(1927)
with live Christie Theatre Organ accompaniment (Graeme Costin), 155 minutes.
Tickets: $25/$20
General seating - not reserved or numbered
There will be a short 15 minute intermission.
(T 0419 267 318)
The King of Kings is a masterpiece from Oscar winning Cecil B. DeMille, one of the major directors of silent and sound cinema. Between simplicity and grand spectacle, the film tells one of the greatest and most beautiful stories with an impressive fresco of accuracy and sensitivity.
Audiences and critics alike acclaimed the compelling film with its high-quality filmmaking and the reverential way it brought the tale of Christ to cinema life.
A 1927 writer in Picture Play saw the film not just as a triumph for DeMille but for cinema itself:
“The King of Kings is Cecil B. DeMille’s masterpiece and is among the greatest of all pictures. It is a sincere and reverent visualization of the last three years in the life of Christ, produced on a scale of tasteful magnificence, finely acted and possessed of moments of poignant beauty and unapproachable drama. This is a picture that will never become outmoded. […] Until you see this, you will not have seen all that the screen is capable of today.”
Opulent sets, cutting-edge technical innovations, from lighting to camerawork, ensured that it worked superbly with sepia tints and two colour sequences. DeMille accomplished an enormously risky project: an epic treatment of the latter part of the life of Jesus Christ, which used intertitles many of which directly quote the Bible with chapter and verse included. The film’s sublime style and inventive, imaginative staging breathes life into the familiar Biblical story and gives it cinematically a vivid and vital urgency.
A strong marketing campaign where schools were released early so that students could attend matinees added to the gross making it one of the financially most successful films of the era. This silent film was in circulation around the world for several decades well into the sound era and has a viable claim to being the most watched film in history. An audience across such a time frame in the hundreds of millions is unimaginable today.
The accomplished NSW born May Robson, the first Australian actor to be nominated for an Oscar, plays a minor role. A fine article on her is at https://www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au/may-robson/.
The Event Organisers have an obligation to implement all reasonably practical measures to ensure the health and safety of the patrons, musicians and organisers.
If you are feeling unwell, please do not enter the venue.
The latest NSW Government advice about COVID can be accessed at https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19.
Contact Details
Location
Epping Baptist Church
1-5 Ray Road, EPPING NSW 2121
Short walk from Epping Station - on north-western side, near Coles Supermarket.
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