Note from Cecil B DeMille

Note from Cecil B DeMille, on his personal stationery, written during the production of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

"Talk about opening of Sea from front to back" in capital was probably a reminder of what was to be descussed at a committee meeting the following day.

(In DeMille's handwriting) "Can Farciot make the porch shot - transparency?" In an early scene in the film, Edward G Robinson and Yul Brynner coverse on a porch, DeMille seems to be asking whether Farciot Edouart, the head of the transparency projection department, could make the shot using a back-projected vista of the River Nile behind the porch set piece.

However, ultimately the action on the porch was filmed in front of a blue screen and combined with the background in the optical printer, possibly because a projected Nile looked too 'soft'.

The parting of the Read Sea sequence is one of the most impressive in The Ten Commandments. It was created thorugh a combination of rear projection and optical photography. The sequence took 6 months to create, with scenes shot on the banks of the Red Sea and at the Paramount backlot.

The wall of water was created at Paramount on 1/5th scale using a tilted ramp approximately 32 feet high and 80 feet long. The water was supplied by an elevated tank through 15 manually controlled hydraulically operated valves allowing the 360,000 gallons of water to cascade down in a thin sheet. Along the ramp were long wooden batons which caused the water to break up into choppy tides and undertow. This shot was then used in reverse to give the impression of the water going up and the sea parting. All elements were combined in an optical printer and matte paintings of rocks concealed the matte lines between the 'real' location shots and the special effects.