Biblical Movies

Moses und Aron, known in English as Moses and Aaron, is a 1975 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet based on the unfinished opera of the same title by Arnold Schoenberg. During its 1975 run at US festivals, it was also known as Aaron and Moses, and was frequently reviewed as such. It is one of three films based on Schoenberg works Straub and Huillet directed, the other two being Einleitung zu Arnold Schoenbergs Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene, a short film made directly before Moses und Aron, and, over two decades later, an adaptation of the one-act comic opera Von heute auf morgen. The film retains the unfinished nature of the original opera, with the third act consisting of a single shot with no music as Moses delivers a monologue based on Schoenberg's notes. The film was shot on location in Italy and Egypt, specifically the amphitheater within the ruins of Alba Fucens.[1] The film utilized the same team of cinematographers as Straub and Huillet's Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach. The soundtrack and cast of the film is the same as the 1974 recording conducted by Michael Gielen (Philips 6700 084). The original German version of the film was dedicated to Holger Meins, a former cinematography student who joined the Red Army Faction in the early 1970s and died on hunger strike in prison. This dedication was censored by German broadcasters for the film's first transmission in 1975. The English subtitles of Schoenberg's dense German libretto were prepared by assistant Gregory Woods, who is credited on the DVD. The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.[2] In a review of the film, composer Allen Shaw[1] commented on how the camera work and directorship mirrored the film's central premise: While mirroring the technical rigor underlying the music, the Straubs also established a directorial method that brilliantly underscored the work’s themes: Moses and Aron’s dichotomous relationship is presented with an extraordinary visual economy—yet they are never framed in exactly the same way. — Allen Shaw, Holy Ghosts Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron meets Straub and Huillet

Il vecchio testamento, released in English as The Old Testament, and in Spanish, Los Macabeos (The Maccabees), is a 1962 Italian/French widescreen international co-production epic film shot in Yugoslavia. It is based on the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of Syrian of 167–141 BC. It was directed and co-written by Gianfranco Parolini and starred Brad Harris in one of their frequent collaborations. Plot The film is a very loose and free retelling of the Maccabean Revolt. The Greek Syrians demand that Zeus be worshiped in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish priest Mattathias calls for resistance; Mattathias and his followers revolt and flee into the desert. In the wilderness, the Syrian government forces and Mattathias's rebels clash, a battle that claims many lives. Judas Maccabeus, the son of Mattathias, assumes command for a time of them, but he too falls in battle and his brother Jonathan Apphus takes over. After Jonathan's death, his brother Simon Thassi takes his place. Eventually, the Jews under Simon recapture Jerusalem and expel the Syrians. Simon celebrates the victory with his people. A Syrian woman, his bride, stands by his side. In a speech he announces that the captured Syrian soldiers are to be released so that they can report on the power and leniency of the Jews. A notable difference the film has is that it seemingly portrays the hostile Antiochus IV Epiphanes as more of a local governor than a distant king. The movie also extends his term as villain, as he is around to oppose the Maccabees during the whole movie; in history, he died before Judas did and was replaced by other Syrian kings and commanders. The film also gives romance stories and women a larger role than the rather patriarchal book of 1 Maccabees, which generally kept women in the background and unnamed. Cast In the American release several of the cast were credited with surnames of American actors who had appeared in Biblical films such "John (Charlton) Heston" and "Susan (Debra) Paget". Brad Harris ... Simon Thassi Djordje Nenadovic ... Judas Maccabeus Ivano Staccioli ...Antiochus IV Epiphanes Franca Parisi ... Miza Mara Lane ... Diotima Philippe Hersent ... Namele Carlo Tamberlani ... Mattathias Jacques Berthier ... Apollonius, military commander of Seleucid Empire Alan Steel

