The Bible According to Hollywood (2004)

Two part television documentary on how Biblical stories have been portrayed in (largely Hollywood) films. The first part concentrates on the Old Testament, which provided plenty of acceptable source material for Hollywood epics. These Biblical epics were pioneered by the likes of Griffith and De Mille in the silent era and reached there apex of popularity in the 1950’s, again with De Mille still a major player in that genera (no film gets more air time in the documentary then De Mille’s 1956 version of The Ten Commandments). The second half, the New Testament, was more problematic for Hollywood, and most of the film depictions of Jesus at lest into the 1960’s were very stayed, reverent, and boring. Revisionist takes on the Christ, like the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell, or later the highly controversial Scorsese picture The Last Temptation of Christ, attempted to extract more life from the giver of life. But most ‘New Testament’ films are really only marginally so, coming largely from fiction books with a biblical settings and cameo appearances by the Savior (Ben-Hur being the prime example)b or the sub-genre of persecuted early Christians (The Sign of the Cross, The Robe). A very basic introduction to some of the more notable ‘Biblical films’. 2 ½ out of 5.