“King of Kings”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 86, 2 July 1927, Page 23

“King of Kings”

Passion Play Theme Life of Our Lord BIG DE MILLE PRODUCTION The latest screen sensation in the United States has been the filming of the life of Our Lord by Cecil B. de Mille , the great producer. The extraordinary difficulties in the path of such an undertalcing will be readily appreciated. Those who have witnessed the screening of the “King to Kings” declare it to be one of the greatest productions in the history of the screen. TO give the peoples of the modern world a somewhat similar opportunity to view the dramatic life of Jesus of Nazareth as was vouchsafed

to the dwellers in Galilee and Judea almost exactly 1,900 years ago has been the sole aim of my endeavour in making the production of “The King of Kings,” said Mr. de Mille the other day, in reply to a query about his latest production. Mr. de Mille disclaimed theology or

sectarian teaching of any sort, whilst he explained that the Passion Play theme is the highest type pf dramatic subject, exercising a fascination for dramatists in many periods, and one which he has deeply pondered on and hoped to realise for years. ESSENTIAL TRUTH “Essential truth is our aim,”® said Mr. de Mille. “I do not refer to the scientists’ idea of truth, but rather to the truth of emotion animating the characters, and particularly that of Christ —in brief, the splendid dramatic content of the greatest folk-story of humanity., “It matters not whether we believe Him to have been divinity taking on human form, or mortal man ascending to divine heights of inspiration and goodness, for in either case the profound dramatic elements are there, and it is ours to express them with the utmost strength and reality that the resources of modern art enable us to do. “There was for our new picture, ‘The King of Kings,’ a community of interest which was felt at all the great Californian studios, and which gave us

abundantly of their resources in players, designers, and scenic artists lent, and physical materials of all kinds placed at our disposition. “We owed this both to the nature of the subject itself and to the hearty cooperation of the motion picture producers and distributors of America. Mr. Hays made two special trips to the coast, and helped to correlate the many activities. “As you are aware, a film life of Christ of adequate modern treatment and technique has been in the thoughts of several of the producing companies, and when it was agreed among them that I should undertake the work for the Producers’ Distributing Corporation, the helpfulness exerted by all was extraordinary even in the annals of an industry which yearly is learning more and more to co-crdinate toward common artistic aims. “ ‘The King of Kings’ is on a very much larger scale than ‘The Ten Com-

mandments.* An obvious comparison shows that whereas ‘The Ten Commandments’ had only a few reels of the Biblical, ‘The King of Kings’ expends the -footage of a full-length picture—over 13,000 feet—in the drama of the ministry, death, and resurrection. TREATMENT OF BIBLE “But in the treatment of the Biblical —here the New Testament narrative —• a very much broader stage is used, and It is peopled with individualised crowds instead of the more or less shadowy Israelites and Egyptians of the earlier work. For we are now enabled to present literally hundreds of named characters, and are obliged to devote sizeable footage to no fewer than 18 principals of stellar importance. “The swinging of the action from the cities along the shore of Gallilee into Judea, and the climaxes at Jerusalem, called for the use of 20 great sets, any three of which would have amply sufficed for a so-called film epic in the olden times. Thus, you will see, if you glance rapidly over the events outlined in the three synoptic Gospels and St. John, even limiting them as we did to the last year and a-half of the life of Jesus, were were faced by an immense labour. “It is safe to say that more in product was achieved in our one year of well-organised effort on this subject than had ever been achieved before by like effort on historical films —and as to the quality of that product, it now rests entirely for the critical reviewers and the pblic to judge.”