Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments (1956)

41 mistakes - chronological order

(16 votes)

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the High Priest tells Pharaoh about the astrologers seeing a star enter into the House of Egypt, the actor's white tape mark is visible on the floor, at his feet. (00:09:50)

Super Grover

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Moses returns from Ethiopia amidst great fanfare, he's wearing two golden wings crisscrossed across his chest. At first they are crisscrossed with his left wing over his right, but when Moses kneels in front of Sethi, the wings are crisscrossed the opposite way, with his right wing over the left. These golden wings continue to switch positions repeatedly in the following shots. (00:21:20)

Super Grover

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Moses confronts his Egyptian mother Bithiah with the Hebrew piece of cloth, she is beading on an Egyptian loom. During this scene, the string that she is beading (the farthest to our right) first matches the height of the other strings. One shot later, there is suddenly more beads, making the string higher than the others. (00:57:40)

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Moses is brought in chains to Pharaoh's throne dais, standing behind Sethi and Nefritiri are two fan-bearers, one at the left and one at the right. In the two medium close shots of Sethi and Nefritiri, when Sethi tells Moses, "Speak, my son," the two actors' curved white marks are visible on the floor, at the right feet of both fan-bearers. (01:30:50)

Super Grover

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Other mistake: When Nefritiri rushes to Moses and cries, "I will not live if you must die," in the next shot as Ramses pulls Nefritiri away, the dark outlines of Charlton Heston's modern-day briefs are visible under the ragged garment he's wearing. (01:35:25)

Super Grover

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Other mistake: At the very start of the Exodus there are three consecutive shots with the blowing of horns. In the next shot, while the camera faces the ground, there are multiple imprints of modern work boot or sneaker soles visible on the dirt (near the spotted goat), on the left side of the screen. These are not sole imprints of the time period. (02:59:25)

Super Grover

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Rameses is on his chariot ready to pursue the slaves, he shouts, "Forward!" In the next shot, there are visible wide tire tread marks on the ground from the camera vehicle, alongside the chariot wood wheel marks. (03:15:40)

Super Grover

Ten Commandments mistake picture Video

Continuity mistake: When Moses leads the Hebrews from Egypt, he pauses before them to deliver a little speech before they head out into the desert. He faces the camera and lifts his staff up with his left hand. But on the cutaway shot from behind, he is holding the staff in his right hand.

Ten Commandments mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: At the start of the Exodus, the Narrator states, "After the stifling night of terror, came a day such as the world had," and just as the Narrator continues to say, "never seen," a crew member wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and dark pants is visible walking in the background, at the right side of the screen.

Super Grover

Other mistake: In the Bible, Moses had two sons, not one (Gershom) as depicted in the film. He had both sons in Midian before he came back to Egypt to redeem the Jews.

megamii

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Differences from the source material are not mistakes. This is an adaptation where Moses only has one son.

This isn't a valid correction. It's not an "adaptation." Otherwise, you could excuse anything. Moses could be called Bob, by your logic.

Bishop73

Revealing mistake: When the parted Red Sea comes together, if you look behind Pharaoh as his troops are being engulfed by the water, notice in the background that there are two boulders floating in the water, not being pushed, but floating lightly.

Other mistake: When Rameses places the dead body of his son on the statue next to his throne, watch as it cuts to a shot of the side of the statue. A dummy was used in this scene, and it becomes obvious. Check out his hair, which looks like plastic, and his eyes, which look like little circles.

Other mistake: When Moses notices the burning bush, he tells Joshua that it is a bush on fire, but not burning. It's too far away for him to see that it's not burning.

Ten Commandments mistake picture Video

Revealing mistake: When Moses takes the first journey up Mt. Sinai for his very first view of the burning bush, the walking scene shot has Charlton Heston following the camera as the camera dollys backwards towards the bush. As Heston and the camera movement comes to a halt, two long tire tracks in the sand created by the dolly truck that housed the camera and cameraman can be seen.

Factual error: When Rameses is casting Moses out into the desert, he stands in his chariot. The pyramids behind him is the Saquara pyramid, so Moses is being sent West into the Sahara, and not East into the Sinai.

Factual error: When Moses is received by the Pharaoh after his Ethiopian campaign, he greets the Pharaoh with a Roman salute (right fist on left shoulder).

Revealing mistake: When Rameses is casting Moses out into the desert, he stands in his chariot and delivers his speech about ruling over the scorpions. The pyramids behind him are 20th century photos, i.e. they look 4000 years old. In the time of Rameses, they would have been substantially newer - 1000-1500 years old.

Revealing mistake: When Rameses is casting Moses out into the desert the place where the real set ends and a painted panel starts is noticeable: The yellow sand becomes dark brown and the sea behind remains still all the time.

Sacha

Rameses: Remember your firstborn. Death to the slaves! Death to their god!

More quotes from Ten Commandments
More trivia for Ten Commandments

Question: When Ramses is getting ready to go after Moses, Nefretiri hands him the sword and says to come back with Moses' blood on it. Why would Nefretiri want Moses dead, since she had been in love with him for a long time?

Answer: She was a woman scorned. Yes, she loved Moses, but Moses turned his life away from the royal life of Egypt (and Nefertiri's love) to be with his people, the Hebrews, and serve the will of God. These were far more important reasons to Moses than living a lush life as a prince of a people he was not connected to by blood or lineage.

Scott215

Answer: The final plague was the death of all first born male children. It included her son, but she refused to believe it. She believed Moses would would protect him from the curse. Even when he was dying in her arms, she said, my son will not die.

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