Mary Magdalene, the most beautiful and sought-after courtesan in Jerusalem, is baffled because Judas (Schildkraut) has not kept his appointment with her. He has in fact become a supporter of Jesus (Warner). One day, among the jubilant crowd, a blind boy cries out for a miracle and, for the first time, Jesus shows himself to the people. Magdalene, curious, approaches him and immediately decides to break with her dissolute life. She redeems herself and joins Jesus. She remains faithful to him and witnesses his miracles and speeches, right up to the crucifixion and resurrection. DeMille’s epic on the life of Jesus is one of the most beautiful and costly kolossals of its time: $2,500,000. Despite a disastrous premiere, the film, whose scenes are inspired by famous religious paintings, has intertitles in 27 languages and became the most widely seen film in the world, generating an astronomical, but not precisely known profit (perhaps $90 million at the time), since DeMille donated the whole to the poor and to churches. The beginning and end of the film are shot in early Technicolor.
– LENGTH: 3769 METRES.
– THE SEQUENCE OF THE MIRACLE OF THE HEALING OF THE BLIND MAN AND THAT OF THE RESURRECTION WERE AMONG THE FIRST TO BE SHOT WITH THE TWO-COLOUR TECHNICOLOR CAMERA SYSTEM (2-STRIP TECHNICOLOR, INVENTED IN 1915 BY HERBERT KALMUS).
– FIRST SCREENING IN NEW YORK: 19 APRIL 1927.
subject: Jeanie Macpherson
script: Jeanie Macpherson
photography: J. Peverell Marley - Uncredited
music by: Hugo Riesenfeld
mounting: Anne Bauchens, Harold McLernon
scenography: Dan Sayre Groesbeck - Uncredited, Anton Grot - Uncredited, Julian Harrison - Uncredited, Edward C. Jewell - Uncredited
costumes: Adrian - Uncredited, Earl Luick - Uncredited, Gwen Wakeling - Uncredited
other titles: El rey de reyes, Le roi des rois, The King of Kings, Il re dei re
color: Bianco & Nero
taken from: Vangeli Canonici e Apocrifi
production company: CECIL B. DEMILLE PER DEMILLE PICTURES CORPORATION
Su gentile concessione dell'Ente dello Spettacolo
