298 - King of Kings, United States, 1927. Dir. Cecil B. DeMille.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

298 - King of Kings, United States, 1927.  Dir. Cecil B. DeMille.

In the film It's a Wonderful Life, young George Bailey--played beautifully by Robert J. Anderson--works at the local drugstore.  He is a proud new member of the National Geographic Society and dreams of travelling the world.  Young Mary Hatch, in competition with the neighbor girl Violet, leans over the counter and whispers in his ear, "George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die."  George has lost the hearing in that ear from having saved his younger brother's life in the ice, so he does not hear her.  But she keeps her promise.

George is called into the back room by Mr. Gower.  Mr. Gower sends him to deliver some medicine to a customer.  But George sees that Mr. Gower has made a mistake.  He has put poison in the bottle rather than the medicine that was required.  If George delivers the bottle as told, the customer will probably die.  He tries to tell Mr. Gower, but Mr. Gower does not listen.  He forces George out of the room.  George goes to ask his father what to do but his father is too busy.  When he returns Mr. Gower is upset that the medicine was not delivered.  It escalates.  He strikes George.  Finally, George is able to explain it to Mr. Gower.  He has seen the telegram sitting on the counter that delivered news to Mr. Gower that morning that his son had been killed in the War.  Mr. Gower is hurting.  Grieving.  George understands.  He makes things better.

Many people have seen this extraordinary performance.  Many people watch this film again every year.  If you want to know something about film, that is not a bad idea.  It is one of the great American films.  Some people thoughtlessly call it sentimental, but it is by no means sentimental.  It is hard, dark, desperate, and brutally honest.  It portrays a man's seething rage over the way his life has turned out, a life of frustrating defeat, of one bad turn after another, the curse of living that drives him to attempt suicide.  And then, a little perspective.  In the battle between good and evil, as films go, it comes pretty close to truth.

The role of Mr. Gower was played by H. B. Warner, a prolific actor and a Frank Capra staple.  He also played in the Capra films Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937) (his performance nominated for an Academy Award), You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Here Comes the Groom (1951).

If you know the film It's a Wonderful Life, imagine seeing Mr. Gower.  Standing there in his pharmacy.  Drunk with grief.  Angry.  Hurting.  Striking young George.  Shocked to learn that he has nearly killed a woman.

Now--

Imagine looking into the deeply loving eyes of Jesus the Christ.

Played nearly twenty years before.

By H. B. Warner.

The same actor who played Mr. Gower.

In the Cecil B. DeMille epic.

The King of Kings.

By the time he played Jesus, Warner had been acting in film for 27 years.  By the time he played Mr. Gower, he had been acting in film for 46 years.  He would act in film for another ten years.  And finish his career with Cecil B. DeMille again.

As Aminadab.

In The Ten Commandments (1956).

But now--

The King of Kings.

Orson Welles believed his entrance in The Third Man (1949) to be one of the greatest entrances in the history of film.  Talk about a dead man for an hour.  Build him up.  Make him a legend.  Then surprise us.  Show us a shadow.  Show us his feet.  And finally, show us his face.

Consider too this entrance.  First Mary Magdalene.  Living the high life in the court.  With her pet leopard.  Riding her carriage driven by zebras.  Then talk about a new man.  Build him up.  Describe his unusual powers.  She looks for Judas.  She is jealous.  It turns out he is with this man.  She goes to see him.  Goes to see the crowds.  Goes to see the masses who have gone to see him.  And we look through the eyes of a little blind girl.

The girl knows what she wants.  She wants to see Jesus.  She knows it more than anything she has ever known.  And she is going to get it.  We leave Mary Magdalene as we pick up with the girl.  And follow her.  As she follows Him.  Finally, she arrives.  She passes through the crowds.  She makes it to the place where He is.  But we do not see Him.  We see her.  We see her wanting to see Him.

Then we go into her eyes.  Her Point of View.  A POV shot.  But her Point of View is darkness.  Her Point of Darkness.  A POD shot.  Suddenly, the light appears.  The unblinding light.  The sight light.  And she can see.  And we can see.  And we, as she, can see Him.

Standing.

With His eyes of love.

Cecil B. DeMille uses spectacular special effects throughout this film.  One of them is to make Jesus' face and body glow.  He seems to have a real halo surrounding him.  Real light around his head.  And his body itself seems to be itself a light, seems to glow from within.  If Alfred Hitchcock accomplished something by placing a light inside a glass of milk in Notorious (1946), imagine what Cecil B. DeMille accomplished by seeming to place a light inside a human being.

More special effects come with the eclipse and earthquake during the Crucifixion, the rending of the Temple Veil, and the double exposure of Jesus' casting out of seven demons from Mary Magdalene.

Colorwise the film is the inverse of The Wizard of Oz (1939).  The Wizard of Oz begins and ends in black and white and places the middle fantasy in color.  The King of Kings places the middle in black and white with the beginning and ending in two-strip Technicolor.  Two-strip Technicolor in 1927.

On Wednesday, May 18, 1927, The King of Kings became the first film ever shown at the newly opened Grauman's Chinese Theater.  More than 50,000 people showed up.

The Temple of Jerusalem set built on the Pathe lot in Culver City was later used as the gates of King Kong (1933), later as The Garden of Allah (1936), and was later still set on fire for the burning of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind (1939).

The timeline of the biblical story is moved around a bit--the devil tempts Jesus during the Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) rather than at the beginning of his ministry--and elements are made up for dramatic purposes--such as Mary Magdalene's being involved with Judas Iscariot before either of them finds Christ.

When Jesus stops the accusers from punishing the Woman Caught in Adultery, DeMille has him write their own sins in the sand.  He writes in Hebrew and then it is cinematically translated into English.  Thief.  Murderer.  Adulterer.  Each man drops his rock, his face racked with shame.

The sign above his head is likewise written in Hebrew and cinematically translated into English.  The King of the Jews.

The title cards show direct quotations from the Bible with their references given at the bottom.

With this film Cecil B. DeMille has given us a story.  The most important story.  The greatest story.  Ever told.

With the answer to Man's deepest need depicted in the Messiah hanging on the cross, being raised to life again, and ascending into Heaven.

The greatest expression of love embodied by Jesus the Christ.  Hanging on the cross.

The title card reads, "Truly--This Man was the son of God!"

With every human soul balancing on its response to that statement.



Now about those zebras . . .