I’ve put in my own two cents about a lot of movie genres over the years but I don’t recall giving my opinion of the greatest religious epics so, in honor of Easter weekend, I’ll weigh in on them.
I think that “religious epic” is practically an oxymoron since most of the movies called religious epics are not religious and barely epics. The really great movies about religion, like Lilies of the Field aren’t epics at all.
However, from about 1930 to somewhere around 1970 lots of these movies were made. They made money in the theaters and, before television, cable, and streaming reruns they had a profitable second life being shown to church groups. Here’s a selection of some that I think are actually worth watching. My list is marred somewhat by my failure to view The Passion of the Christ. I haven’t been able to steel myself to watch it. Should I?
King of Kings (1927)
Cecil B. DeMille’s dramatization of the story of Jesus, at the time the most expensive movie in Hollywood history, is both beautiful and reverent, a rarity in the genre. It remains worth watching nearly a century later.
Ben Hur: a Tale of the Christ (1925)
There have now been three versions of Gen. Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel but the first silent version is by far the best. If you watch it keep in mind that every effect is practical.
Quo Vadis (1951)
Quo Vadis was the first of MGM’s spectacular Italian-produced Technicolor religious epics. It also features an incredibly gorgeous cast and good acting, provided by a largely British cast. I also think that Marcus’s faith is much like our own. Unlike Peter he hasn’t seen Jesus and unlike Lygia he remains unconvinced by the religion stuff but he does believe in something—Lygia.
The Robe
This movie, in a sense 20th Century Fox’s response to Quo Vadis and explicitly a reaction to 3D, was the first movie released in CinemaScope and it has a stereophonic score. Like Quo Vadis it’s redeemed by good acting by its largely British cast. It received the Academy Award for Best Picture and was tremendously profitable.
An amusing footnote: the movie’s poster features the wrong Jean. Jean Peters was originally cast as the female lead but was replaced by Jean Simmons. Jean Peters is depicted on the poster.
I liked The Last Temptation of Christ, too. I had read the novel and like it even more.
