eagle bears its young upon its wings.

But again, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened…

[After Dathan finished the Golden calf]

And the people sinned a great sin. For they have made a God of Gold. They bore them upon their shoulders and rejoice, saying "This be our God, O Israel"

They were as children who had lost their faith. They were perverse and crooked and rebellious against God. They did eat the break of wickedness, and drank the wine of violence, and they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And the people cried "The graven image hath brought us joy!" And they worshipped the Golden calf and sacrificed unto it.

[After Moses recieves The Ten Commandments]

And the people rose up to play, and did eat and drink. They were as the children of fools and cast off their clothes. The wicked were like a troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. They sank from evil to evil, and were viler than the Earth. And there was rioting and drunkenness for they had become servants of sin. And there was manifest all manner of ungodliness and works of the flesh. Even adultery and lasciviousness, uncleanness, idolatry and rioting, vanity and wrath, and they were filled with iniquity and vile affections. And Aaron knew that he had brought them to shame.

Others

Bithiah: [holding Baby Moses in her arms] You will be the glory of Egypt, my son. Mighty in words and deeds. Kings shall bow before you. Your name will live on when the pyramids are dust. And...because I drew you from the water, you shall be called Moses. [playfully and quietly] Moses! Moses! [giggles]

Dialogue

[As they are setting a baby Moses away]

Miriam: But Mother, we have not even given him a name.

Yochabel: God will give him a name.

Memnet: What have you found?

Bithiah: The answer to my prayers!

Memnet: You prayed for a basket?

Bithiah: No, I prayed for a son.

Memnet: Your husband is in the house of the dead.

Bithiah: And he has asked the Nile God to bring me this beautiful boy.

Memnet: [about the Hebrew cloth Moses lies in] Do you know the pattern of this cloth?

Bithiah: If my son is wrapped in it, it is a royal robe!

Moses: Great one, I bring you Ethiopia.

[Trumpets play, Ethiopians step forward]

Rameses: Command them to kneel before Pharaoh.

Moses: Command what you have conquered my brother.

Announcer: The Lord Moses, Prince of Egypt, son of the Pharaoh’s sister, beloved of the Nile god, commander of the Southern Host!

Egyptian 1: Welcome home!

Egyptian 2: Prince Moses!

Jannes: The blessing of the god Amun-Ra be upon you, Great Prince! He has brought down the pride of Ethiopia. Yes, that is...

Seti: [as Jannes continues on] The old windbag.

Nefretiri: I agree with him.

Seti: Would you please your Pharaoh, Moses?

Moses: Your wish is my will.

Seti: Then you build the city

Rameses: A wise decision. [to Moses] Noble task.

Seti: Rameses, do you believe this slave deliverer is a myth?

Rameses: What I believe is of no account. What matters is the slaves believe in him.

Seti: Of course, of course. Then you, too, shall go to Goshen. Learn if this deliverer be a myth or a man. If a myth, bring him to me in a bottle. If a man, bring him to me in chains.

Rameses: So let it be written, so let it be done.

Nefretiri: You will be king of Egypt and I will be your footstool!

Moses: The man stupid enough to use you as a footstool isn't wise enough to rule Egypt.

Yochabel: My noble one, it caught. I had not the strength to free myself.

Moses: Your shoulder should not bear a burden, old woman. [begins cutting her loose]

Yochabel: The Lord has renewed my strength and lightened my burdens.

Moses: He would have done better to remove them.

Baka: We use the old ones for greasing the stones. If they are killed it is no loss.

Moses: Are you a master builder or a master butcher?

Baka: If we stop moving stones for every grease woman who falls, the city will not rise.

Overseer: If the slaves are not driven they will not work.

Joshua: If their work lags it is because they are not fed.

Moses: You look strong enough.

Joshua: I am a stone cutter. The pharaoh likes his images cut deep.

Moses: You know it is death to strike an Egyptian.

Joshua: I know it.

Moses: Yet you struck him. Why?

Joshua: To free the old woman.

Moses: What is she to you?

Joshua: An old woman.

Egyptian Guard: Lord Moses, send him to his death!

Moses: The man has courage. You do not speak like a slave.

