The Celluloid Madonna

The Celluloid Madonna: From Scripture to Screen

Catherine O'Brien

Paperback: 224 pages

Publisher: Columbia University Press (13 Dec 2011)

Language English

ISBN: 978-0231161654

It's been a while since there was a new film out on Bible Films so I was really pleased to hear that Catherine O'Brien's "Celluloid Madonna" has finally been published. (I heard about it several years ago, but had lost touch with how things had been progressing.

I'm incredibly chuffed as well by the fact that this blog is mentioned in the Acknowledgements. This doesn't happen often to me so I hope you won't mind too much if I, rather egocentrically, quote what was written. Page viii says:

Matt Page's Bible Films Blog at http://www.biblefilms.blogspot.com/ has been discovered as a superb the source of news and film criticism

I've not had a great deal of time/energy at the moment and so I've made rather poor progress so far. What I can say however is that it talks about a few films that I am yet to see - mainly those that are Mary Hagiopics from primarily Catholic countries as well as a good deal of information about Mary that I was not fully aware of. I'm really hoping to forge some time soon to finish the rest of it off soon and then hopefully I'll be able to review it.

Book Review: Exodus And Leviticus for Everyone

Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone
John Goldingay

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: SPCK Publishing (21 Oct 2010)
Language: English

ISBN-10: 0281061262
ISBN-13: 978-0281061266

Tom Wright’s New Testament "...for Everyone" series of Bible commentaries have proved to be very popular, so it was only a matter of time before someone decided to try the same approach for the books of the Hebrew Bible. Step forward John Goldingay, professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in the US and former principal of St. John’s College Nottingham (UK).

Having dealt with the first sixteen chapters of Genesis in volume 1, Goldingay, along with SPCK - who are also the publishers of the Wright series - have moved onto Exodus and Leviticus for the second volume. Part 3 - Numbers and Deuteronomy - is due out in the UK later this month.

As the series’ title suggests, its aim is to give an overview of the books that is accessible to all-comers. Like Wright’s series, and William Barclay’s similar series from the middle of last century, Goldingay offers his own translation of each passage before attempting to summarise it, typically offering personal anecdotes to enlighten often obscure parts of the Old Testament. Some of these stories work better than others. At times the links are a little too tenuous, or require such a deal of explanation that the advantage gained is fairly minimal. That said, they did draw me into the explanations that were to follow, and give me a greater appreciation of the author and his life.

Goldingay’s translation, on the other hand, sustains a real freshness throughout. I don’t know a word of Hebrew, so I can’t vouch for the legitimacy of his choices, but they are often bold, causing certain nuances to leap out. Part of this is because such a large proportion of popular translations are essentially re-workings of the King James Version, but even the choices made in translating individual words give a new angle on familiar passages. It’s a shame that not all of the text is translated - often one part of a passage is translated whilst the other is merely summarised - but this is understandable given the nature of the project, and the length of the Old Testament relative to the New.

The difficulty in housing Exodus and Leviticus under one introductory roof is that typically most people are far more familiar with the former than the latter. In particular, many of this book’s target audience will have grown up with the stories of Moses and the exodus from Egypt. It’s difficult therefore to provide an introduction to Exodus which is consistently both accessible and informative. Most readers turn to commentaries seeking fresh insights, and whilst I recognise that Exodus is one of the books I have studied in more depth, I think the average church-goer, at least, will have heard much of this in one forum or another. Whether this is his failure, or merely a small flaw in what is a strong concept overall, I remain unsure.

Leviticus however is entirely another matter. Here, and to a lesser extent in the later chapters of Exodus, Goldingay’s work is excellent, managing to explain one of the Bible’s most impenetrable books in a way that makes it seem fresh, accessible, and, dare I say it, fascinating. Time and time again I came away feeling that I had gained a whole new perspective on the book and it’s implications for today. I’ve only dipped into commentaries on Leviticus before, but I feel I would recommend Goldingay’s work here to all but the most seasoned Torah-expert. Given that the average Christian gives a wider berth to the majority of the Hebrew Bible than a fictional Levite on the Jericho to Jerusalem road might give to a heavily beaten man, the outlook for the rest of the series looks promising.

