The King of Kings **** (1927, H B Warner, Jacqueline Logan, Joseph Schildkraut, Ernest Torrence, Victor Varconi, Dorothy Cumming, Robert Edeson, William Boyd, James Neill) – Classic Movie Review 12,238

A silent biblical epic that opens with an orgy! It could only be a Cecil B DeMille production. The King of Kings was seen by an incredible 500 million people between 1927 and the 1961 remake.

‘Supreme in Theme! Gigantic in Execution!’

‘Harness my zebras – gift of the Nubian King! This Carpenter shall learn that he cannot hold a man from Mary Magdalene!’

A silent biblical epic that opens with an orgy! The King of Kings (1927) could only be a Cecil B DeMille production. It has two two-tone Technicolor sequences, the opening and resurrection scenes, in the two-colour process invented by Herbert Kalmus.

The King of Kings (1927, Jacqueline Logan).

Jacqueline Logan plays Mary Magdalene, a wild courtesan living in outrageous ostentation, with Judas Iscariot as her lover, entertaining many men around her. (Incidentally, there is no evidence that Mary Magdalene was ever a prostitute or of a romance between her and Judas, but never mind.) On learning that Judas is with a carpenter-teacher, she rides out on her chariot drawn by zebras to bring her lover back.

After grabbing our attention, DeMille finally gets to the main narrative of the events that lead to Jesus’s Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. H B Warner gives a sincere and thoughtful performance as Christ, with Dorothy Cumming as Mary the mother of Jesus, Ernest Torrence as Peter, Rudolph Schildkraut as Caiaphas and his son Joseph Schildkraut as Judas.

The King of Kings is spectacularly filmed, particularly the opening and the Resurrection scenes (both filmed in two-tone Technicolor), the Crucifixion and Jesus’s appearance to the disciples afterwards. It is noted also for the scene where Christ cures a blind girl. Other sequences were tinted sepia or yellow, with hand colouring of the torch flames in the blue-tinted scene of Jesus’s arrest.

No need to heed John Steinbeck’s sour warning: ‘Saw the film – loved the book’.

In 1928 DeMille prepared and released a sound version with a score by Hugo Riesenfeld and added sound effects.

After many years of incomplete versions circulating, the restored complete print 2004 DVD reveals the movie in its full, great majesty, with a new score by Donald Sosin.

It was a box-office hit, and became the second in DeMille’s original biblical trilogy, preceded by The Ten Commandments (1923) and followed by The Sign of the Cross (1932). DeMille also later remade The Ten Commandments (1956).

The King of Kings was the first film premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on 18 May 1927 and screened there again on 24 May 1977 to commemorate the cinema’s 50th anniversary. It runs 155 minutes as at the 1927 premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, but then the film was cut to 112 minutes for general release.

It is remade as King of Kings (1961).

The two-tone, or two-colour Technicolor process is properly called Technicolor Process 2 (1922) and is often wrongly called two-strip Technicolor today.

The spectacular giant gate built for this film was reused in King Kong (1933) and was among the sets torched for the burning of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind (1939). Other sets and costumes were re-used for the 1965 Elvis Presley film, Harum Scarum. An entire end wall of a huge stage was removed to build the interior and the exterior of the Praetorium set, including a 37-foot-tall bronze replica of the Eagle of Rome behind Pilate’s throne.

Elementary and high school kids were dismissed early to attend afternoon screenings.

It was seen by about 500 million people between 1927 and the remake King of Kings in 1961.

DeMille recalled: ‘There was only one man, I felt, who could portray the Christ. It was literally a superhuman assignment that I gave to the actor I chose for the part, H B Warner.’

DeMille wanted Gloria Swanson as Mary Magdalene, but she was unavailable to work with DeMille. Jacqueline Logan was chosen because ‘she could blend dramatic emotion with spirituality.’

The King of Kings advertised in Times Square, New York.

