The Ten Commandments (1956 film) The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American biblical epic film produced , directed , and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille , shot in VistaVision ( color by Technicolor ) , and released by Paramount Pictures . The film is based on Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson , Pillar of Fire by J.H. Ingraham , On Eagle 's Wings by A.E. Southon , and the Book of Exodus . The Ten Commandments dramatizes the biblical story of the life of Moses , an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren , the enslaved Hebrews , and therefore leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai , where he receives , from God , the Ten Commandments . The film stars Charlton Heston in the lead role , Yul Brynner as Rameses , Anne Baxter as Nefretiri , Edward G. Robinson as Dathan , Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora , Debra Paget as Lilia , and John Derek as Joshua ; and features Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi , Nina Foch as Bithiah , Martha Scott as Yoshebel , Judith Anderson as Memnet , and Vincent Price as Baka , among others .   Filmed on location in Egypt , Mount Sinai and the Sinai Peninsula , the film was DeMille 's last and most successful work . It is a partial remake of his 1923 silent film of the same title , and features one of the largest sets ever created for a film . The film was released to cinemas in the USA on 5 October 1956 and , at the time of its release , was the most expensive film ever made .   In 1957 , the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture , winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects ( John P. Fulton , A.S.C. ) . Charlton Heston was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture ( Drama ) for his role as Moses . Yul Brynner won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his role as Rameses and his other roles in Anastasia and The King and I . It is also one of the most financially successful films ever made , grossing approximately $ 122.7 million at the box office during its initial release ; it was the most successful film of 1956 and the second-highest-grossing film of the decade . According to Guinness World Records , in terms of theatrical exhibition it is the seventh most successful film of all-time when the box office gross is adjusted for inflation .   In 1999 , the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' . In June 2008 , the American Film Institute revealed its `` Ten Top Ten '' -- the best ten films in ten American film genres -- after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community . The film was listed as the tenth best film in the epic genre . Network television has aired the film in prime time during the Passover/Easter season every year since 1973 . The last credited actor in the movie still alive is Joanna Merlin .
Herod the Great (film) Herod the Great ( Erode il grande , Le roi cruel ) is a 1958 Italian-French epic historical drama film directed by Victor Tourjansky . The Mighty Crusaders (film) Gerusalemme liberata ( a.k.a. . The Mighty Crusaders ) is a 1958 film about the First Crusade ( 1096 -- 1099 ) , based on the 16th-century Italian poem , Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso .   This film was directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia . The Italian version was written by Sandro Continenza and the English translation was written by Annalena Limentani and Frederica Nutter . Excel Entertainment Group Excel Entertainment Group is a subsidiary of Deseret Book Co. best known for its distribution of many pieces of LDS cinema . Excel Entertainment Group 's products deal thematically with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormons ) including Forever Strong ( 2008 ) , Midway to Heaven ( 2011 ) , Saints and Soldiers ( 2003 ) , and 17 Miracles ( 2011 ) . The Group is based in Salt Lake City , Utah . The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time The following are the `` Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time '' according to the worldwide opinion polls conducted by Sight & Sound and published in the journal 's September 2012 issue . They published the critics ' list , based on 846 critics , programmers , academics , and distributors , and the directors ' list , based on 358 directors and filmmakers . Sight & Sound , published by the British Film Institute , has conducted a poll of the greatest films every 10 years since 1952 . Film director A film director is a person who directs the making of a film . Generally , a film director controls a film 's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay ( or script ) while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision . The director has a key role in choosing the cast members , production design , and the creative aspects of filmmaking . Under European Union law , the director is viewed as the author of the film .   The film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized , or noticed . Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions and stay within the boundaries of the film 's budget . There are many pathways to becoming a film director . Some film directors started as screenwriters , cinematographers , film editors or actors . Other film directors have attended a film school . Directors use different approaches . Some outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue , while others control every aspect , and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely . Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners . Some directors edit or appear in their films , or compose the music score for their films . Art film An art film is typically a serious , independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience . An art film is `` intended to be a serious artistic work , often experimental and not designed for mass appeal '' ; they are `` made primarily for aesthetic reasons rather than commercial profit '' , and they contain `` unconventional or highly symbolic content '' .   Film critics and film studies scholars typically define an art film as possessing `` formal qualities that mark them as different from mainstream Hollywood films '' , which can include , among other elements , a sense of social realism ; an emphasis on the authorial expressiveness of the director ; and a focus on the thoughts , dreams , or motivations of characters , as opposed to the unfolding of a clear , goal-driven story . Film scholar David Bordwell describes art cinema as `` a film genre , with its own distinct conventions '' .   Art film producers usually present their films at specialty theatres ( repertory cinemas , or , in the U.S. , `` arthouse cinemas '' ) and film festivals . The term art film is much more widely used in the United States , the UK and Australia than in Europe , where the term is more associated with `` auteur '' films and `` national cinema '' ( e.g. , German national cinema ) . Because they are aimed at small niche market audiences , they can rarely get the financial backing that will permit large production budgets , expensive special effects , costly celebrity actors , or huge advertising campaigns , as are used in widely released mainstream blockbuster films . Art film directors make up for these constraints by creating a different type of film , which typically uses lesser-known film actors ( or even amateur actors ) and modest sets to make films that focus much more on developing ideas or exploring new narrative techniques or film-making conventions .   A certain degree of experience and knowledge are required to fully understand or appreciate such films . One mid-1990s art film was called `` largely a cerebral experience '' that one enjoys `` because of what you know about film '' . This contrasts sharply with mainstream `` blockbuster '' films , which are geared more towards escapism and pure entertainment . For promotion , art films rely on the publicity generated from film critics ' reviews , discussion of their film by arts columnists , commentators and bloggers , and `` word-of-mouth '' promotion by audience members . Since art films have small initial investment costs , they only need to appeal to a small portion of the mainstream viewing audiences to become financially viable . The NeverEnding Story (film) The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 American epic fantasy film based on the novel of the same name by Michael Ende , about a boy who reads a magical book that tells a story of a young warrior whose task is to stop a dark storm called the Nothing from engulfing a fantasy world . The film was produced by Bernd Eichinger and Dieter Giessler and directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen ( his first English-language film ) and starred Noah Hathaway , Barret Oliver , Tami Stronach , Patricia Hayes , Sydney Bromley , Gerald McRaney , Moses Gunn , and Alan Oppenheimer as the voices of both Falkor and Gmork ( as well as other characters ) . At the time of its release , it was the most expensive film produced outside the United States or the Soviet Union . The film was the first in The NeverEnding Story film series and later followed by two sequels .   Ende felt that this adaptation 's content deviated so far from the spirit of his book that he requested that production either be halted or the film 's title be changed ; when the producers did neither , he sued them and subsequently lost the case . Ende called the film a `` gigantic melodrama of kitsch , commerce , plush and plastic '' -LSB- Ein `` gigantisches Melodram aus Kitsch , Kommerz , Plüsch und Plastik '' -RSB- . The film only adapts the first half of the book , and consequently does not convey the message of the title as it was portrayed in the novel . The second half of the book would subsequently be used as the rough basis for the second film , The Next Chapter . The third film , Escape from Fantasia , features a completely original plot . Jerusalem in Judaism Since the 10th century BCE Jerusalem has been the holiest city , focus and spiritual center of the Jews .  Jerusalem has long been embedded into Jewish religious consciousness and Jews have always studied and personalized the struggle by King David to capture Jerusalem and his desire to build the Holy Temple there , as described in the Book of Samuel and the Book of Psalms . Many of King David 's yearnings about Jerusalem have been adapted into popular prayers and songs . Jews believe that in the future the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem will become the center of worship and instruction for all mankind and consequently Jerusalem will become the spiritual center of the world . Film series A film series ( also referred to as a film franchise ) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe , or are marketed as a series .   