Joshua: God made man. Man made slaves.

Moses: Which god?

Joshua: The God of Abraham, the Almighty God!

Moses: If your God is Almighty, why does He leave you in bondage?

Joshua: He will choose the hour of our freedom and the man who will deliver us!

Rameses: Difficulty with the slaves, my brother?

Moses: None that could not be cures by a ration of grain and a day of rest.

Rameses: A day of rest?

Moses: When your horses tire, they’re rested. When they hunger, they’re fed.

Rameses: Slaves draw brick and stone. My horses draw the next Pharaoh.

Moses: Is there any grain stored here in Goshen?

Rameses: None that you would dare take, my brother.

Joshua: The temple granaries are full.

Moses: [to Joshua] Bring the push-pole men and some women with baskets.

Joshua: I will...great prince.

Rameses: I warn you, Moses, the temple grain belongs to the gods.

Moses: What the gods can digest will not sour in the belly of a slave.

Seti: Do you mean to tell me he would turn the slaves against me? I've been his father!

Jannes: Ambition knows no father.

[After Nefretiri kisses Rameses and he shoves her away]

Rameses: I know you, my sweet. You’re a sharp-clawed, treacherous little peacock. But you’re food for the gods, and I’m going to have all of you.

Nefretiri: None of me. Did you think my kiss was a promise of what you’ll have? No, my pompous one, it was to let you know what you will not have. I could never love you.

Rameses: Does that matter? You will be my wife. You will come to me whenever I call you. And I will enjoy that very much. Whether you enjoy it or not is your own affair. But I think you will.

[Rameses leaves and Nefretiri wipes her lips in disgust]

Seti: With so many slaves, you could build…an army.

Moses: But I have built a city. Sixteen of these lions of Pharaoh will guard its gates. And it shall be the city of Seti’s glory.

Seti: Mm. Are these slaves loyal to Seti’s glory, or to you, Moses?

Moses: The slaves worship their God, and I serve only you.

Baka: Will you lose a throne because Moses builds a city?

Rameses: The city that he builds shall bear my name. The woman that he loves shall bear my child. So it shall be written, so it shall be done.

Bithiah: You know who I am?

Yochabel: It has been many years, Great One.

Bithiah: Who are they?

Yochabel: All that remain of my children.

Bithiah: I will speak to you alone.

[Both Miriam and Aaron walk into the same room]

Yochabel: Why have you... [Bithiah waves her hand meaning "stop" and closes the door] Why have you come here?

Bithiah: Because Moses will come here.

Yochabel: My son?

Bithiah: No, my son. And that's all that he must know.

Yochabel: My lips might deny him, Great One, but my eye never could.

Bithiah: You shall leave Goshen, you and your family, tonight.

Yochabel: We are Levites, appointed shepherds of Israel. We cannot leave our people.

Bithiah: Would you take from Moses all that I have given him? Would you undo all that I have done for him? I have put the throne of Egypt within his reach. What can you give him in its place?

Yochabel: I gave him life.

Bithiah: I gave him love! Was it your hand that dried his tears? And when he was troubled, was it your heart that ached for him?

Yochabel: Yes. My heart ached for him, and my arms ached to hold him...but I dared not even touch the hem of his garment. His heritage from me could only have been misery, poverty, and the lash. No. I will not take from him the glory and riches you have given him.

Bithiah: For this, you shall be well cared for. You and your family shall be taken from Goshen tonight.

Yochabel: No matter where you send me...if the God of Abraham has a purpose for my son, he will come to know it and fulfill it.

Bithiah: [opens the room's door; to Aaron and Miriam] Come! Gather your things! Quickly! Quickly! I shall see you want for nothing. [to Yochabel] You and your children shall be given freedom.

Moses: [arrives] Has my mother forgotten? Only the Pharaoh can free a slave.

Bithiah: Moses, do not enter! There is only sorrow here.

Moses: Are you comforting it, my mother? I followed you here to find this woman Yochabe- [sees Yochabel, talks to her] You were the woman who was caught between the stones.

Yochabel: Until you came.

Bithiah: My son, if you love me, you will...

Moses: I love you, my mother, but am I your son... [to Yochabel] or yours?