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). Plot Duration: 1 minute and 20 seconds.1:20 The King of Kings (1931 re-release trailer) Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a wild courtesan, entertaining many men around her. Upon learning that Judas is with a carpenter she rides out on her chariot drawn by zebras to get him back. Peter is introduced as the Giant apostle, and we see the future gospel writer Mark as a child who is healed by Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is shown as a beautiful and saintly woman who is a mother to all her son's followers. The first sight of Jesus is through the eyesight of a little girl, whom he heals. He is surrounded by a halo. Mary Magdelene arrives afterwards and talks to Judas, who reveals that he is only staying with Jesus in hopes of being made a high official after Jesus becomes the king of kings. Jesus casts the Seven Deadly Sins out of Mary Magdalene in a multiple exposure sequence. Jesus is also shown resurrecting Lazarus and healing the little children. Some humor is derived when one girl asks if he can heal broken legs, and, when he says yes, she gives him a legless doll. Jesus smiles and repairs the doll. The crucifixion is foreshadowed when Jesus, having helped a poor family, wanders through the father's carpentry shop, and, himself a carpenter's son, he briefly helps carve a piece of wood. When a sheet covering the object is removed, it is revealed to be a cross towering over Jesus. Jesus and his apostles enter Jerusalem, where Judas incites the people and rallies them to proclaim Jesus as the King of the Jews. Jesus, however, renounces all claims of being an Earthly king. Caiaphas the High Priest is also angry at Judas for having led people to a man whom he sees as a false prophet. Meanwhile, Jesus drives away Satan, who had offered him an Earthly kingdom, and he protects a woman caught in adultery. The words he draws in the sand are revealed to be the sins the accusers themselves committed. Judas, desperate to save himself from Caiaphas, agrees to turn over Jesus. Noticeably at the Last Supper, when Jesus distributes the bread and wine saying that they are his body and blood, Judas refuses to eat or drink. Towards the end, Mary confronts her son and tells him to flee from the danger that is coming. Jesus replies that it must be done for the salvation of all peoples. Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where he is soon captured by the Roman soldiers and betrayed by Judas. Judas' life is saved, but, upon seeing that Jesus is going to be killed as a result, he is horrified. Judas takes a rope that the Romans had used to bind Jesus' wrists and runs off. Jesus is beaten and then presented by Pontius Pilate to the crowd. Mary pleads for the life of her son and Mary Magdalene speaks for him but Caiaphas bribes the crowd to shout against Jesus. Jesus is taken away to be crucified, though he pauses on the Via Dolorosa to heal a group of cripples in an alley, despite his weakened condition. Jesus is crucified and his enemies throw insults at him. (One woman even anachronistically eats popcorn and smiles with glee at Jesus' crucifixion.) When Jesus does die, however, there is a great earthquake. The tree where Judas had hanged himself, with the rope used to bind Jesus's wrists, is swallowed up amidst bursts of hellfire. The sky turns black, lightning strikes, the wind blows, the people who had mocked Jesus run in terror, and the veil covering the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple is torn in two. The tumult ends when Mary looks up at heaven and asks God to forgive the world for the death of their son. The chaos ends and the sun shines. Jesus is taken down from the cross and is buried. On the third day, he rises from the dead as promised. To emphasize the importance of the resurrection, this scene from an otherwise black and white film is shot in color. Jesus goes to the Apostles and tells them to spread his message to the world. He tells them "I am with you always" as the scene shifts to a modern city to show that Jesus still watches over his followers. Many of the film's intertitles are quotes (or paraphrases) from Scripture, often with chapter and verse accompanying. Cast H. B. Warner as Jesus Dorothy Cumming as Mary, the mother of Jesus Ernest Torrence as Peter Joseph Schildkraut as Judas Iscariot James