That said, one of the problems with working through the Old Testament in order, particularly for a series that aspires to being wide reaching, is that the first few books contain a number of hurdles that risk alienating large swathes of readers. Genesis is the first - your take on creation will often cause some readers not to progress. This second entry in the series again it comes into contact with a number of controversial texts: how will the author handle God’s violence against the Egyptians in Exodus or the verses often cited from Leviticus as being anti-homosexuality?

On the first, Goldingay seems a little troubled by Exodus’ anticipation of the conquest of Canaan, covering the issue in his section on Ex. 23:20-33, but ultimately he’s seemingly content to accept the text’s reasoning. But the anti-homosexuality verses (18:22 and 20:13) are passed over. It’s possible to infer Goldingay’s take on the issue from his careful explanation of how similar passages function, but not to dealing with this issue specifically is an error. Whilst it’s no more than a passing reference as far as Leviticus is confirmed, in our culture this is Leviticus’ most well known / discussed verse (as any search engine will quickly confirm). To ignore these verses in a commentary aimed at the average person on the street is undoubtedly something of an oversight.

Another omission that will surprise many experts on the Hebrew Bible is the absence of a detailed discussion of the documentary hypothesis and the hypothetical sources behind the text. Goldingay makes a number of passing references to there being various sources behind Exodus, particularly when there seems to be some kind of conflict between them, but he avoids mentioning JEDP, Graf-Wellhausen or redactors. Whilst this is unusual, I think it’s the right call. Opinion on the sources behind the Pentateuch have become so diverse over the last century that there is very little consensus. Indeed many of Goldingay’s target audience will come from backgrounds where it is still widely agreed that Moses wrote the Torah almost single-handedly. To wade into such a complex issue would risk alienating many of the “Everyone”s who might choose to read the book. It could be argued that at least mentioning J, E, D and P might be useful, but again, if there’s to be no specific analysis of those sources, then simply explaining that there different sources seems a wise approach.

Goldingay’s approach to this issue typifies the way that the book consistently pitches things at the right level. Whilst this arguably leaves the Exodus section of his commentary seeming a little pedestrian, it results in a superb and insightful explanation of Leviticus, and the translation means that even without the commentary more seasoned students of these two books will find plenty to chew on.

Spanish Blog on Jesus Films

I've just come across a Spanish blog about Jesus films - Jesucristo en el Cine. The author appears to be Alfonso Méndiz, Professor of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the University of Malaga. Mendiz has also recently published a book also called "Jesucristo en el Cine". I'll be adding his blog to my blogroll when I finally get around to updating it. Google's translation of the site seems remarkably readable, and there seems to be a lot there already which is worth reading.

"Biblical Epics" Gets a Reprint

Biblical Epics:Sacred Narrative in the Hollywood Cinema
Bruce Francis Babington and Peter William Evans

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers (Jun 2009)
Language English
ISBN: 978-1606088159

One of the most frequently quoted books on Bible films is Bruce Babington and Peter William Evans' "Biblical Epics", one of the first books (1993) to really delve deep into films based on the Bible. Sadly the book has been out of print for many many years - a decade at least. It has been available on Google Books for a while, but it's just not the same.

So I was really pleased to discover just now that the book has recently been reprinted by Wipf and Stock. I wasn't particularly familiar with Wipf and Stock but it appears that they are a republisher (as opposed to simply a publisher) - someone on their Facebook page "once called Wipf and Stock 'the vultures of publishing' because of the academic reprints...in a good way", and I can see what they mean. This book is so long due a reprint that I'm glad someone has finally decided to pick it up. Courses studying Jesus films and beyond seem to be continuing to grow so hopefully there will be a ready market for it.

I'm going to try and contact Wipf and Stock to find out more details, particularly whether this is just a straight reprint, or whether there is any new content. I'll let you all know in due course.

In either case the book is available to order now from Amazon both in the UK, the US and Canada, although it is significantly cheaper to buy from Wipf and Stock direct.