Yochabel: No, you are not my son. If you believe that men and women are cattle to be driven under the lash, if you can bow before idols of stone and golden images of beasts, you are not my son. My son would be a slave. His hands would be gnarled and broken from the brick pits, his back scarred from the taskmaster's whip, but in his heart would burn the spirit of the Living God.

Moses: Does this God demand a scarred back and broken hands as the price of His favor?

Bithiah: This desert God is the hope of the hopeless. Your place is in the palace halls. You have mounted to the sun on golden wings. You belong to me, to Nefretiri, to Seti, to all those who love you.

Moses: Do they love less who have no hope? [to Yochabel] Will you swear in the Name of this God that you are not my mother?

Yochabel: We do not even know His name.

Moses: Then look into my eyes and tell me you are not my mother.

Yochabel: [starts crying] Oh, Moses, Moses, I cannot. I cannot.

Aaron: I am your brother Aaron.

Miriam: I am Miriam, your sister.

Moses: I am your brother Moses.

Bithiah: [to Yochabel, Aaron and Miriam] No! No, get ready to leave! Hurry! [to Moses] They're going away, Moses. The secret's going with them. No one need ever know the shame I've brought upon you.

Moses: Shame? What change is there in me? Egyptian or Hebrew, I am still Moses. These are the same hands, the same arms, the same face that were mine a moment ago.

Yochabel: A moment ago, you were her son, the strength of Egypt. Now you are mine, a slave in Egypt. You find no shame in this?

Moses: There is no shame in me. How can I feel shame for the woman who bore me? Or the race that bred me?

Yochabel: Oh, God of my fathers!

Bithiah: Moses, what will you do?

Moses: [puts the piece of Levite cloth he was wrapped in as a baby, next to the other to know who was his real mother] This is the binding tie...and here I will stay.

Bithiah: Moses...

Moses: To find the meaning of what I am...why a Hebrew...or any man must be a slave. [to Aaron and Miriam] Put back your things. You are not leaving.

Bithiah: Moses...has she done more for you than I? Will the life she gave you be more useful in the black pits of slavery? Cannot justice and truth be served better upon a throne, where all men may benefit from your goodness...and strength?

Moses: I do not know what power shapes my way, but my feet are set upon a road that I must follow. Forgive me, Bithiah. [he and Bithiah leave Yochabel's house]

Yochabel: God of our fathers, Who has appointed an end to the bondage of Israel, blessed am I among all mothers in the land, for my eyes have beheld Thy Deliverer.

Moses: That’s a hard dance you do, old man.

Old Man: We’ve been dancing it for 400 years... [a whips cracks in the background followed by a low moan] ...to grim music.

Baka: You make no outcry, Joshua, but you will; you will cry for the mercy of death.

Joshua: One day you will listen to the cry of slaves.

Baka: This is not that day, Joshua.

Nefretiri: If you want to help your people, come back to the palace.

Moses: And hide the truth from Seti, that I am Hebrew and a slave?

Nefretiri: The truth would break his dear old heart, and send Bithiah into exile and death. Think of us and stop hearing the cries of your people.

Moses: Their god does not hear their cry.

Nefretiri: Will Rameses hear it, if he is made Pharaoh? No, he would grind them into the clay they mold and double their labors. And what about me? Think of me as his wife. Do you want to see me in Rameses' arms?

Moses: No!

Nefretiri: Then come back with me.

Rameses: Where was his body found?

Pentaur: Buried in the sand, Royal One.

Egyptian Guard: This is Baka's knife.

Rameses: But there was no wound on the body. Baka was a powerful man. It would take strong hands to break him.

Egyptian Guard: The slave Joshua is a stonecutter.

Rameses: Go find me this Joshua.

Dathan: Joshua's strength didn't kill the master builder.

Rameses: Now speaks the rat that would be my ears.

Dathan: Too many ears tie a rat's tongue.

Pentaur: [to guards] Go, all of you.

Rameses: Well...who killed him?

Dathan: I am a poor man, Generous One. What I bring is worth much.

Rameses: I have paid you much, and you have brought me nothing.

Dathan: Now I bring you the world...true son of Pharaoh.