Sometimes the work is conceived from the beginning as a multiple-film work , for example the Three Colours series , but in most cases the success of the original film inspires further films to be made . Individual sequels are relatively common , but are not always successful enough to spawn further installments .   The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the highest grossing film series in unadjusted US Dollar figures surpassing the Harry Potter , Star Wars , James Bond , and Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings series . However , `` Star Wars '' has the highest when adjusted for inflation . Redemptive Film Festival Redemptive Film Festival is a film festival located in Virginia Beach , Virginia . Founded in 2006 , it has been an annual event in November . It showcases films , both shorts and of feature-length , professional and students filmmakers . Entries are judged by a panel of film and television professionals . The festival awards the Redemptive Storyteller Award to all films that meet its standard of excellence .    The festival aims at providing a forum for filmmakers ( professionals or students ) , to showcase and be rewarded for their work on themes that depict the redemptive purposes of God , either through human beings or supernatural occurrences ; and to participate in the process of redeeming and empowering victims of modern-day slavery . For the purposes of this competition , a redemptive film is any film whose main purpose is to depict the act of redeeming , rescuing , or delivering any person from a state of crisis or helplessness .   The festival believes that most often , God uses humans to redeem other humans , though sometimes He intervenes through other methods , and therefore they look for films that portray this . Films which demean religion , include gratuitous violence , nudity or profanity are not suited for this competition . Films do not need to reflect Christian teachings but must adhere to basic Judeo-Christian Values , such as the respect for life , justice and morality .   The Redemptive Film Festival is not just interested in promoting redemptive films , but they are also actively involved in the process of redemption . Proceeds from the festival are donated to helping to rescue and empower the victims of modern-day slavery . Today there are more than 27 million slaves in the world , more than the number of people extracted from Africa throughout the 400 years of the slave trade . Towards this end , the Redemptive Film Festival partners with the International Justice Mission , a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery , sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression . IJM lawyers , investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare , to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems . The War Lord See Warlord ( comics ) for the comic book .   The War Lord is a 1965 American film about Medieval warfare in 11th century Normandy , starring Charlton Heston and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner . It is an adaptation of the play , The Lovers , by Leslie Stevens . The film also features Richard Boone , Rosemary Forsyth , Guy Stockwell , Maurice Evans , Niall MacGinnis , Henry Wilcoxon and James Farentino , with Jon Alderson , Allen Jaffe , Sammy Ross , and Woodrow Parfrey . Schaffner would later reteam with Heston and Evans in 1968 for Planet of the Apes .   Until this film , most Hollywood representations of feudal life were glamorized . The War Lord attempts to portray the 11th Century in a more accurate fashion as dirty , violent and ruled by brute force . The social stratification imposed by feudalism governed every human relationship , with power devolving from the duke , to the knight , to the men at arms , the church and the peasantry at the very bottom . Dances with Wolves Dances with Wolves is a 1990 American epic Western film directed by , produced by , and starring Kevin Costner . It is a film adaptation of the 1988 book of the same name by Michael Blake and tells the story of a Union Army lieutenant who travels to the American frontier to find a military post and his dealings with a group of Lakota Indians .   Costner developed the film with an initial budget of $ 15 million . Dances with Wolves had high production values and won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture -- Drama . Much of the dialogue is spoken in Lakota with English subtitles . It was shot in South Dakota and Wyoming , and translated by Albert White Hat , the chair of the Lakota Studies Department at Sinte Gleska University .   The film is credited as a leading influence for the revitalization of the Western genre of filmmaking in Hollywood . In 2007 , Dances with Wolves was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' . Reds (film) Reds is a 1981 American epic drama film co-written , produced and directed by Warren Beatty . The picture centers on the life and career of John Reed , the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book Ten Days That Shook the World . Beatty stars in the lead role alongside Diane Keaton as Louise Bryant and Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill .   