<P> 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 US on October 5, 1956 and, at the time of its release, was the most expensive film ever made . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> Pharaoh Rameses I of Egypt orders the death of all firstborn Hebrew males . Yoshebel saves her infant son by setting him adrift in a basket on the Nile . Bithiah, the Pharaoh's daughter, finds the basket and decides to adopt the boy even though her servant, Memnet, recognizes the child is Hebrew . Bithiah names the baby Moses . </P>

Who are the characters in the ten commandments