The King of Kings (silent film)
"The King of Kings" is a silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, released in the 1920s, that combines lavish Hollywood production with biblical storytelling. The film primarily uses black and white cinematography, punctuated by color segments, to contrast the hedonistic lifestyle of Roman rule with the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. It opens with a provocative scene featuring Mary Magdalene and concludes with the Resurrection, effectively oscillating between worldly pleasures and spiritual promises. DeMille's adaptation incorporates title cards that reference New Testament verses, emphasizing themes of moral struggle amidst materialism, as highlighted by the character of Judas—a representation of ambition and betrayal. While the film aimed to counteract criticisms of the film industry’s moral shortcomings, its portrayal of Jewish characters, particularly Judas and Caiaphas, has sparked controversy and mixed reactions, especially in the Jewish community. By the 1930s, "The King of Kings" found a place in church screenings, serving both as entertainment and a tool for reinforcing moral messages. DeMille's success with this film paved the way for future biblical epics and left a lasting impact on Hollywood's approach to depicting religious narratives.
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The King of Kings (silent film)
Identification: A silent film about the life and death of Jesus
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Date: 1927
Along with DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1923), The King of Kings combined the lavish sets and showmanship of Hollywood with stories purporting to edify motion picture audiences in an effort to deflect criticism of the movie industry on moral grounds in the 1920s.
One of the first directors of feature films, Cecil B. DeMille turned to the biblical epic in the 1920s as a way to depict love stories with sexually suggestive episodes that would draw large audiences, while still laying claim to a moral higher ground. Thus, The King of Kings, shot primarily in black and white, sought to contrast the debauchery of Roman rule with scenes dramatizing the austere and sincere appeal of Jesus and his teachings. Color film segments bookend the film, offsetting the opening scene featuring then-prostitute Mary Magdalene’s erotic dance with the closing Resurrection scene.
Interspersing the action with title cards citing or paraphrasing relevant New Testament verses, De Mille created a striking oscillation between the pleasures of the world and the promise of eternal life preached in Jesus’s sayings. For audiences of the 1920s, the film’s subtext undoubtedly raised concerns about the materialism of American life and the quest for success, with the Judas character modeling the craven opportunist, seeking to exchange the physical pleasure he enjoyed as Mary Magdalene’s lover for political power through his relationship with Jesus. The restless, anxious Judas—one of the few clean-shaven characters with a modern-looking haircut—was obviously intended to remind 1920s moviegoers of the perils of worldly ambition.
Also noteworthy is that, at a time when anti-Semitism was widespread in the United States, DeMille attempted to portray only Judas and the Jewish leader Caiaphas, not all Jews, as responsible for Jesus’s death. Nonetheless, the film received a mixed reception in the Jewish community, and its stereotyped representation of the Jewish people remains controversial.
Impact
By the 1930s, The King of Kings was being shown in church halls, fulfilling the image-boosting goals of a Hollywood rocked by the Fatty Arbuckle scandal and other controversies that had critics calling for censorship. At the same time, DeMille’s biblical epics reflected a sincere strain of piety that resulted in many moving enactments of biblical stories. Through this highly successful film, DeMille established both the profitability and the probity of the Hollywood biblical epic, a genre he continued to exploit in Samson and Delilah (1949) and his 1956 remake of The Ten Commandments. DeMille’s work continues to inspire the making of Hollywood spectaculars.
Bibliography
Birchard, Robert S. Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004.
Eyman, Scott. Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.