Evening star., 1954-06-06
By Religious News Service


Religion and the movies have
formed q partnership that is
producing one of the church's
most effective weapons Of mod
eYn times.
The churches have learned
how to use the moviemakers'
skills to spread the word Of God.
The cinema mogulS, in turn.
have discovered that religion is
"box Office" And today, thou
sands of moviegoerS, some Of
whom never saw the inside Of
a church, are viewing religious
pictures in commercial theaters.
This year, Hollywood studios
already have scheduled for pro-
duction a dozen big-budget films
on biblical themes.
Work on three of them is un-'
der way now in Egypt. They
are Cecil B. De Miles remake
for Paramount Of his Silent-f1lm
spectacle, "The Ten Command
ments";; the Jerry Wald produc-
ton Of Joseph and His Breth-
ren" for Columbia, and Warner
Bros Land Of the Pharaohs."
Warmers also has scheduled
Daniel and the Woman of
Babylon" and Thomas B. Co.'S
tain's best-selling novel, "The
Silver Chalice."
Buy Douglas Story.
Bryan Foy Of Columbia has
bought Lloyd c. Douglass story
about st. Peter. 1.-THE Big Fish
erman." and Daryl F. Zanuck
at goth Century-Fox has made
q 50 million deal with the estate
Of the late Fulton Oursler for q
production Of "The Greatest
Story Ever Told"
Two others budgeted in the
multimillion dollar class are
MGM's Ben Hur" and "The
Prodigal."
Agent-Producer Charles K.
Feldman has scheduled two in
dependent biblical films, "The
Story Of Ruth" and "The Song
Of Songs" Producer Writer
Hugh Gray is working on q
package deal for an independent
production Of his screenplay,
Esther"
The churches themselves have
produced scores Of movies seen
by millions Of Americans In
church halls, on TV and even
In commercial theaters.
Martin Luther" Film.
One Of the churchmen's out
standing achievements to date
has been Martin Luther" film
biography Of the great German
Protestant leader.
Luther" was sponsored by
Lutheran Church Productions,
Inc. and filmed by Louis de
Rochemont Associates in Ger
many. Shown in commercial
theaters, it broke box-office rec.
ords in several American cities
and drew wide acclaim from
movie critics.
Lutheran Church Productions
was set up in 1851 as a co-opera-
tive venture of the National
Lutheran Council. the United
Lutheran Church In America,
Lutheran Church Missouri
Synod, Evangelical Lutheran
Church, American Lutheran
Church and Augustana Lutheran
Church.
About 80 major Protestant
denominations now have mo-
ton picture producing agencies
or boards.
Last month, the Methodist
Radio and Film Commission pre-
miered its new eature-length
color film, John Wesley" The
commission produced the pic
ture in cooperation with j. Ar
thur Rank, at whose London stu
dios 1t was filmed.
Mr.. Rank, a prominent Meth
odist layman, made it at cost.
The MethodiStS paid 5000, 900,
but theatrical men say it would
have cost three times that to
produce it in the United States.
John Wesley" is a teaching
film" and does not pretend to be
q complete biography Of Metho-
dism's founder. Through depic-
ton Of significant parts of Wes-
ley's career, it stresses his in
ward struggle to achieve a satis-
flying personal religious expert
ence and his efforts to communi-
cate that experience to others.