Merry Christmas from Out of the Past ~ A Classic Film Blog

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

King of Kings (1961)

King of Kings (1961) was directed by Nicholas Ray and stars a 33-year old Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ. It's details like that, choosing an actor who was currently living in his Jesus Year (Jesus was 33 when he was crucified), that make this film simply astounding. It could have been a cheesy, over-the-top epic production. The 1960s were full of badly dubbed versions of those. However, Nicholas Ray and company made a respectful and timeless epic about the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. There are no special effects in this film. You do not watch Jesus walk on water, turn water into wine, feed hundreds with 7 loaves and fishes and you do not watch him ascend into heaven after his resurrection. There are no angels, no devil, no representation of god. You hear the devil speak to Jesus in the desert and you see the sun shine down upon Jesus when he's on the cross but that's it. They could have gone there but they didn't. Instead what you see in King of Kings is what people who lived during Jesus Christ' time probably saw. A holy man who walked among the meek and was there to uplift them and comfort them during a time of taxation and oppression.

Jeffrey Hunter was amazing as Jesus. He had piercing blue eyes that seem to cut right into your soul and a steadiness to his countenance that I imagine Jesus would have had.

Siobhan McKenna as Mary had the same: piercing eyes and a steady countenance.

The choice of Robert Ryan as John the Baptist was genius. His scenes were by far my favorite.

Brigid Bazlen as Salome was also exceptional. Watch for the erotic dance she performs for King Herodious in exchange for John the Baptist's head. Oh, yes and we don't see the severed head. I liked that too. That would have gone into the realm of cheesy but instead they kept it classy. We know what happens but we don't have to see it. Glorification of gore is not necessary in order to understand pain or death.

Now I'm by no means religious. However, I did grow up Christian and the story of Christ is one that has always interested me. I've always found comfort in the Sermon on the Mount and have always been deeply pained by the passion. This Christmas, King of Kings (1961) was what I needed. I didn't need a Christmas film from the good ole days when people were nice to each other and everything turned out well. I wanted to see a film about oppression and hope.

Before you comment on this post, just note this is not a forum to start religious debate.

Black Legion (1937)

I promise to finish what I started and this Bogie marathon will have 24 posts! Since I didn't have either Kid Galahad (1937) or Black Legion (1937) in my Bogie boxed set (due to a technical error) I had to wait for these to come from Netflix. Black Legion (1937) is quite a depressing film but I think it's an important role for Bogie and it's important for the time period. In a pre-High Sierra role, Bogie stars (yes stars!) in Black Legion (1937), a typical exposee fare from the 1930s. The film exposes underground white supremacist groups who find "justice" in bullying and causing harm to people who they see as different and dangerous. Bogie plays Frank Taylor, a machinist at a factory who feels he is this close to getting a promotion. He's so close he can already taste the money he'll earn and is planning on how he can spend the money on his wife and young son. However, when Joe Dombrowski, a hardworking mechanist who attended night school while all the others spent their evenings drinking, gets the promotion, Frank tastes blood. It doesn't help that Joe happens to be a Jew. Frank's anger and envy drive him to join the secret society of the Black Legion and it all goes downhill from there.

This film depressed me greatly. I'm the daughter of two immigrants who worked really hard to give me opportunities that they didn't have themselves in their respective countries. Because of their hard work and the work ethic they instilled in me, I was able to earn my high school diploma, my Bachelor's degree and my Master's degree and to develop a career of my own chosing. I'm forever grateful to them for that.

I place myself in the position of Joe Dombrowski, who works all day as a mechanist, studies at night and helps his family out at their chicken farm. America is a land of opportunity. Frank Taylor thinks those opportunities are only for his notion of who is an "American". Jews, the Irish and foreigners don't count. I'm sure if African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans were involved in the story, he'd discount them too. Unless you are 100% Native American you can't claim yourself as coming from a non-immigrant family. So while I felt bad for Frank Taylor and all the trouble he got himself in, I despise the notion that America is a land of opportunity for some and not for all. And I hope the audiences in 1937 who watched this film felt the same way.