FROM MANGER TO CROSS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 178, 27 January 1914, Page 6

FROM MANGER TO CROSS.

I. A REVELATION'. \ A few years ago anyone who was bold ..enough to assort the possibility of faithfully producing on tlic moving picture [screen so difficult a subject as the life ,of Christ, from birth to death, would •have been greeted with a storm of ridicule. The difficulties of the subject .are- apparent to the most superficial. Tlio picture must, above all tilings, b' reverent, and yet realistic. There must be an avoidance of everything that borders on the incongruous, or is likely to offend the most susceptible person. To .havo accomplished this delicate task and overcome the many difficulties it entails, is a distinct triumph of the art of cinematography, and it is gratifying to record that the great Kaleni production, '•"Prom Manger to Cross," screened at the Theatre Royal last night, satisfies all these demands, and calls for .universal approbation. It is a daring conception, successfully carried out, the actors realising the far-reaching influence of their art. English and American actors were employed only for the leading characters; for all the minor -roles and picturesque ensembles natives were used, people whose customs have cliangcd little since their ancestors walked the plains of Nazareth and the streets of Jerusalem 2000 years ago. The realism of the picture is intense, scrupulous care having been lavished on every detail. The pictures show the real lake of Tiberias, and the very type of nets used by.the fishermen of Cialilec. They show the road in which Joseph. Mary and the infant Jesus returned from Egypt to Nazareth. They follow, in the journey to Golgotha, the Via Dolorosa trodden by Christian pilgrims even to this day. The film depicts the early events in the life of the child Jesus. The flight into Egypt, the wedding feast at Cana, (be scene, in the temple arc'all faithfully portrayed. The Passion incidents, beginning with the night in the moonlit, garden, and culminating- at Calvary, follow the Xew Testament faithfully. The mock trial, in which tho action of the wavering l'ilate is a prominent feature, throws a. new light on that awful tragedy. The agony in ttelhsemane is rightly omitted, and. for the rest, it is the human scenes in winch the suffering man, rather than the Cod, is most in evidence, that are most effective. The character delineation is wonderfully clear. Pilale. the Roman, bewildered by the Jewish thirst for blood, the quick turn of the crowd from adoration to hatred, and the treachery of Judas, are dramatically presented. The picture is a wonderful production, unconcerned with dogma or creed, and holds infinite attraction for the participant in the rush and turmoil of the modern world.