I am currently preparing a class on King of Kings (dir. Nicholas Ray, 1961) for the course on Jesus in Film that I am teaching this semester at Duke. While researching for the course, I came across this delightful piece from British Pathé News on Youtube.
It is the a one and a half minute news item about the U.S. premiere of the film, with footage from both the east and west coast premieres. You see Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus) at about 1:21, and he is looking much more like Captain Pike here than Jesus:
Also of interest is the highlight of Lauren and Preston Tisch, owners of the Loewes Corporation, who gave their names to the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. It's worth noting also the prominence given to "young and beautiful Brigid Bazlen" who plays Salome. She was only seventeen at the time and never became the big star that they seem to expect here.
The news item gives a sense of just how huge the release of this film was.
One of the interesting critics remarks about this film - I forget who said it - was that Hunter's Jesus never sweats. I'm not 100% sure that's true, but he certainly looks "fresher" than some other portrayals.
ReplyDelete