Neill as James the Great Joseph Striker as John the Apostle Robert Edeson as Matthew the Apostle Sidney D'Albrook as Thomas, the Doubter David Imboden as Andrew – a Fisherman Charles Belcher as Philip the Apostle Clayton Packard as Bartholomew the Apostle Robert Ellsworth as Simon – the Zealot Charles Requa as James the Less John T. Prince as Thaddeus Jacqueline Logan as Mary Magdalene Rudolph Schildkraut as Caiaphas – High Priest of Israel Sam De Grasse as Pharisee Casson Ferguson as Scribe Victor Varconi as Pontius Pilate Majel Coleman as Proculla – Wife of Pilate Montagu Love as Roman Centurion William Boyd as Simon of Cyrene Micky Moore as Mark Theodore Kosloff as Malchus – Captain of the High Priest's Guard George Siegmann as Barabbas Julia Faye as Martha Josephine Norman as Mary of Bethany Kenneth Thomson as Lazarus Alan Brooks as Satan Viola Louie as Adulterous Woman Muriel McCormac as Blind Girl Clarence Burton as Dysmas – the Repentant Thief Jim Mason as Gestas – the Unrepentant Thief May Robson as Mother of Gestas Dot Farley as Maidservant of Caiaphas Hector V. Sarno as Galilean Carpenter Leon Holmes as Imbecile Boy Otto Lederer as Eber – a Pharisee Bryant Washburn as Young Roman Lionel Belmore as Roman Noble Monte Collins as Rich Judeaean Lucio Flamma as Gallant of Galilee Sôjin Kamiyama as Prince Of Persia André Cheron as Wealthy Merchant Willy Castello as Babylonian Noble Noble Johnson as Charioteer Jim Farley as Executioner James Dime as a Roman soldier[2] Cast notes Sally Rand was an extra in the film, years before becoming notorious for her "fan dance" at the 1933 World's Fair.[3] Writer Ayn Rand (no relation to Sally Rand) also was an extra in the film, and met her future husband Frank O'Connor on set.[4] Micky Moore was the last surviving cast member at his death in 2013. Production This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) A giant gate built for this film was later used in the 1933 film King Kong, and was among the sets torched for the "burning of Atlanta" in Gone with the Wind (1939). Other sets and costumes were re-used for the 1965 Elvis Presley film, Harum Scarum. The movie has two Technicolor sequences, the beginning and the resurrection scene, which use the two-color process invented by Herbert Kalmus. The 1927 Cummings trial for divorce from her husband Frank Elliott revealed that DeMille, because Christians would not accept any reflections cast upon Christ or his mother, had Cummings sign a contract on August 21, 1926, that regulated her private life for seven years. It included clauses that prevented her from divorcing her husband for any act, to do anything that would give her husband grounds for divorce, or play a prostitute or similar role in any film.[5] The contract did not prevent the divorce. Release The King of Kings was the first movie that premiered at the noted Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 1927.[6] The film was screened there again on May 24, 1977, to commemorate the theater's 50th anniversary. In what is considered one of the earliest applications of market segmentation to film promotion, students ranging from elementary to high school were dismissed early to attend afternoon screenings of the film. The King of Kings was seen by around 500 million viewers between its original release in 1927 and the remake released in 1961.[7] In the United Kingdom, the film was initially banned by the London County Council due to a rule that prohibited films from showing a materialized Christ, which led to a revision of the local censorship rules.[8] Critical reception The King of Kings received rave reviews from the critics. The Film Daily stated: "There can be said nothing but praise for the reverence and appreciation with which the beautiful story has been developed. . . The King of Kings is tremendous from every standpoint. It is the finest piece of screen craftsmanship ever turned out by DeMille".[9] Photoplay described the film as "Cecil B. DeMille's finest motion picture effort" and thought he took "the most difficult and exalted theme in the world's history—the story of Jesus Christ—and transcribed it intelligently and ably to the screen."[10] Norbert Lusk of Picture Play believed "The King of Kings is Cecil B. DeMille's masterpiece, and is among the greatest of all pictures. It is a sincere and reverent visualization of the last three years in the life of Christ, produced on a scale of tasteful magnificence, finely acted by the scores in it, and possessed of moments of poignant beauty and unapproachable drama. This is a picture that will never become outmoded."