CB DeMille was obsessive over the bible. Making several biblical stories into films. His bold claims that his films showed real events have in fact caused much untruths in modern religion. Soo passionate to tell Moses’s story, he created a fictional tale of events - which he himself says ARE TRUE at the start of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in 1956.
Not once has a pharaoh been named in the Exodus - we only know of a city being built which has now been translated as City of Raameses. However the original name would be Pi-Ra-mes. Meaning Place where Ra was born. The bible does talk of Pharaoh Ramses - however it is in the book of Joseph were it is said “go to the land of Ramses”
now…Joseph is said to have happened 700 years before the Exodus. And the exodus was said to have happened 480 years before the building of Solomons temple. All these references eliminate Ramses II outright. So why do we think of Ramses II as being the unnamed Pharaoh in the Exodus. BECAUSE OF CECIL B DEMILLE!
A pioneer in film, someone to be admired for their art - but his art has had irreparable damage to the name of Ramses.
CB had made a film of Moses in 1923 in black and white. By the 50s when colour arrived, he felt compelled to remake the film, but this time in a “truthful” was in his own words.
He claims that his 1956 film is of TRUE EVENTS, but we have already established that this is NOT TRUE. In the 50’s not many people knew about Egyptology, they knew of 3 associated names - Cleopatra (who could never be connected to Moses) King Tut (died too young to be in the exodus)
& Ramses II. Ramses ruled into his 90s, he left his name, statues and monuments throughout Egypt. HE was the big name people associated with Egypt. He was called Ramses the great. Therefore CB plucked the name of Ramses to make his film more “real” and more relatable to his uninformed audiences. The Ten Commandments was to be his last film, as he was an old man who has suffered many health issues. Therefore he NEEDED the film to be a hit. And simply referring to the Exodus Pharaoh as “Pharaoh” was not going to cut it.
The film would have a devastating effect on popular culture, religion, egyptology and ultimately Ramses II good reputation as a great and celebrated king, to that of an evil, slave driving egomaniac - all instilled by CB.
In his opening speech of the film, he says “Men overcoming a Tyrannical leader Like Ramses, being conquered by God” the tone and attitude in his opening speech is that of a religion obsessive, slightly desperate to try and verify the story he was about to unleash on the world, a story filled with fiction he passed off as fact siting the bible and classical writers as references. Yet these references do not mention Ramses as the king in the exodus.
Even in the opening credits, CB is quoted as saying “Watching this film, you will see the exact path and ground that Moses walked on - yes If Moses did exist, the film is shot in Egypt, but there is NO WAY that CB could know the exact location of his so called “true events”
The Ten Commandments is filled with mumbo jumbo story lines, which would be acceptable if he has said the film takes creative license, but he outright called the story TRUE.
1st of all we meet Bitia, who pulled Moses out of the nile. Bithia was not a daughter or any relation to Ramses II, nor was she ever mentioned in any account by Egyptians. Her name in the Hebrew bible literally means Daughter of Pharaoh.
Then we meet the Royals including Moses. Anne Baxter plays Nefertari. CB created a complete fictional story that Nefertari was in love with Moses, and was forced by Seti to marry Ramses. This is not true. This storyline was only ever introduced in this film - not one biblical reference, nor classical. This story has impacted religion, to the point where people believe it. They believe Nefertari loved Moses. I have even heard the same story from fellow Egyptologists - which is absurd. A well informed person knows how CB effected the world through his films - both in a positive and negative way. Even the story of Nefertari being in a hareem was fictionalised by CB’s film. He creates stories around this affair between Moses and Nefertari which even leads to murder. Even in the bible the Pharaohs wife does not kill the maiden when it is revealed that Moses comes from a slaves family. Ramses is not mentioned in Nefertari’s tomb, and even egyptologists say she didn’t love him, that’s why he is not in the tomb, this is a biased statement based off of a fake story told by CB DeMille. She is shown on her own in the tomb as Ramses last tribute to Nefertari, we know he loved her soo much he even dedicated a whole temple to her.
Nefertari and Ramses met when they were teens and married 3 years later, their love was shown though-out Egypt. Other films such as “The Land of Pharaohs” which tells yet another fictional story of Khufu and his thousands of Slaves building the pyramids shot 3 years before DeMille’s Ten Commandments. The land of Pharaohs even influenced CB to even more show slaves in Egypt. As we know from discoveries by Zahi Hawass, the pyramids were not built by slaves. Recent papyrus fragments have been discovered where they explain how the builders were put into teams, how they were fed and housed and the equipment they received. CB wanted to show Ramses as a slave driver as Ramses was the best know Pharaoh for building - CB jumping to conclusions again. To say Ramses used slaves is a big statement - and an untrue one. At Karnak he wrote that he and his father went throughout the land and found the best and most skilled craftsmen to build the temples. They cared about quality. If Ramses used slaves, he would never write about how skilled his builders were. A slave would never be credited! Another example is CB not letting Ramses and his army be swallowed by the Red Sea, the bible says Pharaoh and his army were swallowed by the sea as it collapsed on the chasing the Israelites. We have the body of Ramses II, therefore CB even adjusted the story from the bible that he so wanted to tell because he knew everyone would be suspicious of the film that he called the telling of true events. In fact we have the body or Ramses I Seti, Ramses II, Merenptah, Ramses III and many more - so that rules them out. As we have established the time line of the Exodus rules Ramses out. Therefore any mention of Ramses, Seti, Nefertari etc in CB’s film should be disregarded. Yet many people have latched onto this fantasy created by CB. Many religious people believe it was Ramses in the Exodus, with no proof at all other than referencing CB’s film. Personally I have had many arguments with people who often refer to CB’s films. THESE ARE FILMS NOT FACT. Even if CB says its true, we know he took vast creative license.
