Welcome to How’d They Do That? — a month-to-month column that unpacks moments of film magic and celebrates the technical wizards who pulled them off. This entry explains how they shot the parting of the Purple Sea impact in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 movie The Ten Commandments.
With only a few opponents, Cecil B. DeMille’s shade model of The Ten Commandments stays one of many single biggest “results photos” of all time.
Pricey and impressive, even by DeMille’s requirements, the 1956 movie was an appropriately epic endeavor contemplating the subject material. On the time, it was the costliest film ever made. In reality, the on-location shoot was so intensive that DeMille suffered a coronary heart assault throughout manufacturing, a well known “secret” that secured the image’s standing because the director’s last cinematic hurrah.
However that stated, what a hurrah: who else however DeMille might produce three hours of top-of-the-line camp masquerading as Biblical paratext? They only don’t make ’em like they used to. (No, actually, it’s wild how a lot of this film is simply Anne Baxter gnawing on the surroundings and everybody being comically lusty for Moses, far and away the least charismatic character within the movie).
Nevertheless, amidst all of its iconic performances and jaw-dropping set-pieces, the parting of the Purple Sea sequence trounces the competitors. You could possibly even say it’s … one in DeMilleion.
Wait, why are you booing?
The parting of the Purple Sea in The Ten Commandments
After three hours of Technicolor melodrama, we lastly arrive at some of the enduring scenes in particular results historical past.
With the mocking phrases of Nefertiri (Anne Baxter) nonetheless ringing in his ears, Rameses (Yul Brynner) rides out to kill Moses (Charlton Heston). With their backs up in opposition to impassable waters and the approaching stampede of chariots closing in, Moses’ followers’ desperation sours into revolt. He introduced them into the wilderness to die, hisses the treacherous Dathan (Edward G. Robinson). He’s a false prophet. A magician. A Charlatan (Heston). Why are you booing once more?
Then, a miracle: a miraculous pillar of fireside silences the frightened mob. And, extra importantly, it buys the fleeing Hebrews a while.
Leaning deep into the opera required for the spectacle at hand, DeMille abandons any pretense of historic realism in favor of one thing way more expressionistic. Darkish clouds churn overhead as awe-struck Jews strike emotion-filled poses that will make Romantic painters blush. From the sky, a stormy finger descends into the churning sea, cleaving a path by means of the ocean.
And so, Pharaoh be damned, the Exodus continues because the overjoyed crowd passes between the towering moist partitions to security. Rameses’ armies — short-sightedly despatched in sizzling pursuit to drown beneath the waves — are usually not so fortunate.
To say that few scenes have achieved the standing of DeMille’s most iconic sequence is an understatement. It will be a necessary and anticipated inclusion in any montage about Golden Age Hollywood or the historical past of particular results for that matter. So, how’d they do it?
How’d they try this?
Lengthy story brief:
Partially shot on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles, the parting of the Purple Sea impact was created by dumping a whole bunch of hundreds of gallons of water into large “dump tanks,” which created the phantasm of a parting sea when the footage was reversed.
Lengthy story lengthy:
The parting of the Purple Sea impact in The Ten Commandments was overseen by John P. Fulton, the incumbent SFX head honcho at Paramount whose efforts secured the movie its only Oscar win. In the meantime, Paul Lerpae contributed his skills with optical pictures. As you’ll see, the largest problem of the impact was uniting varied elements and visible concepts that have been created in numerous elements of the world by completely different craftsmen, usually years aside.
Per an article by Paul Mandell revealed by CineMagic within the mid-80s, quite a few pre-production experiments (together with a 20-foot excessive hydraulic ramp) failed earlier than the group lastly discovered the profitable mixture of Golden Age visible results. Different key elements of pre-production embody Fulton’s location scouting within the Spring of 1954 and the artwork division’s ingenious concept to ink the define of the to-be composited water partitions on viewfinder-friendly celluloid frames. Because of this, strips of terrain, so far as 30 miles aside, have been in a position to be photographed individually and married within the finder, preemptively assuaging appreciable complications for the optical division down the street.
