Title: The silents of Jesus in the cinema (1897-1927) /
Authors: Shepherd, David J.
Year: 2016
Subjects: Jesus Christ In motion pictures.; Jesus Christ; Silent films History and criticism; Motion pictures; Silent films
Abstract: "While Jesus has attracted the sporadic interest of film-makers since the epics of the sixties, it is often forgotten that between the advent of motion pictures in the 1890s and the close of the "silent" era at the end of the 1920s, some of the longest, most expensive and most watched films on both sides of the Atlantic were focused on the life and passion of the Christ. Drawing upon rarely seen archival footage and the work of both the era's most important directors (e.g. Alice Guy, Ferdinand Zecca, Sidney Olcott, D.W. Griffith, Carl Dreyer, and C.B. DeMille) and others who have been all but forgotten, this collection of essays offers a representative survey of thesilents of Jesus, illustrating the ways in which the earliest films and those which followed were influenced by a multiplicity of factors. Written by leading scholars in biblical and early film studies this collection explores the ways in which the silents of Jesus were shaped not only by the performing and visual arts of the nineteenth century and the technological challenges and opportunities of a new medium and industry, but also by the artistic, theological and ideological predilections of studios and directors, and the expectations of audiences as the genre evolved. Taken together, the essays collected here offer a seminal treatment of the genesis and early evolution of the cinematic Jesus"--publisher's website.
Contents: Introduction -- The passion of Christ: a form, a genre, a discourse / Andre Gaudreault -- La vie et passion de notre seigneur Jesus-Christ (Pathe-Freres, 1902-1905): tableau variation in the early cinema / Alain Boillat and Valentine Robert -- La naissance, vie et passion du Christ (Gaumont, 1906): the gospel according to Alice Guy / David J. Shepherd -- La vie et passion de notre seigneur Jesus-Christ (Pathe-Freres, 1907): the preservation and transformation of Zecca's passion / Dwight H. Friesen -- Sidney Olcott's From the manger to the cross (Kalem, 1912): out of Egypt and Palestine / W. Barnes Tatum -- The star of Bethlehem (Thanhouser, 1912): the sacred story from King Herod to the crib / Terry Lindvall -- The shadow of Nazareth (Venus Features/Warner Features, 1913): the hermeneutics of an unauthorized adaptation / Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch -- La vie et passion de notre seigneur Jesus-Christ (Pathe-Freres, 1913/14): Pathe's inclination to tell and maitre's instinct to show / Jo-Ann Brant -- The birth of a nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) and Intolerance (Triangle/Wark, 1916): Griffith's talismanic Jesus / Richard Walsh -- Christus (Cines, 1916): Italy's first religious "kolossal" by Antamoro and Salvatori / Giuseppe Pucci -- Der galilier (Express-film, 1921) and I.N.R.I (Neumann-film, 1923): the silence of Jesus in the early German cinema / Reinhold Zwick -- Leaves from satan's book (Nordisk, 1921) and Dreyer's script Jesus of Nazareth (1950): the Jewishness of Jesus / Caroline Vander Stichele -- The king of kings (DeMille Pictures, 1927): the body and the word on film / Vivienne Westbrook -- Final reflections / David J. Shepherd.