Scott Lord Silent Film: Biblical Drama, Sign of the Cross (Frederick A T...

Silent Film

The Bible Biblical Drama

Scott Lord Silent Film: King of Kings (De Mille,1927)

"I have always made pictures with a message and a moral. True, I have dressed up these in elaborate trappings, principally because I wanted people to see my pictures. Messages without an audience aren't worth very much." Photoplay Magazine during 1927 featured an interview with silent film director Cecil B. De Mille titled "How Christ Came to Pictures" in which he briefly explained his father had been a lay reader who preached in an Episcopal church in Pompton, New Jersey before quickly continuing to his earlier marriage comedy films made before 1920. De Mille ended the interview with "'The King of Kings' has the ring of sincerity. We did it with complete sincerity." Photoplay Magazine during 1927 reviwed "King of Kings" as being an authentic depiction of the events in the Holy Bible, "De Mille has followed the New Testament literally and with fidelity. He has taken no liberties. Frequently, in his groupings, he has followed famous Biblical paintings...Mr. Warner meets the accepted ideas of Christ and gives a very well sustained performance."

Harvard Buisness Reports, describing "The King of Kings" as a film about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, reported in 1930 that the film cost $ 2,000,000 to produce.

silent film Noah's Arc Jesus

Scott Lord Silent Film: Ben Hur, A Tale of Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925)

Ben Hur

Director Fred Niblo brought the running length of the silent film to twelve reels with the 1925 film "Ben Hur" bringing the adjective "epic" to the historiography of genre theory during the development of "religious drama", subtitling the film "A Tale of Christ". Hollywood was notorious for not allowing films to be made with visual images of the historical Jesus so as not to perturb religious organizations and delegated Ancient Civilizations to sensational, if not tawdry exploitation, archeologists falling in love in the film .Made for Love. Paul Rotha, in his volume Film Til Now deigned "Ben Hur" to be "the spectaces of spectacles" but only after deriding Cecil B De Mille as a "psuedo-artist" who could be watched with curiousity but not sincerity, DeMille having a "flair for the spectacular and tremendous."

Fred Niblo

Fred Niblo

Fred Niblo Silent Film Silent Film

Scott Lord Silent Film: The Star of Bethlehem (Marston, 1912)

THe periodical Motography announced in its November 23, 1912 issue that Thanhauser would release the three reel film "The Star of Bethlehem" one month later, on December 24, as its Christmas feature of that year. It describes the film and its costumes as being a spectacle film for its time period, which is early for the genre. The film gives an account of the prophet Micah and the "signs and portents" of the Old Testament continuing untill the Nativity.

A month later, when the company advertised the film as being on the same marquee as its "Romeo and Juliet", it promoted the films as belonging "an Easter programme", prompting exhibitioners to view it. The periodical The Cinema News and Property Gazzette explore the film belonging to a new genre during January 1913, "Of the making of films the stories of which are based upon Scripture there appears to be no end. There are some who would taboo this kind of picture, but for our own part, so long as we habe companies like Thanhauser, we care not how greatly this kind of film increases and multiplies. Reverence is the keynote..."

silent film silent film