Broadly talking, the impact we see on-screen will be damaged down into three actions: the parting, the crossing, and the closing. As a result of the “parting” impact is simply the “closing” impact performed in reverse, the best strategy to clarify the general impact is to begin on the finish, with the ocean gushing again into the chasm, drowning Pharaoh’s armies.
When the ocean is closing again up, we’re (a minimum of) 4 layers of compositing: (1) live-action Moses and firm within the foreground; (2) the clouds; (3) the partitions of water on both aspect of the pathway, and (4) the gushing water re-filling up the ditch.
To create the “opening and shutting sea” impact an enormous, U-shaped water trough was constructed on the Paramount backlot. When hundreds of gallons of water have been launched from the elevated tanks (helped alongside by some hard-working wind machines), the water rushed to fill the bogus canyon. Taking part in the footage in reverse created the impact of a path being cleaved straight by means of the physique of water. Whenever you see water “spilling in” or “pulling out” within the Purple Sea impact, that is what you’re seeing. Taking pictures all of the water results on VistaVision was essential since optical results don’t take kindly to the warped nature of the anamorphic format.
Creating the “partitions of water” required a special set-up, particularly, an 80 x 32-foot concrete slide. Water fed by means of valves created sheets of water whereas a community of wood riffles broke up the present and created an undertow. The consequence was a large backwash that, when filmed on its aspect, seems as a cascading palisade reaching skywards. This course of was repeated for the opposite “aspect” of the wall. For those who’re having a tough time visualizing issues, take a look at these behind-the-scenes photos. The 2011 making-of documentary The Ten Commandments: Making Miracles additionally options in-motion archival footage that’s tremendous useful.
In the course of the “crossing” a part of the sequence, the touring mattes of the fleeing Hebrews have been composited utilizing Lerpae’s optical printer. These have been filmed on two merged sound phases (at Paramount and the neighboring RKO) flanked by two blue screens. Regardless of the large solid, there was a want to extend the dimensions. Because the individuals went by means of,” Lerpae recalled to CineMagic, “We ran a matte following them, which left that half unexposed. Then I took the start of the scene and had them comply with the tail finish of their very own group. Lastly, it seemed as if 1800 individuals have been marching towards the horizon. It was one heck of a factor to do.”
As for the clouds, whereas later movies like Raiders of the Misplaced Ark and Poltergeist created related results by injecting paint right into a glass tank stuffed with a salt-water inversion, the clouds in The Ten Commandments have been created by pouring gray paint into clear water. A particular, graduated, neutral-density filter allowed the filmmakers to cover the truth that the live-action pictures of the extras have been shot in both broad daylight or intense studio lights. Likewise, filters and scrims have been employed to unite the added storm results.
Whereas the bigger parts of the impact positively steal the present, various smaller particulars go an extended strategy to “promote” the parting of the Purple Sea. Medium pictures of actors interacting with the water make the scene really feel extra built-in as does utilizing actual parts as a substitute of animation (see: the pillar of fireside). Jan Domela’s matte work work additional time to hide the borders of the composite; a heroic effort that has been largely undone by the picture high quality of the 2021 4K launch, which has been equally unkind to a lot of the compositing work.
“Actors interacting with the water” additionally contains DeMille and firm completely drenching the unfortunate Egyptian military and their horses.
The precedent for the parting of the Purple Sea in The Ten Commandments
Like Robin Hood or A Christmas Carol, the E book of Exodus is reproduced on-screen time and time once more. So long as we’ve film cameras, there’s likelihood we’ll hold making movies about Moses’ pilgrimage out of Egypt.
One of many earliest Exodus variations is 1909’s The Lifetime of Moses, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, the founding father of Vitagraph Studios. Whereas 50 minutes might sound breezy in comparison with the four-hour runtime of DeMille’s basic, movie show house owners on the time have been pissed off with Blackton’s five-reel image, which diminished viewers turnover.