Crisis and Capitalism in Contemporary Argentine Cinema

Crisis and Capitalism in Contemporary Argentine Cinema
Author: Joanna Page

Paperback: 272 pages

Publisher: Duke University Press
Language: English

ISBN-10: 0822344726
ISBN-13: 978-0822344728

My sister-in-law Joanna Page is a lecturer in Argentine literature and cinema at Cambridge University, and I just found out that her new book has just been published. "Crisis and Capitalism in Contemporary Argentine Cinema" looks at New Argentine Cinema, highly experimental films and Argentinian genre movies. Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

There has been a significant boom in recent Argentine cinema, with an explosion in the number of films made in the country since the mid-1990s. Many of these productions have been highly acclaimed by critics in Argentina and internationally. What makes this boom all the more extraordinary is that it has coincided with a period of severe economic crisis and civil unrest in the nation. Offering the first in-depth English-language study of Argentine fiction films released since the mid-1990s, Joanna Page explains how these productions have registered Argentina's experience of capitalism, neo-liberalism, and economic crisis. In different ways, the films selected for discussion testify to the social consequences of growing unemployment, rising crime, marginalization, and the expansion of the informal economy. Page focuses particularly on films associated with New Argentine Cinema, but she also discusses highly experimental films and genre movies borrowing from the conventions of crime thrillers, Westerns, and film noir. She analyzes films that have received wide international recognition alongside others that have rarely been shown outside Argentina. What unites all the films she examines is their attention to shifts in subjectivity provoked by political or economic conditions and events. Page emphasizes the paradoxes arising from the circulation of Argentine films within the same global economy they so often critique, and she argues that while Argentine cinema has been intent on narrating the collapse of the nation-state, it has also contributed to the nation's reconstruction. She brings the films into dialogue with a broader range of issues in contemporary film criticism, including the role of national and transnational film studies, theories of subjectivity and spectatorship, and the relationship between private and public spheres.

Cut to the Chase 0.5Two More Chapters of Mine Published

Cut to the Chase 0.5
Authors: Lee and Baz and Friends

Paperback: 287 pages (Paperback)

Publisher: Authentic Media
Language: English

ISBN-10: 1860247323
ISBN-13: 978-1860247323

I'm just about to have two chapters published in Lee and Baz's "Cut to the Chase 0.5". Lee (Jackson) is a good friend of mine going back to when we were teenagers, and as he's always been keen that his books have included contributions from his friends he has always been keen to include the odd chapter from me. Unfortunately, he got so many contributions for his last book ("Cut to the Chase") - including four chapters from me - that he decided he could only use two of the ones that I submitted.

But eventually his and Baz's first book "Dead Man Walking" went out of print, but continued to be in demand, so they decided to re-release it with extra material. And so "Cut to the Chase 0.5" was born. The two chapters of mine that didn't make the previous book have been included in the new volume. (I'm sure there's a less complicated way to describe that, but for the present it eludes me).

Anyway, I must say I'm pleased that these two chapters have finally made it into print. Both volumes of "Cut to the Chase" are what I guess are called men's books - written for the average bloke in the street - so the punchiness of the first two chapters was what got them printed first. However, I always felt that of the four chapters I originally submitted, these two were the strongest, and the ones that better reflected my writing style.

"Men in Movies" is as you'd expect a discussion of some great male role models in film. The church often moans that it is depicted negatively but here are some men (and a few women) of faith, who make a difference. The film covers a fairly broad range of films from On the Waterfront to Italian for Beginners,

The other chapter, "Lost in Translation", looks at more interactive ways of reading / studying / understanding the Bible. Amongst the things I discuss are, of course, the use of Bible Films, as well as 'bloke art' and using the comic imagination.

The books are not yet available at Amazon, or in book stores, but should arrive imminently. They can, however, also be purchased direct from Lee and Baz's website. Also available is a new, visual edition of "Cut to the Chase". I've had no part in this, so I can say with at least some objectivity that I think this is an excellent publication. There are still relatively few books out there for visual learners, but if we get a few more like this the idea will catch on fast. The graphics are really top notch, and do well to avoid being pretentious, managing instead to retain the earthy and humorous feel of the original. I'll post a link here to so samples of the artwork when it goes up, but for now I'll stop gushing.