Rameses: You offer me the world when you cannot even bring me the deliverer. Who killed Baka?

Dathan: The deliverer.

Rameses: Would you play at words with me?

Dathan: No, Lord Prince.

Rameses: And this murderer has now fled to some distant land?

Dathan: No, Lord Prince.

Rameses: Name him.

Dathan: One who made himself a prince and judge over us. And if he knew I were here, he would kill me as he killed the Egyptian.

Rameses: I will hang you myself if you tire me further.

Dathan: There are those who would pay much for what my eyes have seen.

Rameses: Do you haggle with me like a seller of melons in the marketplace?

Dathan: No, I will not haggle, Great Prince. Here's your money. [Rameses hits his hand throwing coins] But for ten talons of fine gold, I'll give you the wealth of Egypt. Give me my freedom, and I'll give you the scepter. Give me the water girl Lilia, and I'll give you the princess of your heart's desire. Give me this house of Baka, and I'll give you the throne. Give me all that I ask...or give me leave to go.

Rameses: [pulls out his blade] I will give you more than leave to go. I will send you where you belong.

Dathan: I belong in your service, Glorious One.

Rameses: Very well. I will bargain with you. If what you say pleases me, I will give you your price, all of it. If not, I will give you the point of this blade through your lying throat. Agreed?

Dathan: Agreed. The deliverer...is Moses.

Rameses: [puts his blade on Dathan's neck] Draw one more breath to tell me why Moses or any other Egyptian would deliver the Hebrews.

Dathan: Moses is not Egyptian. He's Hebrew, the son of slaves.

Rameses: [gets quietly surprised] I will pay your price.

Moses: Great Pharaoh...I stand in the shadow of your justice.

Seti: Whose work is this?

Rameses: I warned you of his treason, my father. Judge now if I spoke truly. The evil star foretold him as the destroyer of Egypt and deliverer of slaves.

Seti: It is not possible. A prince of Egypt?

Rameses: He is not a prince of Egypt. He is not the son of your sister. He is the son of Hebrew slaves.

[The crowd is surprised]

Seti: Speak...my son.

Moses: I am the son of Amram and Yochabel, Hebrew slaves.

[The crowd is surprised again]

Bithiah: My brother, it was I who deceived you, not Moses. He was only a child.

Seti: Leave me. I shall not see your face again. [Rameses orders Pentaur to take Bithiah away from him; to Moses] Moses...come to me. [Moses approaches him] I do not care who you are or what you are or what they may say about you, but I want to hear from your own lips that you are not a traitor, that you would not lead these people in revolt against me. Tell me, Moses. I will believe you.

Moses: I am not this deliverer you fear. It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a god. But if I could free them, I would.

Seti: What has turned you against me? From the time my sister brought you to the court, I loved you, reared you, set you before my own son, because I saw in you a worth and a greatness above other men.

Moses: No son could have more love for you than I.

Seti: Then why are you forcing me to destroy you? What evil has done this to you?

Moses: The evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of burden, to slave and suffer in dumb anguish, to be stripped of spirit and hope and faith - only because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a God, He did not mean this to be so. What I have done...I was compelled to do.

Seti: So be it. What I do now, I am compelled to do.

Nefretiri: No. No.

Seti: [grabs Nefretiri] Rameses...Egypt shall be yours. Hear what I say, Rameses. When I cross the River of Death, you will be...Pharaoh in Egypt. Harden yourself against subordinates. Put no faith in a brother. Have no friend. Trust no woman. I protected the helpless. I nourished the orphan.

Nefretiri: Great One! [hugs Seti]

Seti: But he who ate my bread and called me father would make rebellion against me.

Rameses: What manner of death do you decree for him?

[Some people in the crowd say "death" as a possible answer]

Seti: I cannot speak it. Let it be as you will.

Nefretiri: I will not live if you must die! [hugs Moses's leg and cries]

Rameses: [takes Nefretiri away from Moses] The feet of a Hebrew slave is not the right place for the next queen of Egypt. [to guards] Take him away.

[The guards lead the arrested Moses away towards the exit]

Seti: Let the name of Moses be stricken from every book and tablet. Stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of Egypt. Let the name of...Moses be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men...for all time.

