EXTRA MATERIAL

Chapter Ten - 1926
In Hollywood with the Great Cecil B. DeMille

A Film Classic

The 1927 Kings of Kings is a must see. Long and short versions of the movie were created. The long version is worth the extra time. It includes scenes with the carpenter’s bench where Lord said mass. The film provides an opportunity to see how silent films could be just as entertaining and powerful as the later sound movies. Most of the film is black and white, except the opening sequence with Mary Magdalen and the Resurrection scene which are in Technicolor.

Several things stand out in the movie such as when Jesus first appears on the screen eighteen minutes into the film. (You will have to watch the film to find out.) Another great scene is the driving of the sevens demons out of Mary Magdalene: Lust, Greed, Pride, Gluttony Indolence, Envy, and Anger.

In the movie, DeMille begins a long cinematic tradition of having the doves fly away during the Cleansing of the Temple scene. It makes great cinematography! The doves reappear after the Resurrection. However, Jesus did not release the doves in the gospels. This seemingly trivial point is important because some mistakenly argue that Jesus both destroyed property and used violence when cleansing the Temple. Jesus only turned over the chairs of the dove sellers—not an act of violence—and the cages were left intact.

The scene of the temptation of Jesus by the devil is particularly well-done and effective. The earthquake scene at the crucifixion is totally over-the-top with the bad guys getting their due. Apparently God the Father did not listen to the admonition of Jesus: Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The N.C.W.C.

John J. Burke was Executive Secretary of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the N.C.W.C. Formed in 1917 as the National Catholic War Council this organization coordinated Catholic efforts to support mobilization for World War I. After the war it became the National Catholic Welfare Conference focusing on coordinating the activities of American Bishops and promoting Catholic social justice teaching. Later in 1966 it would become the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, U.S.C.C.B.

What Lord Saw on the Movie Set

And I settled down with the vast combination of tropic expedition, safari, transplanted Broadway, congress of the nations, great international dramatic stars and recent winners of beauty contests which was the company on location at the end of the lush period of American spending, soaring stocks, and 250-per-cent profit on any well-advertised motion picture.¹

Vanity Fair, Conde Nast’s clever and sneerful publication, had sent its best cartoonist to the set of The King of Kings and ran a blend of Ziegfeld at his most sumptuous, Frank Buck at his most ferocious, Rome at its most luxurious, and a faint trickle of Scriptures struggling through a jungle of scenery and costume.²

H. B. Warner, playing the part of the Lord, was kept in a sort of tented cloister, addressed not at all until he was out of costume.³

An unfortunate lady, cast for Mary, [Dorothy Cumming] was under a morals contract that she violated by divorcing and marrying again before the picture was well released; she slid into a black listing and disappeared from the world of the screen.⁴

The part of Simon of Gyrene was played by William Boyd, a young star who a full generation later would become more celebrated still as Hopalong Cassidy.⁵

Amusing beyond words would be a scene in the silent pictures when men of different dialects talked together, their gestures and expressions caught by the camera, the words dying on empty air. In one scene in The King of Kings I recall Warner saying the word fish in an English accent; Torrence repeated the word as fuuush, with a strong Scottish burr; and Schildkraut caught it up and in a Yiddish accent said, Oi, feeeesh?⁶

As for the Protestant minister, George Reid Andrews, asked to advise the DeMille, Lord told this story:

The Protestant minister and I watched some retakes of the Resurrection. As we walked from the set, blinded by the fierce lights that flooded the figure of Christ as the stone rolled away from the tomb, the minister said to me, How consoling that must be to those who accept the Resurrection literally. I think I blinked, but not with the strain of the lights. I take it literally, I answered with as little emphasis as possible. You do? he said very much surprised. Indeed I do, I replied, and he changed the subject.⁷

Scenes of Mary Magdalene Cut from the Film

Lord suggested that DeMille cut much of the footage of Mary Magdalene at the beginning of the movie, which DeMille did. Lord later gave this assessment of the Mary Magdalene footage that remained:

1) It is Mary Magdalen before her conversion, and hence beautifully if scantily dressed;

2) The girl who plays Mary Magdalen while very beautiful, and nude from the waist except for large jewelled plates at her breasts and a loose robe over her shoulders, is not coarse nor vulgar, and does not seem sexual. She is rather small, and not sensual in form or face.

3) The whole reel, most of which has no possible ground for criticism, is just one twelfth of the whole film;

4) As I felt this was a section of the film which might meet criticism, I went over it twice with Mr. DeMille who agreed to the following changes:

a) The elimination of a sensual kiss;

b) The leering of an old roue at her leg;

c) A procession of dancing girls;

d) A long scene of her making up for her conquest, which is cut to a flash;

e) A closeup of her.

. . . .

And as Mr. DeMille said: This one scene is C. B. DeMille, the rest is the Evangelists.⁸

NOTES

¹ Played by Ear, 268.
² Ibid., 267.
³ Ibid., 268.
⁴ Ibid., 268. According to Internet Movie Database, Dorothy Cumming made eleven more movies in the years 1927-1929.
⁵ Played by Ear, 268.
⁶ Ibid., 282.
⁷ Ibid., 272-73.
⁸ Barmann, 52-53 quoting Lord, Report on DeMille’s New Film, 7.