The huge cast includes H B Warner, Jacqueline Logan, Joseph Schildkraut, Ernest Torrence, Victor Varconi, Dorothy Cumming, Robert Edeson, William Boyd, James Neill, Rudolph Schildkraut, Joseph Striker, Sidney D’Albrook, David Imboden, Charles Belcher, Clayton Packard, Robert Ellsworth, Charles Requa, John T Prince, Sam De Grasse, Casson Ferguson, Majel Coleman, Montagu Love, Michael D Moore, Theodore Kosloff, George Siegmann, Julia Faye, Josephine Norman, Kenneth Thomson, Alan Brooks, Viola Louie, Muriel McCormac, Clarence Burton, Jim Mason, May Robson, Dot Farley, Hector Sarno, Leon Holmes, Otto Lederer, Bryant Washburn, Lionel Belmore, Monte Collins, Luca Flamma, Sojin, William Costello, Noble Johnson, Jim Farley, and André Cheron.

It is written by Jeannie Macpherson, who came up with such intertitle gems as: ‘I am LUST! Hold me fast, Mary – my arms are the gates of life! I am GREED! I drain hearts, but I fill thy purse – let Him not destroy me! Keep me, Mary – I am PRIDE! Through me thou hast enslaved Kings! We are GLUTTONY–INDOLENCE–ENVY–ANGER! We teach thee to forget, and to hate, and to consume!’

Nevertheless many of the film’s intertitles are quotes or paraphrases from the Gospels, often with chapter and verse, which must have made Macpherson’s work a bit easier, thanks to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Filming took place in 1926 in Santa Catalina Island and the DeMille Studios in Culver City, California.

Dan Sayre Groesbeck’s preliminary sketch for the crucifixion scene.

The cast

• H B Warner as Jesus
• Dorothy Cumming as Mary the mother of Jesus
• Ernest Torrence as Peter
• Joseph Schildkraut as Judas Iscariot
• James Neill as James the Great
• Joseph Striker as John the Apostle
• Robert Edeson as Matthew the Apostle
• Sidney D’Albrook as Thomas, the Doubter
• David Imboden as Andrew – a Fisherman
• Charles Belcher as Philip the Apostle
• Clayton Packard as Bartholomew the Apostle
• Robert Ellsworth as Simon – the Zealot
• Charles Requa as James the Less
• John T. Prince as Thaddeus
• Jacqueline Logan as Mary Magdalene
• Rudolph Schildkraut as Caiaphas – High Priest of Israel
• Sam De Grasse as Pharisee
• Casson Ferguson as Scribe
• Victor Varconi as Pontius Pilate
• Majel Coleman as Proculla – Wife of Pilate
• Montagu Love as Roman Centurion
• William Boyd as Simon of Cyrene
• Micky Moore as Mark
• Theodore Kosloff as Malchus – Captain of the High Priest’s Guard
• George Siegmann as Barabbas
• Julia Faye as Martha
• Josephine Norman as Mary of Bethany
• Kenneth Thomson as Lazarus
• Alan Brooks as Satan
• Viola Louie as Adulterous Woman
• Muriel McCormac as Blind Girl
• Clarence Burton as Dysmas – the Repentant Thief
• Jim Mason as Gestas – the Unrepentant Thief
• May Robson as Mother of Gestas
• Dot Farley as Maidservant of Caiaphas
• Hector V. Sarno as Galilean Carpenter
• Leon Holmes as Imbecile Boy
• Otto Lederer as Eber – a Pharisee
• Bryant Washburn as Young Roman
• Lionel Belmore as Roman Noble
• Monte Collins as Rich Judeaean
• Lucio Flamma as Gallant of Galilee
• Sôjin Kamiyama as Prince Of Persia
• André Cheron as Wealthy Merchant
• Willy Castello as Babylonian Noble
• Noble Johnson as Charioteer
• Jim Farley as Executioner
• James Dime as a Roman soldier

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,238

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