Moses: At such a time, has any man ever gone to see Him face to face?

Sephora: No man has ever set foot on the forbidden slopes of Sinai. Why do you want to see Him, Moses?

Moses: To know that He is. And if He is, to know why He has not heard the cries of slaves in bondage.

Sephora: Moses, it would be death to look upon His face.

Moses: How many of my people have died because He has turned away His face?

Sephora: Can a man judge God? No, Moses. We cannot see His whole purpose. Even Ishmael did not know that God drove him into the desert to be the father of a nation. Is it not enough to know that He had saved you from the Pharaoh’s anger?

Moses: How do you know that?

Sephora: You walk like a prince. And you fight like a warrior. And there is word in the caravans of a great one who was driven out of Egypt.

Moses: This is not the scepter of a prince, but the staff of a wanderer.

Sephora: Then rest from wandering. My father has many flocks and no son to tend them. There would be peace of spirit for you, Moses, in our tents beneath the Holy Mountain.

Moses: You have strong faith in this God, Sephora. But for me, there is no peace of spirit until I hear the Word of God, from God Himself.

[Seti is dying]

Egyptian Guard: May the gods bless you, as you go to join them in the land of the dead.

Seti: The old windbag. What an infernal fuss. After all, dying is only a part of living.

Nefretiri: You won't die, old crocodile. You'll cheat death the way you cheat me at hounds and jackals.

Seti: I'm afraid he won't let me cheat the way you do. [gives the staff to Rameses] You'll be Pharaoh by sunset, Rameses. I hope you're content...at last.

Rameses: I am content to be your son. You have restored Egypt to her greatness. I shall make her greatness feared among nations.

Seti: No doubt, no doubt. You can overcome anything...but your own arrogance.

Nefretiri: Don't exhaust yourself, Great One. Dear Great One.

Seti: Why not, kitten? You are the only thing I regret leaving. You have been my joy.

Nefretiri: And you my only love.

Seti: Aha. Now you're cheating. There was another.

Nefretiri: Yes.

Seti: [last words] I know. I loved him, too. With my last breath, I'll break my own law and speak the name of...Moses. Moses. [dies]

[Nefretiri cries]

Rameses: The royal falcon...has flown into the sun.

Moses: I stood upon holy ground.

Joshua: Can you tell us, Moses?

Moses: My eyes could not look upon Him.

Joshua: Did He speak?

Moses: He revealed His word to my mind, and the word was God.

Joshua: Did He speak as a man?

Moses: He is not flesh, but spirit. The light of eternal mind, and I know that His light is in every man.

Joshua: Did He ask something of you?

Moses: That I go to Egypt.

Joshua: You are God’s messenger! He has set the day of deliverance. I will get water and bread that we may leave at once.

Sephora: But Egypt holds death for you.

Moses: If it be His will.

Sephora: Where He sends you, I shall go. Your God is my God.

Joshua: I will lead men against the armory at Migdol and get swords for the people!

Moses: It is not by the sword that He will deliver His people, but by the staff of a shepherd.

Nefretiri: But beauty of the spirit will not free your people, Moses. You will come to me or they will never leave Egypt.

Moses: The fate of Israel is not in your hands, Nefretiri. [turns and walks away]

Nefretiri: [blocking his exit] Oh, isn't it? Who else can soften Pharaoh’s heart? Or harden it?

Moses:: [takes hold of her jaw] Yes. You may be the lovely dust through which God will work His purpose.

Moses: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before God?

Rameses: If you bring another plague upon us, it is not your God but I, who will turn the Nile red with blood.

Moses: As your father's father turned the streets of Goshen red with the blood of our male children! IF there IS one more plague on Egypt, it is by your word that God will bring it. And there shall be so great a cry throughout the land...that you will surely let the people go. [walks away]

Rameses: Come to me no more, Moses! For on the day you see my face again, you will surely die!

Moses: So let it be written. [leaves]

Rameses: [enraged] I will give this spawn of slaves and his god an answer the world will not forget! Commander of the Host, call in the chariots from Tanis! There shall be one more plague, only it will come upon the slaves of Goshen. The firstborn of each house shall die, beginning with the son of Moses!