[11] Accolades In June 1927, Photoplay named the film one of "The Best Pictures of the Month".[10] For their work in The King of Kings, H. B. Warner, Victor Varconi, Rudolph Schildkraut, and Ernest Torrence were included among "The Best Performances of the Month".[10] In 2008, AFI nominated this film for its Top 10 Epic Films list.[12] It is widely considered to be among the most popular Hollywood biblical epic films depicting the life of Christ. Lawsuit In 1928, actress Valeska Surratt and scholar Mirza Ahmad Sohrab sued DeMille for stealing the scenario for The King of Kings from them.[13] The case went to trial in February 1930 but eventually was settled without additional publicity.[14] Surratt, who had left films to return to the stage in 1917, appeared to be unofficially blacklisted after the suit.[14] See also King of Kings (1961 film) directed by Nicholas Ray List of Easter films List of early color feature films List of early sound feature films (1926–1929) https://tubitv.com/movies/711084/the-king-of-kings

For the 1956 film, also directed by Cecil B. DeMille, see The Ten Commandments (1956 film). The Ten Commandments Theatrical release poster Directed by Cecil B. DeMille Story by Jeanie MacPherson Produced by Cecil B. DeMille Starring Theodore Roberts Charles De Roche Estelle Taylor Julia Faye Richard Dix Rod La Rocque Leatrice Joy Nita Naldi Cinematography Bert Glennon Peverel Marley Archibald Stout J. F. Westerberg Edited by Anne Bauchens Color process Technicolor Production company Famous Players–Lasky Corporation Distributed by Paramount Pictures Release dates December 4, 1923 (Los Angeles premiere) December 21, 1923 (New York City premiere) Running time 136 minutes Country United States Languages Silent English intertitles Budget $1.5 million[1] Box office $4.2 million[1][2] The Ten Commandments is a 1923 American silent religious epic film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Jeanie MacPherson, the film is divided into two parts: a prologue recreating the biblical story of the Exodus and a modern story concerning two brothers and their respective views of the Ten Commandments. Lauded for its "immense and stupendous" scenes, use of Technicolor process 2, and parting of the Red Sea sequence,[3] the expensive film proved to be a box-office hit upon release.[4] It is the first in DeMille's biblical trilogy, followed by The King of Kings (1927) and The Sign of the Cross (1932). The Ten Commandments is one of many works from 1923 that entered the public domain in the United States in 2019.[5] Plot Duration: 2 hours, 16 minutes and 13 seconds.2:16:13 The Ten Commandments The film has two parts: the Prologue, the epic tale of Moses; and the Story, in a modern setting and involving living by the Ten Commandments. The prologue The opening statement explains that modern society mocked Judeo-Christian morality until it witnessed the horrors of World War I; it then beseeches the viewer to return to the Commandments, calling them "the fundamental principles without which mankind cannot live together. They are not laws—they are the LAW." From there, the Book of Exodus is recounted, starting just after the ninth plague. After their flight from Egypt, and the Crossing of the Red Sea, Moses climbs Mount Sinai and witnesses the Commandments given as writing in the sky, which he then carves into stone tablets. When he returns, he finds the Israelites have fallen into debauchery and built a golden calf to worship. Furiously, he smashes the Commandments, deeming the Israelites unworthy. An Israelite man and woman seducing each other find, to the horror of both, that the woman has hideous sores covering her hands and is unclean, prompting her to beg Moses to be cleansed. Moses calls on God's power and lightning destroys the calf. The story Two brothers, John and Dan McTavish, live with their mother Martha, a believer in Biblical inerrancy. The two brothers make opposite decisions; John follows his mother's teaching of the Commandments, becoming a carpenter living on meager earnings, and Dan, now an avowed atheist who is convinced the Commandments offer him nothing, vows to break every one of them and rise to the top. Martha evicts Dan from her house. He stops at a lunch wagon. There, Mary, an impoverished but beautiful young woman, steals a bite of Dan's