“THE KING OF KINGS”

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 111, 8 February 1928, Page 13

“THE KING OF KINGS”

NOTABLE FILM PRIVATELY SCREENED

That much discussed picture, “The King of Kings,” produced by Cecil do Alille, was privately shown at the Bo Luxe Theatre yesterday looming, in the presence of an audience which included, clergymen, teachers, members of Parliament, and the , City Council, and, judging -from the general tenor of the remarks of those present, the picture made a very deep ' impression indeed. It is a free translation of the life of Christ, from the time as a young man, when He is work- ' in" at the carpenter’s bench in Nazareth, unconscious of His great mission, until He is crucified on Calvary, to finally rise from the grave in proof of his divinity. Whatever one’s belief may be, here is the most moving stories of all times, centred in Ono who gave all for His fellow men, and Whose teachings have since represented all that is sweet and clean in life. The fubject is approached with all reverence, grace, and beauty and yet with the broadest freedom of I idea. With Christ—a very human and all-wise Christ —as the central shining figure, there is rearccly a moment throughout the film that is not an artis tic picture that might be incorporated in a new illustrated New Testament. Few there are who gaze upon the raising of Lazarus, the curing of the insane boy, the agony in Gethsemane, the last supper, and finally the via Dolorosa, with the blood-stained, perspiring Christ struggling along to His tragic Calvary without being emotionally disturbed. Here and there one imagines, perhaps, tho,t the ideas of the director do not accord with one’s own as to the suitability of the character types used. For example/ Judas lias been traditionally depicted as a middle-aged man with a red beard; in the film he is the youngest and most handsome of the disciples, dark, clean shaved, and classic of feature. Pontius Pilate is also depicted as a very young man—surely too young to be the Homan Gwernor of Judaea. The way to the Cross, and the crucifixion are managed with a wealth of dramatic detail, but this is rather overdone, when "the earth did auake and the rocks were rent,” when if looked as though the whole countryside was being turned topsy-turvy. Christ is very ably and reverently realised by Air. H. B. Warner (an English actor), who gains his effects, if one may call them so, by not acting at all; yet the figure he representa is always, graceful, dignified, appealing, and even commanding. Only once can it be said that he acts in a graphic manner. That is during the agony in the garden scene, and even then it is more a matter of intense facial expression than physical action. Mr. Warner never strives for an effect—his poise, reserve, benign expression, and attitudinal grace form part of a characterisation that must make an indelible impression on all who see the picture. The early scenes in which Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot are concerned go outside the leaves of Holy Script, but do not, perhaps, exceed the dramatic license claimed by a producer, if such license be granted to a picture the scenario of which is the New Testament.

The crowning virtues of this remarkable picture are the beautiful conceptions of the chief scenes which go to form this graphic story of the life of Christ—a picture that is worth a volume of sermons, inasmuch as each outstanding incident in the travail of out* Lord is given the warmth and conviction of vivid life. For example, the means that are taken by Caiaplias, the High Priest, and his minions, to poison the minds of the people against the Son of Man and his teachings is a motive that runs right through the film-story. His first trick is to catch his victim "on the hip” by scheming to make him an enemy of Pome; so the fatuous High Priest commissions his officers to see whether He has paid the monetary tribute to the Roman treasury demanded of all, but Christ in answer to the imperious demand, simply pays what is duo, saying that all must “render unto Ceasar the

things that are Ceasar’s, unto God the things that are God’s.” Thus foiled, Caiaphas—a very “fat and greasy citizen” —awaits another chance to end the growing power of Christ, and finds an opportunity in a very fine scene. Christ overturns the tables of the cheating money-changers in the Temple, and clears out the hucksters from the muchabused house of prayer. It is this same Caiaphas who, with infinite cunning, clinks the thirty pieces of silver in the ear of Judas, as he tempts him successfully to disclose the place where Christ prays. Here is another great scene—dark woods, with great masses of rock; the disciples in solemn conclave, and Christ praying at a great natural table of stone—a shining figure in the semi-gloom. Caiaphas’s minions steal through the woods and wait in concealment until Judas betrays the Presence with a kiss. Then follows the scene where Christ is dragged before Pontius Pilale, enthroned in state in the shadow of an immense Roman eagle. Caiaphas is the chief accuser. Has the prisoner not called himself King of the Jews, when there is only one king— Ceaser? Pilate solemnly questions the meek figure, and declares, after mental perplexity, that fife can see no wrong in this Just Man, and, wavering in his duty, orders his dismissal after a flogging. The lash is applied, but it satisfies Caiaphas, not at all. Bribing a set of villains,, they incite the crowd to cry for Christ’s crucifixion, so persistently that Pilate turns Christ over to Caiaphas. The way to the cross, and the crucifixion, the clamorous crowds, the wild aspect of Calvary, the agony of the two thieves, the driving of the spikes,' is wonderfully realistic, as is also the shrieking storm and earthquake that follows the final agony. Nor are the scenes that follow less interesting—the rolling back of the stone from the tomb, the spiritual appearance of Christ to Marv and His disciples, and the final ascension are all sfiown in artistic technicolour, which adds enhancement and realism to the scene. Apparently nothing has been neglected in scene, costume, grouping, and lighting to add realism to the picture. A notable example of that is the scene depicting the last supper, which follows the form of the well-known masterpiece in oils. "The King of Kings” must be classed among the great classics of the screen, whilst the subject places it on the same high plane of artistic achievement as the Passion Play of Oberamergau.

The picture is being presented in New Zealand by the First National Corporation.