Paramount Home Media Announces A 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack Edition Of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments For Release On Mar. 30

Paramount Home Media has circled Mar. 30 on its release calendar for the 4K Ultra HD debut of director Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 remake of The Ten Commandments.   This will be a double-disc 4K Ultra HD/double-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack presentation.

It was coming up on the 30^th anniversary of DeMille’s 1925 silent version of The Ten Commandments when news began to circulate in various industry trade publications that he was contemplating a sound remake.   There is some evidence that DeMille had actually begun working on the project as much as two years earlier.   And, of note, it would be the biggest film of his long and illustrious career (his own words).

In any case, writer Henry Noerdlinger, who served as DeMille’s head of research on the project, published his book, “Moses and Egypt,” shortly before the film opened in 1956 detailing all of the research that went into the film.   Extensive is an understatement.

Production began in 1954 and one of the largest sets ever constructed was built in Egypt.   This is the famed Per-Rameses city set, which was estimated to encompass a quarter of a mile in size.   Also, during the extensive filming in Egypt, DeMille suffered a heart attack, but recovered to complete the filming (it would, however, be his last film … his heart gave out in 1959).

The Ten Commandments was an immense undertaking, filmed extensively on location, plus mammoth sets (including the parting of the Red Sea on the Paramount backlot) and it also featured the use of the newly developed VistaVision cameras.   

It was an epic production … nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Pictures, but lost out to Around the World in 80 Days (not to be too judgmental, but what were Academy members thinking back then … not only is The Ten Commandments a superior film, but so were Giant and The King and I, which were also nominated Best Picture … perhaps the voting was so split that the least of the group won out, how ironic if that were the case).

As to bonus features, there is commentary by author Katherine Orrison (“Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic The Ten Commandments”), newsreel footage of the film’s New York premiere, DeMille’s legendary introduction to the film and more.