sandwich, triggering a madcap chase after her. She takes refuge in the McTavish house, where John convinces his mother to take Mary in for the night. John also convinces Dan to set aside his grievance and stay; he introduces Dan to Mary. Dan quickly wins Mary over with his freewheeling ways. Martha's strict observance of the Sabbath causes friction when Dan and Mary dance on Sunday, and, although John tries to convince his mother to show grace, Dan and Mary decide it's time to run off together. Three years later, Dan has become a corrupt contractor. He earns a contract to build a massive cathedral and decides to cut the amount of cement in the concrete to dangerously low levels, pocketing the money saved and becoming very rich. He puts John, still a bachelor, in charge of construction, hoping to use him to provide her mother the gifts that she refuses to accept from Dan. Dan cheats on Mary with Sally, a Eurasian adulteress. One day, Martha visits John at his work site; a wall collapses on her. Fatally injured, with her last words, she tells Dan she spent too much time trying to teach fear, not love, of God. Now out of money, Dan learns a muckraker tabloid threatens to expose his operation. His business partner recommends a $25,000 bribe to stop publication, but lacking the funds, Dan instead attempts suicide – his partner stops him, solely because he refuses to take the fall alone, and demands the money. He goes to Sally's brothel to take back expensive pearls he gave her, but Sally refuses, revealing she smuggled herself into the country from Molokai through a contraband jute shipment and is thus infected with leprosy, likely infecting Dan as well. In a rage, he kills Sally and attempts to flee to Mexico on a motorboat (Defiance), but rough weather sends him off course and he crashes into a rocky island. His dead body is among the wreckage. Mary, fearing herself also infected, stops by John's office to say goodbye, but John insists on taking her in. As he reads Mary the New Testament story of Jesus healing the lepers (re-enacted on screen, with Jesus shown only from behind), a light shows Mary's hands not to be scarred at all, and that her perceived scars had disappeared in the light. Throughout the film, the visual motif of the commandments' tablets appears in the sets, with a particular commandment appearing on them when relevant to the story. Cast Prologue Theodore Roberts as Moses, The Lawgiver Charles De Roche as Rameses, The Magnificent Estelle Taylor as Miriam, The Sister of Moses Julia Faye as The Wife of Pharaoh Pat Moore (billed as Terrence Moore) as The Son of Pharaoh James Neill as Aaron, Brother of Moses Lawson Butt as Dathan, The Discontented Clarence Burton as The Taskmaster Noble Johnson as The Bronze Man Story Edythe Chapman as Mrs. Martha McTavish Richard Dix as John McTavish, her son Rod La Rocque as Dan McTavish, her son Leatrice Joy as Mary Leigh Nita Naldi as Sally Lung, a Eurasian Robert Edeson as Redding, an Inspector Charles Ogle as The Doctor Agnes Ayres as The Outcast Production The idea for the film was based upon the winning submission to a contest in which the public suggested ideas for DeMille's next film.[2] The winner was F. C. Nelson of Lansing, Michigan; the first line of his suggestion read: "You cannot break the Ten Commandments—they will break you."[2] Production on the film started on May 21, 1923, and ended on August 16, 1923.[2] Writing The four main characters of the modern story (from left to right): John McTavish, a carpenter; his mother, Mrs. Martha McTavish; his sister-in-law, Mary Leigh; and his brother, Dan McTavish Jeanie MacPherson, the film's screenwriter, first thought to "interpret the Commandments in episodic form".[2] Both she and DeMille eventually decided on an unusual two-part screenplay: a biblical prologue and a modern story demonstrating the consequences of breaking the Ten Commandments.[2] In a treatment for the film, MacPherson described the four main characters of the modern story: There are four people in the modern story of The Ten Commandments, and they view these Commandments in four different ways. There is Mrs. McTavish, the mother, who keeps the Commandments the wrong way. She is narrow. She is bigoted. She is bound with ritual. She is a representative of orthodoxy, yet withal she is a fine, clean, strong woman just like dozens we all know. There is a girl, Mary Leigh, who doesn't bother about the Ten Commandments at all. She is a good kid, but she has spent so much time working that she hasn't learned the Ten Commandments... Dan McTavish knows the Ten Commandments, but defies them. John McTavish is a garden variety of human being, which believes the Ten Commandments as unchanging, immutable laws of the universe. He is not a sissy or a goody-goody, he is a regular fellow, an ideal type of man of high and steadfast principles, who believes the Commandments are as practicable in 1923 as they were in the time of Moses.