Book Review: "The Religious Film"

The Religious Film
(New Approaches to Film Genre)
Author: Pamela Grace

Paperback: 192 pages (Paperback)
Publisher: WileyBlackwell
Language English

ISBN-10: 1405160268
ISBN-13: 978-1405160261

There's an ever growing library of books examining religious films in general and works on Bible movies in particular. The last two years alone have seen the release of books such as Melanie Wright's “Religion and Film” and Flesher and Torry's “Film and Religion". Add to that list Pamela Grace's “The Religious Film” and it begins to become clear that there is an increasing need for books on this subject to offer fresh analysis and content that sets them apart from the field.

Grace's fresh contribution lies with her introduction of the Hagiopic - “films that represent the life, or part of the life, of a recognised religious hero”.¹

The book falls into two main parts. Section 1 is essentially Grace introducing the Hagiopic genre. Chapter one offers some definitions combined with with pertinent examples. The essential aspects are the subject matter (stories of a revered individual's encounter with God), the reverent manner in which such encounters take place, suffering and sacrifice“ of the hero which is ultimately justified by the last major characteristic “wish-fulfillment” (i.e. these films “depict a world” where God always intervenes²). Obviously, not all aspects need necessarily be present for the film to be classified within the genre.

Chapter 2 then offers an overview of the history of religious films, touching not only on Bible films and films about saints but also films from the more transcendental style (Bresson, etc.) leaning on the work of Paul Schrader.³. It's interesting to see discussion of the first two of these categories intermingled, which perhaps seems a little more artificial to those from inside Protestantism than others. That said, Grace makes a strong case here, and the thought occurs that whilst for many viewers the Bible films genre would stand apart from the Hagiopic, from Hollywood's point of view the Hagiopic is the more robust category.

Having discussed some of the most significant examples of the Hagiopic, Grace moves on to examine the literature on the subject. There's a solid overview of the majority of books on the subject including Stephen Humphries-Brookes' “Cinematic Savior: Hollywood Making of the American Christ” (2006) which had , thus far, escaped my attention. Books on transcendental films, films about saints, Jesus Movies, and Biblical Epics are all discussed before a final look at books about Christ figures.

Whilst the review of the printed material on the subject is rigorous, There is, surprisingly, no discussion of any online publications. Whilst objecting to this could, arguably, be a case of sour grapes on my part, I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation in this day and age. Film is, after all, an artistic medium that relies heavily on modern technology, and it's hard to fathom the reluctance to even mention the internet which extends to the entire book. Surely, periodicals such as the Journal of Religion and Film have something of relevance to say?

Grace's conclusion demonstrates the paucity of literature solely looking at the Hagiopic genre as a whole, and so she proceeds in the second half of the book to look at some key examples from the genre. Grace applies her model to King of Kings (1961) [Chapter 4], The Song of Bernadette (1943) [Ch. 5], both filmed versions of Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 and 2000) [Ch.6], The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) and Jesus of Montreal (1989) [Ch.7], The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and 1999's The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc [Ch. 8] and finally The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and The Passion of the Christ (2004) [Ch. 9].

Grace's selection allows her to explore the contours of her genre, with each chapter honing in on different subtleties within the genre. For example, one of the key features of Hagiopics is their reliance on spectacle, but the King of Kings chapter demonstrates how the film moves it away from the places it would normally be expected (in the miracles of Jesus) and relies instead on making a spectacle from battle scenes etc. instead.

Of the films explored only The Song of Bernadette (1943) seems to fit all the criteria, which makes it a strange decision, given that the chapters loosely follow some kind of chronological or developmental order. This was actually the last chapter I read. Having not seen the film prior to reading the book I waited until I had read the rest of the book so as to enjoy the film in the light of Grace's model, and then read the Bernadette chapter to see how well I'd been paying attention.

The fact that this exercise greatly enhanced my appreciation of the film is perhaps testimony to the clarity of Grace's model. If in leaving the Bernadette chapter until last I was still able to grasp her argument then she is certainly justified in not also including a full analysis of a film such as DeMille's The King of Kings to make the point more forcefully.