The supporting cast includes Edward Herrmann , Jerzy Kosinski , Paul Sorvino , Maureen Stapleton , Gene Hackman , Ramon Bieri , Nicolas Coster and M. Emmet Walsh . The film also features , as `` witnesses , '' interviews with the 98-year-old radical educator and peace activist Scott Nearing , author Dorothy Frooks , reporter and author George Seldes , civil liberties advocate Roger Baldwin , and the American writer Henry Miller , among others .   Beatty was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director and the film was nominated for Best Picture , but lost to Chariots of Fire . Beatty , Keaton , Nicholson and Stapleton were nominated for Best Actor , Best Actress , Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress , respectively . Stapleton was the only one of the four to win . Beatty was also nominated , along with co-writer Trevor Griffiths , for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay , but lost to Chariots of Fire . Beatty became the third person to be nominated for Academy Awards in the categories Best Actor , Director and Original Screenplay for a film nominated for Best Picture .   In June 2008 , the American Film Institute revealed its `` Ten Top Ten '' -- the best ten films in ten `` classic '' American film genres -- after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community . Reds was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the epic genre . The King of Kings (1927 film) The King of Kings is a 1927 American silent epic film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille . It depicts the last weeks of Jesus before his crucifixion and stars H. B. Warner in the lead role .   Featuring the opening and resurrection scenes in two-color Technicolor , the film is the second in DeMille 's biblical trilogy , preceded by The Ten Commandments ( 1923 ) and followed by The Sign of the Cross ( 1932 ) . The Eternal Jew (1940 film) The Eternal Jew is a 1940 antisemitic German Nazi propaganda film , presented as a documentary . The film 's initial German title is Der Ewige Jude , the German term for the character of the `` Wandering Jew '' in medieval folklore . At the insistence of Nazi Germany 's Minister of Propaganda , Joseph Goebbels , the film was directed by Fritz Hippler .   With a screenplay credited to Eberhard Taubert , the film consists of feature and documentary footage combined with materials filmed shortly after the Nazi occupation of Poland . At this time , Poland 's Jewish population was about three million , roughly ten percent of the total population . Actor Harry Giese ( 1903 -- 1991 ) narrated . Clash of the Titans (franchise) Clash of the Titans is a British -- American fantasy action media franchise based on characters and myths of Ancient Greek mythology . The first film , Clash of the Titans , was released in 1981 with a remake made in 2010 . The remake spawned a sequel , Wrath of the Titans , in 2012 . Jesus Christ Superstar (film) Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1973 American musical drama film directed by Norman Jewison and co-written by Jewison and Melvyn Bragg based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera of the same name . The film , starring Ted Neeley , Carl Anderson , Yvonne Elliman , and Barry Dennen , centers on the conflict between Judas and Jesus during the week before the crucifixion of Jesus .   Neeley and Anderson were nominated for two Golden Globe Awards in 1974 for their portrayals of Jesus and Judas , respectively . Although it attracted criticism from some religious groups , reviews for the film were positive . Hollywood & Wine Hollywood & Wine is a 2010 American comedy film . Original Film Original Film is an American film production company founded by Neal H. Moritz . Gandhi (film) Gandhi is a 1982 British-Indian epic biographical drama film which dramatises the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , the leader of India 's non-violent , non-cooperative independence movement against the United Kingdom 's rule of the country during the 20th century . Gandhi was written by John Briley and produced and directed by Richard Attenborough . It stars Ben Kingsley in the title role . The film covers Gandhi 's life from a defining moment in 1893 , as he is thrown off a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment , and concludes with his assassination and funeral in 1948 . Although a practising Hindu , Gandhi 's embracing of other faiths , particularly Christianity and Islam , is also depicted .   Gandhi was released in India on 30 November 1982 , in the United Kingdom on 3 December , and in the United States on 10 December . It was nominated for Academy Awards in eleven categories , winning eight , including Best Picture and Best Director for Attenborough , Best Actor for Ben Kingsley , and Best Original Screenplay for Briley . The film was screened retrospective on 12 August 2016 as the Opening Film at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defense , commemorating 70th Indian Independence Day . The screenplay of Gandhi is available as a published book .