[2] Filming The Gates of Rameses in one of the film's Technicolor sequences The Exodus scenes were filmed at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in northern Santa Barbara County.[2] The film location was originally chosen because its immense sand dunes provided a superficial resemblance to the Egyptian desert. Rumor had it that after the filming was complete, the massive sets – which included four 35-foot-tall (11 m) Pharaoh statues, 21 sphinxes, and gates reaching a height of 110 feet, which were built by a small army of 1,600 workers – were dynamited and buried in the sand. Instead, the wind, rain and sand at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes likely collapsed and buried a large part of the set under the ever-shifting dunes. The statues and sphinxes are in roughly the same place they were during filming. In 2012, archaeologists uncovered the head of one of the prop sphinxes; a 2014 recovery effort showed the body of that sphinx to have deteriorated significantly, but a second better-preserved sphinx was discovered and excavated.[6][7] The effort to locate and excavate the set was the subject of a 2016 documentary, The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille.[8][full citation needed] The parting of the Red Sea scene was shot in Seal Beach, California.[9] The visual effect of keeping the walls of water apart while the Israelites walked through was accomplished with a slab of Jell-O that was sliced in two and filmed close up as it jiggled. This shot was then combined with live-action footage of Israelites walking into the distance to create the illusion.[10][11] Portions of the modern story were filmed in San Francisco, with the cathedral building sequence filmed at the then under construction Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Filbert Street and the adjoining Washington Square. Release Distributed by Paramount Pictures, The Ten Commandments premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre (in Hollywood) on December 4, 1923.[12][13] Critical response Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt in one of the film's Technicolor sequences On its release, critics praised The Ten Commandments overall; however, the part of the film set in modern times received mixed reviews.[14] Variety, for example, declared the opening scenes alone worth the admission price, but found the remainder of the film disappointing by comparison: "The opening Biblical scenes of The Ten Commandments are irresistible in their assembly, breadth, color and direction [...] They are immense and stupendous, so big the modern tale after that seems puny."[3] According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10.[15] Box office The Ten Commandments became the highest-grossing film of 1923. The film's box-office returns held the Paramount revenue record for 25 years until it was broken by other DeMille films.[4] The film competed at the box office with Fox's The Shepherd King, and won out overall. Ban in China The movie was banned in the 1930s in China under a category of "superstitious films" due to its religious subject matter involving gods and deities.[16] Remake Main article: The Ten Commandments (1956 film) DeMille directed a second, expanded version of the biblical story in 1956. For the later version, DeMille dropped the modern-day storyline in favor of profiling more of Moses' early life. In 2006, the 1923 film was released on DVD as an extra feature on the 50th Anniversary DVD release of the 1956 film. In the DVD commentary with Katherine Orrison included with the 1923 film, she states that DeMille refilmed several sequences nearly shot-for-shot for the new version, and also had set pieces constructed for the later film that were near-duplicates of what he had used in 1923.[17] On March 29, 2011, Paramount released a new Blu-ray Disc with the 6-disc box set.[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ten_Commandments_(1923_film)