Nefretiri: You need have no fear of me.

Sephora: I feared only his memory of you.

Nefretiri: You have been able to erase it?

Sephora: He has forgotten both of us. You lost him when he went to seek his God. I lost him when he found his God.

Moses: It is not my son who will die, it is...it is the firstborn of Egypt. It is your son, Nefretiri!

Nefretiri: [shocked] You...You would not dare strike Pharaoh's son!

Moses: In the hardness of his heart, Pharaoh has mocked God and brings death to his own son!

Nefretiri: But he is my son, Moses. You would not harm my son.

Moses: By myself, I am nothing. It is the power of God which uses me to work His will.

Nefretiri: But I saved your son!

Moses: I cannot save yours.

Miriam: Death is all around us!

Joshua: But it passes those who have believed the Lord.

Moses: Always remember, Eleazar, He passed over your house.

[After Rameses' son dies from the final plague]

Rameses: You have conquered, Moses. The foot of a slave is on the neck of Egypt. You were saved from the Nile to be a curse upon me. Your shadow fell between me and my father, between me and my fame, between me and my queen. Your shadow now fills all things with death. Go out from among us, you and your people. I set you free.

Moses: It is not by your word, nor by my hand that we are free, Pharaoh. The power of God has freed us.

Rameses: Enough of your words! Take your people, your cattle, your God and your pestilence! [throws his collar to the ground] Take what spoils from Egypt you will, but go!

Nefretiri: How many more days and nights will you pray? Does he hear you?

Rameses: Dread Lord of Darkness, I have raised my voice to you, yet life has not come to the body of my son. Hear me!

Nefretiri: He cannot hear you. He's nothing but a piece of stone with the head of a bird.

Rameses: He will hear me. I am Egypt.

Nefretiri: Egypt? You are nothing. You let Moses kill my son. No god can bring him back. What have you done to Moses? How did he die? Did he cry for mercy when you tortured him? Bring me to his body! I want to see it, Rameses! I want to see it!

Rameses: This is my son. He would have been Pharaoh. He would have ruled the world. Who mourns him now? Not even you. All you can think of is Moses. You will not see his body. I drove him out of Egypt. I cannot fight the power of his God.

Nefretiri: His God? The priests say that Pharaoh is a god. But you are not a god. You are even less than a man! Listen to me, Rameses. You thought I was evil when I went to Moses. And you were right. Shall I tell you what happened, Rameses? He spurned me like a strumpet in the street. I, Nefretiri, Queen of Egypt! All that you wanted from me he would not even take! Do you hear laughter, Pharaoh? Not the laughter of kings, but the laughter of slaves on the desert!

Rameses: Laughter? Laughter?! [shoves her aside and rings the gong] My son, I shall build your tomb upon their crushed bodies. If any escape me, their seed shall be spattered and accursed forever. [to the arriving servant] My armor! War crown![to Nefretiri] Laughter...I will turn the laughter of these slaves into wails of torment! They shall remember the name of Moses! Only that he died under my chariot wheels!

Nefretiri: Kill him with your own hands.

Nefretiri: [bringing Rameses his sword] Bring it back to me, stained with his blood.

Rameses: I will. [takes the sword and sheathes it] To mingle with your own!

[As the waters of the Red Sea surging on their feet, Moses looks up to the heavens and the clearing skies, crying in a loud voice in half exultation and half anguish]

Moses: Thou didst blow with Thy wind, [kneels to the ground and Miriam kisses the hem of his robe] and the sea covered them. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord. From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God!

[The Hebrews, with their arms on the air, others falling on their knees in prayer, shouts the prayer of thanksgiving and deliverance]

Crowds: THOU ART GOD!

[Walking into the throne room, Rameses lifts his sword to kill Nefretiri]

Nefretiri: Before you strike, show me his blood on your sword. [lowering his arm, Rameses tosses the sword down and sits] You couldn’t even kill him.

Rameses: His god...is God.

[As Moses decends from the Cloud-capped summit with the Tablets, Joshua greets him]

Joshua: The light of God shines you, Moses. [kneels]

Moses: Do not kneel to me, Joshua.

