The King of Kings

The film takes the life of Jesus not from the birth but from the period of public preaching, and carries it to the crucifixion and the resurrection. The opening is unexpected: Mary Magdalene appears as a wealthy woman giving a feast in her house, angry that Judas has gone after someone else. Cecil B. DeMille directs. H. B. Warner plays Jesus. DeMille's choice is to show him late. For a long stretch the character does not fully enter the frame; first his hands, his shadow, and the reaction on other people's faces. The film is silent but not entirely black and white. The opening section and the resurrection were shot in two colour Technicolor, a method very expensive at the time and used only for those two passages. The real story of the production is its distribution. After its cinema run it was circulated for decades through churches, missionaries and schools, and is thought to be among the most widely seen silent films in the world. DeMille imposed hard rules during the shoot: Warner was forbidden to appear in public off set or to behave in any way that would contradict the part. Who it is for: anyone interested in the history of silent film and in religious epics. Who it is not for: the telling is heavy and sermonising by present measure, the acting is broad, and the film's presentation of its Jewish characters carries the troubling conventions of its time.