One other early instance comes from France in 1905, with La Vie de Moïse, which, in contrast to Blackton’s movie, doesn’t require an in-person go to to the Library of Congress to look at. Right here, the parting of the Purple Sea impact could be very easy however does the job: a painted backdrop depicting the dramatic scene. Embellishing particulars like actual water on the ground and a fluttering wave (more than likely manipulated silk or another semi-translucent material) make the scene really feel rather less flat.
La Vie De Moïse (1905)
So far as direct precedents go, the decision is coming from inside the home, so to talk. Certainly, 1956’s The Ten Commandments represents one of many uncommon cases of a filmmaker re-making (or re-adapting) their very own movie. In 1923, DeMille’s first stab at The Ten Commandments kicked off what would grow to be a biblical trilogy (rounded out by 1927’s The King of Kings and 1932’s The Signal of the Cross). In contrast to its laser-focused 1956 sibling, DeMille’s 1927 movie splits its time between the biblical story and a contemporary story of two brothers who disagree in issues of scripture.
Thirty minutes into the 1923 adaptation, Moses does this factor and splits the ocean to clear a path to security. The sequence is completely serviceable however suffers from one of many extra unlucky unwanted effects of utilizing water with miniatures. Particularly, that water can’t be miniaturized. For those who’re watching, say, an enormous Toho monster film, and you may clearly see tiny water droplets spraying off the supposedly huge Godzilla, your mind instinctually clocks that one thing goofy is occurring with the dimensions of issues. That stated, the black-and-white cinematography does the scene lots of favors within the realism division.
The Ten Commandments (1923)
The impact was completed by dumping water right into a U-shaped tank and taking part in the footage in reverse. For the composited pictures of the live-action Israelites crossing the ocean ground, DeMille used huge slabs of Jell-O to carry the water in place. For this reason — if you will discover a ok high quality print — you may see the “partitions” of water jiggling.
It’s value noting {that a} competing Exodus adaptation — the Austrian-made The Moon of Israel — was shot across the similar time as DeMille’s 1923 movie. The Moon of Israel was so profitable that it single-handedly secured its director, Michael Curtiz, a ticket to Hollywood, the place he would direct one other Biblical epic (1928’s Noah’s Ark) earlier than cranking out licensed bangers like Casablanca and The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Relying on who you ask (and the way good the movie prints are), The Moon of Israel’s Purple Sea sequence is the superior impact. Shot in Laaer Berg Park in Vienna, the Austrian manufacturing pumped over 2.5 thousand gallons of water right into a three-foot-deep wood trough lined with plaster partitions.
On condition that The Moon of Israel additionally made use of compositing and reverse pictures, the important thing distinction appears to be one in every of scale: they did it greater … and because of this, the scene seems to be extra sensible. One other necessary distinction was that Curtiz and firm didn’t go the Jell-O route however quite ran water down the plaster, creating the phantasm of two large partitions of water dealing with each other. It’s not at all times true that greater is healthier. However with regards to sensible water results like splitting the Purple Sea in half, it’s higher to not, uh, half-ass issues.
Associated Subjects: Cecil B. DeMille, How’d They Do That?
Meg has been writing professionally about all issues film-related since 2016. She is a Senior Contributor at Movie College Rejects in addition to a Curator for One Excellent Shot. She has attended worldwide movie festivals similar to TIFF, Sizzling Docs, and the Nitrate Image Present as a member of the press. In her day job as an archivist and data supervisor, she recurrently works with bodily media and is dedicated to making sure ongoing bodily media accessibility within the digital age. You will discover extra of Meg’s work at Cinema Scope, Useless Central, and Nonfics. She has additionally appeared on various film-related podcasts, together with All of the President’s Minutes, Zodiac: Chronicle, Cannes I Kick It?, and Junk Filter. Her work has been shared on NPR’s Pop Tradition Blissful Hour, Enterprise Insider, and CherryPicks. Meg has a B.A. from the College of King’s School and a Grasp of Data diploma from the College of Toronto.
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