Original title: La vie et la passion de Jésus Christ (1903). Address: Nonguet Lucien and Ferdinand Zecca. Cast: and Monsier Madame Moreau (Virgin Mary and Joseph). The rest of the cast does not appear. Duration: 44 minutes. Original title: From the manger to the cross (Jesus of Nazareth, 1912). Address: Sidney Olcott. Cast: Robert Henderson-Bland (Jesus), Gene Gauntier (Virgin Mary), Percy Dyer (Jesus, child), Alice Hollister (Mary Magdalene), Sidney Olcott (Blind), Samuel Morgan (Pontius Pilate) , James D. Ainsley (John the Baptist), Robert G. Vignola (Judas), George Kellogg (Herod), JP McGowan (Andrew). Duration: 70 minutes .
Diagnosis: Session turn over the most important historical figure - regardless of our beliefs, and one that most times has been brought to the screen. Two rare - thanks to cyberspace and not so - a bit away from the topic of the blog and if they have their place here is because it is the first two appearances Jesus major in film.
Make a review here celluloid adaptations to be an emblematic character unnecessary exercise as there is sufficient information. More challenging would be closer yet some of those adaptations that are more Martian and many. Maybe in successive Easter, we'll see as we walk the Christian fervor then.
Once invented the cinematograph in 1895, Jesus of Nazareth would soon appear on the screen. Since the Lumiere brothers themselves two years would roll Life and Passion of Jesus Christ , a set of prints were absolutely naive to great acclaim. It is natural to date the other arts (painting, sculpture, theater) had been monopolized by the church since the Middle Ages for its work "pedagogical" and evangelizing. The enormous potential of the film could not escape them, and soon to use the cinema as an ideal vehicle to achieve inflame the Christian armies, which have left to do, by the way (see Gibson ultracatholic versions or Zefirelli without going further).
La vie et la passion de Jésus Christ The first approach can be considered more or less seriously prsonaje and is not just a remake of that first title of the Lumiere, a bigger budget and gradually expanded from 18 original paintings to the 31 that were in 1905 (version they belong to the links presented below). A delightfully naive appearance, the film itself are nothing more than a series of "pictures" hand-colored (the film is produced by the Pathé brothers precisely this intimate patented system) and displays a rather full life and miracles of Jesus. It is irresistible to see the ingenuity with which solve some "special effects" Required: Jesus walking on water, the decline of the Holy Spirit, Resurrection, etc. The technical prowess and appearance were so impressive for the time that was a very useful teaching tool for the Catholic missionaries in Africa and Polynesia. Zecca In 1907 he oversaw a new version with the famous Second Chomón as cinematographer. 
the Manger to the Cross goes a step further and can be considered the first feature of Jesus itself. Not only that, it is also the first blockbuster about his figure and that cost a whopping $ 100,000 at the time but was such a success that soon reached that figure tenfold. The first thing you notice is that the film obviously an important aspect for devout believers is the Resurrection of Christ. A portion of this data, another curiosity of particular value in this film is being shot right in the places where the action, riding a plateau in Jerusalem for the interior and extending for three months filming in Egypt and the Holy Land. Despite this, and since the cinematic point of view, progress is minimal and the prints of Ferdinand Zecca. In fact, maintaining the same static quality of the camera (save for some another slight overview, as in the arrival of the Magi) but yes, providing more realistically staged in each painting. The absence of close-ups, tracking shots, or any other source of narrative cinema prevent creation of a film itself, being a succession of scenes a little more elaborate than its predecessor but without grace "kitsch" of that. As a final curious note that Gene Gauntier, screenwriter of the film, here plays the Virgin Mary and that the director, Sidney Olcott appears as a blind man. Ultimately two versions unpublished until recently for us and certainly very appropriate at this time as indicated for some, as "pain in the ass" to others. Excerpt from "Life and Passion of Jesus Christ" (1905)
Refrain: Whoever does not have at least curious about the film archeology.
Links Life and Passion of Jesus Christ "(1903-05)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L6ZIFWKV
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KQ90XD99
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BGFTMYTL
Links "From the Manger to the cross "(1912)
(from the forum" Stalls ")
http://www.mediafire.com/?frm6e2tb85l2qa5