Ramses was revered by all of Egypt! So much so that 9 Pharaohs after him took on his name and called him their GREAT ANCESTOR.
If we want to get technical, the exodus might never of even happened. Not one reference was made to the plagues or slaves by the people. And we know that Egyptians documented EVERYTHING. Especially around the time of Ramses II. Did they ever day, today my 1st born died, today the nile was red with blood - NO. I think if an event such as this happened someone would have written it down. In the film the Pharaoh says “let the name of Moses be stricken from all of Egypt” a line that never occurs in the bible - this line was added in to try to account for the fact of no mention of Moses at all in Egypt, this line has carried on into people thoughts as fact. The 1st born son of Ramses II did die before him, but the average age of death was 50 - Ramses lived to his 90’s and outlived MANY of his children. The same can be said for Ramses the Third who’s son died around age 12 - similar to the bible - however all accounts say it could never have happened around the reign of any Ramses - the book of Joseph mentioned Ramses, which happened before the exodus and the exodus only happened around 700 years give or take later. Solomons temple happened closer to the common era, and says that the exodus happened 480 before it was build. Who knows when it happened? Some suggest Ahmose as the Pharaoh of the exodus which is more believable because of a stela from his reign mentioning several storms etc which are similar but not exactly like the ones in the exodus.
It is my opinion that Maybe an event similar to the exodus happened, but it was exaggerated. The exaggerated story is there as a moral story about overcoming big challenges in life - its not fully historical fact.
Israel was mentioned on a stele by Merenptah son of Ramses II, however the original stele was written by Amenhotep III, a very late descendant of Ahmose - which does make more sense in the timing.
With a huge influx of interest in Egypt after the discovery of Tutankhamun tomb, this event and the glamour around it surely influenced CB. Then in 1949, a book titled The Prince of Egypt was released by Dorothy Clarke Wilson. She never claimed that her book was based on facts in regards to naming the Pharaoh, her book was described as a fictional novel surrounding the events in the bible. CB went as far as to say that his film was influenced by the book, therefore admitting his storyline was fictional without knowing. The influx of interest continued for years, people were absorbing all kinds of info surrounding Egypt no matter what it was! There were several exhibitions around the world in the 60's and 70's. Several films have been made since about the exodus, and all seem to harp back to CB's film with the same story also claiming it is true events - CB's claim that the film was true was accepted by people because he WAS the guy who made biblical stories into movies, therefore he can't be wrong.
From a historical point of view CB DeMille’s Ten Commandments is a catastrophe, filled with fantasy. From a cultural point of view, the effect his films has had on audiences is terrible. He has muddled peoples thoughts, and worse influenced their religion with names such as Ramses giving people a bias against the once great Pharaoh, but from the 50’s has been painted as the most evil. Yul Brynner as Ramses was pompous - which has even influenced Egyptologists opinions of him - which is totally wrong! We can not let a film made by someone with an agenda influence history - especially if the facts are all wrong.
From a filmmaking point of view, as a filmmaker myself, I LOVE the film by CB DeMille. For its time it was amazing. The 1st epic film of its time, jumping leaps and bounds ahead of others in terms of effects and scale. CB did set a precedent for film making - someone I can admire for his art and passion. He paid extreme attention to detail with costumes and sets. Its just a pity he didn’t pay as much attention to historical fact as he did to the Opera of his film.
Anne baxter on the other hand may have been very beautiful, but her performance was rather annoying and over the top, something that I hope people do not connect to Nefertari, same in same, not same in history!
Yul Brynner was in my opinion, the BEST and ultimate Ramses II. We know Ramses must have been very self confident, and Yul portrayed that perfectly. In looks they are even similar. His majesty as Ramses is unlike any other portrayal or Ramses in a film. Its just a pity that Yul’s performance was so good, that people forget he is actor, and take the story as a history retelling of the Exodus.
We must remember that the ancient Egyptians were REAL people. We can not simply pick a name and write fiction around them - this person is not here to defend themselves and it is an insult to their memory from what we know from remaining factual accounts. It would be like writing a film where Princess Dianna is a soviet spy who was working with Napoleon to infiltrate Dr Who's battle ship - its utter rubbish isn't it?
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