Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 remake of 'The Ten Commandments' was the ultimate spectacle of the mid-century. It was the most expensive film ever made at the time ($13.5 million). The production featured the largest movie set ever constructed: a replica of the city of Per-Ramesses in Egypt. For the famous 'Parting of the Red Sea' sequence, the crew built a massive tank and used a combination of pouring water and backward-played film. It was an enormous blockbuster, and for decades it was the second highest-grossing film of all time (behind Gone with the Wind). It proved that religious epics were a safe bet for major studios during the 1950s.