Overview
A splendid, deeply moving screen biography of Christ. Especially memorable is the portion of the film depicting the "Sermon on the Mount."
Awards:
Main Cast & Crew:
Nicholas Ray - Director
Jeffrey Hunter
Siobhan McKenna
Robert Ryan
Hurd Hatfield
Viveca Lindfors
Rita Gam
Rip Torn
Details
- Format: DVD
- Run Time: 160
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 883929076376
- Genre: Drama
- Rating: Not Rated
- Release Date: March 2000
Movie Reviews
Synopsis:
Nicholas Ray's lavish and beautifully constructed widescreen epic about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
"King of Kings" is built upon a series of narrative parallels and contrasts between Jesus and Barrabas. The film portrays the thief as a rebel leader of the Jewish resistance; unlike Jesus, who preaches a message of peace, Barrabas advocates violence as a means to an end. By building his drama around this religious and philosophical conflict, Ray establishes a tension that defamiliarizes this well-known story.
Highlights include the Sermon on the Mount and the scene in which Salome asks King Herod for the head of John the Baptist.
Notes:
Originally a 70mm production, shot in Super Technirama.
A silent version of the life of Christ, also called "King of Kings," was directed by Cecil B. de Mille in 1927. The cast included H.B. Warner (Christ); Jacqueline Logan (Mary Magdalene); Joseph Schildkraut (Judas); Ernest Torrence (Peter); Victor Varconi (Pontius Pilate); Dorothy Cummings (Mary, mother of Jesus); and Rudolph Schildkraut (Caiaphas).