Joshua: These tablets of living stone?

Moses: The writing of God...His Ten Commandments.

[Suddenly, faint sounds of debauchery are heard]

Joshua: There is a noise of war in the camp!

Moses: It is not the noise of war. It is the noise of song and revelry. [leads downhill]

[At the camp, the Hebrews continually indulging the excess of drunken pleasure and debauchery as Moses arrives above them. Then Joshua blows a shattering blast of his shofar, the dancing, the music, and the sounds of the timbrel stopped. The Hebrews look up to see Moses and Joshua on the mount]

Crowds: It's Moses! Moses! Moses!

[On Aaron's tent hope is renewed to the Women who stood firm and Sephora looks at Moses offscreen]

Sephora: Moses! Moses!

Lilia: [on the calf, her lips breaks to a cry] Joshua!

Moses: Woe unto thee, O Israel! You have sinned a great sin in the sight of God! You are not worthy to receive these Ten Commandments!

[The people, upon seeing Moses and Joshua descending from the mountain, they withdrew from the calf, some kept closer to the idol, others covered their heads on shame]

Dathan: We're gathered against you, Moses. You take too much upon yourself. We will not live by your commandments. We're free!

Crowds: Free! Free!

Moses: There is no freedom without the law. [shows the two tablets]

Dathan: Whose law, Moses? Yours? Did you carve those tablets to become a prince over us?

Moses: Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come to me.

[In the response of Moses' call, shouts of "I am", "Moses lead us", "we are lost" erupted. Aaron then took a knife from Abiram to cut the cords that bind Lilia on the calf]

Crowds: Moses! Moses!

[As if Moses was parting the Red Sea again, the repentant and loyal to him ascend the mountain while Dathan and the rest cling to the calf]

Man: Aaron, you have cursed us!

Aaron: Dathan and the people made me do it.

Lilia: [reaching on Joshua's arms] Joshua! Joshua!

[As the crowds surging up to Moses on the mount, Dathan tried to dissuade them for the last time]

Dathan: He showed you no land flowing with milk and honey. I show you a god of gold! Come with me! Follow me!

Moses: [looking over the crowds, his hand pointing to Dathan] Blasphemers! Idolaters! For this you shall drink bitter waters. God has set before you this day His Laws of Life and Good, and Death and Evil. Those who will not live by the Law... [raises the Tablets above, which the crowd joining Dathan panicked and started to flee] SHALL DIE BY THE LAW!

[Then Moses smashes the Tablets to the calf, which it explodes. Dathan cringes in terror, then the earth beneath the altar quake, split open, Dathan, Abiram, and Korah are sucked into it]

[Last lines]

Moses: The Lord was angry with me because I disobeyed Him by the waters of strife. And He said unto me, "Behold the new land with thine eyes, for thou shalt not cross over this River Jordan".

Sephora: Then I shall stay.

Moses: I am called by the Lord, Sephora. I go alone.

Sephora: Look, Moses. The people have come to the River Jordan. In the ark, they carry the law you brought them. You taught them not to live by bread alone. You are God's torch that lights the way to freedom. I love you.

Moses: Joshua. [gives the staff and the Levite cloth to Joshua] Joshua, I charge you and strengthen you, for you shall go over Jordan to lead the people.

Joshua: As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.

Moses: Mered, give me the books. Eleazar, set these five books in the Ark of the Covenant by the tablets of the Ten Commandments, which the Lord restored unto us. [bids farewell] Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the lands, unto all the inhabitants thereof! [walks away]

Taglines

It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a God.
The Greatest Event in Motion Picture History

Cast

Judith Anderson - Memnet
Vincent Price - Baka
John Carradine - Aaron
Olive Deering - Miriam
Eduard Franz - Jethro
Ian Keith as Rameses I (final film role)
Lawrence Dobkin - Caleb
H. B. Warner - Amminadab
Julia Faye - Elisheba

External links

Encyclopedic article on The Ten Commandments (1956 film) on Wikipedia
Media related to The Ten Commandments (1956 film) on Wikimedia Commons
The Ten Commandments quotes at the Internet Movie Database
Cecil B. Demille talks about his masterpiece