The King of Kings (1927 film)

thumb|thumbtime=24|The King of Kings (mute print without synchronized score)

The King of Kings is a 1927 American silent epic film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Starring H. B. Warner in the lead role, it depicts events in the life of Jesus, from the exorcism of Mary Magdalene to the crucifixion and resurrection. The screenplay was written by Jeanie MacPherson and includes verses from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Filming took place in 1926 in Santa Catalina Island and the DeMille Studios in Culver City, California. The opening and resurrection scenes were filmed in two-color Technicolor, other sequences were tinted sepia or yellow, and the torch flames in the blue-tinted scene of Jesus' arrest were hand colored.

The King of Kings first premiered in New York City on April 19, 1927, and later opened in Los Angeles on May 18. 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).

Story

thumb|thumbtime=75|left|The King of Kings (1950s 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 staying with Jesus only 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 healing a boy possessed by a demon, resurrecting Lazarus from the dead 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. 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 tinted monochrome film is shot in Technicolor. 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

Cast notes

Sally Rand was an extra in the film, years before becoming notorious for her "fan dance" at the 1933 World's Fair.
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.
Micky Moore was the last surviving cast member at his death in 2013.

Production

Development

thumb|[[Dan Sayre Groesbeck's preliminary sketch for the crucifixion scene.]]

After the release of his film The Volga Boatman (1926), producer-director Cecil B. DeMille announced he was going to make a biblical epic titled The Deluge, depicting the story of Noah and the Ark. The idea came from a worldwide contest in which the public submitted suggestions for DeMille's new "companion-picture" to his first biblical film, The Ten Commandments (1923). He wanted to follow The Deluge with a film about Christ. By late May 1926, he had reportedly spent over $50,000 in research and story preparation but decided to cancel The Deluge when he found out that Warner Bros. were planning Noah's Ark and had already registered it with the Will Hays office. He also looked at the work of painter Peter Paul Rubens and Gustave Doré's illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours. In his autobiography, DeMille said:

DeMille wanted Gloria Swanson for the role of Mary Magdalene, but Swanson was planning her first film with United Artists and would not be available to work with DeMille. Screen tests were made of more than 30 actresses, including May Allison, Barbara Bedford, Evelyn Brent, Ruth Clifford, Marguerite De La Motte, Paulette Duval, Julia Faye, Jetta Goudal, Phyllis Haver, Kathleen Key, Lila Lee, Ann McKay, Seena Owen, Selena Royle, Gretchen Thomas, and Virginia Valli. DeMille's top choices included Vilma Bánky, Mildred Harris, Jobyna Ralston, and Estelle Taylor. In August, Jacqueline Logan was chosen because "she could blend dramatic emotion with spirituality." He later said Schildkraut was "perhaps the finest character actor ever to appear in motion pictures. He was as fine a man as he was an actor." Schildkraut's son, Joseph Schildkraut, was cast as Judas Iscariot.

Dorothy Cumming, who played Christ's mother, had a similarly restrictive contract. Because DeMille felt that Christians would not accept any negative reflections cast upon Christ or his mother, he had Cumming sign a contract on August 21, 1926, that regulated her private life for seven years. It included clauses that precluded her from divorcing her husband for any act, to do anything that would give her husband grounds for divorce, or to play a prostitute or similar role in any film. These contractual details were revealed during a divorce trial when Cumming opposed her husband, Frank Elliott. The contract did not prevent the divorce.

The set

The end wall of a large stage was removed to make enough space for the construction of both the interior and the exterior of the Praetorium set. This set included a bronze replica of the Eagle of Rome behind Pilate's throne. 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." 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."

Accolades

In June 1927, Photoplay named the film one of "The Best Pictures of the Month". However, on appeal this decision was reversed by the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which held that the acts of the Memphis Censor Board were not subject to judicial review provided the board did not exceed its authority, so the board's cuts to the film were legal and final.

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.

Release versions

The roadshow theatrical release, with the film shown in selected theaters across America at advanced prices, took place in 1927. The roadshow version ran 16 reels (about two hours and 40 minutes, plus an intermission).

thumb|Advertising for Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings in Times Square, New York.

The King of Kings was the first film to premiere at the noted Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 1927. 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.

The film's 1928 general-release print, which is the version most audiences saw, was edited to 12 reels (one hour and 55 minutes), and equipped with a new set of title cards as required by the new sound-film aspect ratio, so that none of the text would be cut off in projection. The Technicolor scenes were printed in black-and-white, because Technicolor film stock was then too fragile to be used for mass distribution in hundreds of theaters.

This 1928 version of The King of Kings was also fitted with an RCA Photophone soundtrack: a synchronized orchestra score conducted by Hugo Riesenfeld, and realistic sound effects. The sound added a new dimension to the silent action, this during a time when much of the public was still skeptical about the application of sound in motion pictures. Motion Picture News reported, "If anyone has any doubt as to the effectiveness of sound in pictures, this will be completely dispelled when the sound effects are revealed under the Photophone process in The King of Kings. It is so realistic as to be absolutely astounding and actually borders on the horrifying. There are the flashes of lightning, the cracking and rolling of the thunder, and the horrified screams of the multitude as the earth opens up from the series of earthquakes and they are plunged into the great crevices. All this brings realism that must of necessity have been absent from the silent films."

Lawsuit

In 1928, actress Valeska Surratt and scholar Mirza Ahmad Sohrab sued DeMille for stealing the scenario for The King of Kings from them. The case went to trial in February 1930 but eventually was settled without additional publicity. Surratt, who had left films to return to the stage in 1917, appeared to have been unofficially blacklisted after the suit.

Cinematheque Royale de Belgique
Cineteca Del Friuli in Gemona (on 16 mm)
George Eastman Museum
Library of Congress (on 35 mm)
Cineteca Nazionale (on 35 mm)
Arhiva Națională de Filme
UCLA Film and Television Archive (on 35 mm and LaserDisc)
British Film Institute
Yugoslav Film Archive

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

The King of Kings at AllMovie
King of Kings: Showman of Piety an essay by Peter Matthews at the Criterion Collection
Alternate lobby art