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Cropped screenshot of Charlton Heston from the trailer for the film The Ten Commandments. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The films that I'll be listing in my April postings will not necessarily be films that I'd call my favorite films, but they will be favorites in the genres I'll be naming. The A to Z genres are very specific micro genres as opposed to the broader genres like action, romance, or comedy.
When I was growing up in the fifties, Bible movies were a cinema staple. These were not just run of the mill movies, but epics on a grand scale in CinemaScope and glorious color. They were actually fairly decent depictions of the Bible stories with an odd twist thrown in now and then, but at the end you'd walk out of the theater feeling elevated and perhaps even a bit blessed.
My favorite of that era was The Ten Commandments (1956) featuring Charlton Heston in his iconic portrayal of Moses. Some of the effects could be done much better now, but as a whole the film holds up well and I always enjoy seeing it.
A later animated version of the story, The Prince of Egypt (1998), does a credible job presenting the same story.
Some other more recent Bible story films are One Night with the King (2006) and The Nativity Story (2006). And of course this category would not be complete with one of the most incredible Bible based films of all--The Passion of the Christ (2004).
There are so many fine Bible based films that I could probably do an A to Z Theme on those alone. But these give us a place to begin.
What are some of your favorite Bible based films? Have you seen any of the epics from the silent film era? Do you find the filmdom interpretations of Bible stories to be offensive in any way?
