Charlton Heston in "The 10 Commendments" at Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX -- March 28 and 31.

Sunday, March 28, and Wednesday, March 31

Rave Cinemas Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, 3601 East 53rd Street, Davenport IA

Enjoying a local presentation as the third cinematic presentation in Fathom Events' seventh-annual TCM Big Screen Classics series, the legendary biblical epic The Ten Commandments celebrates its 65th anniversary with March 28 and March 31 screenings at Rave Cinemas Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, this 1956 masterwork famed for its scale, cope, and unforgettable sights including Moses' iconic parting of the Red Sea.

Produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, The Ten Commandments was released by Paramount Pictures, and based on the 1949 novel Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, the 1859 novel Pillar of Fire by J. H. Ingraham, the 1937 novel On Eagle's Wings by A. E. Southon, and the bible's Book of Exodus. DeMille's film dramatizes the life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and thereafter leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives the Ten Commandments from God. Running close to four hours (with an intermission), The Ten Commandments stars Charlton Heston in the title role, with its massive supporting cast including Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka.

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; at the time of its release, it was the most expensive film ever made. In 1957, The The Commandments was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Additionally, DeMille won the Foreign Language Press Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, while Heston was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama).

DeMille's legendary epic is also one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing approximately $122.7 million (equivalent to roughly 1.2 billion today) at the box office during its initial release, and was the most successful film of 1956 and second-highest-grossing movie of the decade. According to Guinness World Records, in terms of theatrical exhibition, it is the eighth-most-successful film of all-time when the box office gross is adjusted for inflation. In 1999, The Ten Commandments was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” In June of 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its “10 Top Ten” – the best 10 films in 10 American genres – and DeMille's work was listed as the 10th best film in the genre of “epic.” Network television has also aired the 1956 movie in primetime during the Passover/Easter season every year since 1973.

The Ten Commandments will be screened at Rave Cinemas Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX at I & 6 p.m. on March 28, and at 6 p.m. on March 31. For more information on the 65th-anniversary presentation, visit Cinemark.com, and for more on the seventh-annual TCM Big Screen Classics series, visit FathomEvents.com.

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