It is surprising that no film based on the Old Testament is covered in depth. The book is a little unclear as to whether this is because pictures based on stories from the Hebrew Bible do not really qualify as hagiopics, or because they fit so squarely into the conventions of the genre that they are of little interest to the scholar.

Overall the analysis is fairly insightful. Having read numerous books on this subject now I am always impressed when I read something that no-one else has ever mentioned, and, in reading this, there were a number of times here where that was the case. The analysis of The King of Kings and Jesus of Montreal was particularly strong. I also enjoyed Grace's comments on the 2000 version of Jesus Christ Superstar as there has, hitherto, been very little written about it.

Aside from the above comments about internet sources, in places the theological overviews offered by the book occasionally go awry (Veronica's veil has nothing to do with The Turin Shroud for example⁴), but that rarely has much impact on the discussion. There are also a few typographical errors that the publishers might wish to amend if the book is to be republished⁵. Given the quantity of other works on the subject that would seem unlikely. Whilst the analysis is interesting enough and the hagiopic genre approach offers some new possibilities, Grace's book is neither groundbreaking enough nor in-depth enough to suggest it will usurp more established favourites.
=========
1 – Grace p.1
2 – Grace p.5
3 - Schrader, P. “The Transcendental Style in Film
4 – Grace p.75
5 – E.g.year of Jesus of Montreal given as 1969 on p.154

Review: Hollywood Under Siege:Martin Scorsese, The Religious Right and the Culture Wars

Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, the Religious Right, and the Culture Wars
Thomas R. Lindlof
University Press of Kentucky (July 1, 2008)
Hardcover, 408 pages
English
ISBN: (978)0813125170
9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches

Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ is one of the most written about of all Bible films, with the possible exception of The Passion of the Christ (2004). In the main, those books have largely focussed on the content of the film. 2005's "Scandalizing Jesus: The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years On" added a more even handed look to the highly critical volumes from 1988 "Last Temptation of Hollywood" (by Larry W. Poland), "Facts on the Last Temptation of Christ" (John Ankerberg and John Weldon) and "The Last Temptation of Christ: Its Deception and What You Should Do About It" (Erwin W Lutzer). But two books have sought, instead, to examine the context of the film. Five years ago Robin Riley published "Film, Faith and Cultural Conflict: The Case of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ", and now, twenty years on from the controversial film's original release, Thomas R. Lindlof has cast his eye over the same events.

In fact, two of those authors (Poland and Ankerberg) are discussed in Lindlof's book "Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, The Religious Right and the Culture Wars". It seeks to tell the story of events surrounding the film's release primarily from the perspective of the filmmakers. Drawing on extensive interviews not only with Scorsese himself, but also a number of the executives from Universal Pictures and parent company MCA, Lindlof gives what is almost an insider's view of proceedings.

Lindlof also interviewed some of the leading voices from the Religious Right, including Poland and Ankerberg, which brings a measure of balance to his work. Yet, whereas there is seemingly an intuitive understanding of the film's makers and producers, he's never really able to empathise with the film's opponents to the same degree. There do appear to have been fewer interviews with the leading voices in the Religious Right, but it's certainly possible that this is because they were less willing to reflect on these events than those making the film. Indeed, one of Lindlof's conclusions is that some of these characters had used this affair to bolster support for their, hitherto, struggling organisations. The film ultimately battled to break even, but the Christian organisations who had been the most outspoken in their criticism of the film saw their profits soar during the period in question.

The book's real strength is the way it shapes its account into a tightly wound narrative, even managing to build up a sense of dramatic tension as the US release date approaches. It feels almost like the election night episode of West Wing, as information slowly ebbs in from across the county.

This is made all the more remarkable for two reasons. Firstly because, as with any book based on true events, it's harder to create tension when the story is so well known. The vast majority of this book's readers will already know that, despite the odds against it, the film did eventually get made, and that the protests largely went off without major incident.

The second point here is that Lindlof is not attempting to write a novel, or a dramatised account. His intention is an accurate representation of the events in question. The 54 pages of endnotes should be sufficient to convince even the most sceptical reader of that. Yet Lindlof skilfully develops his characters in the earlier parts of the book to bring things to a engaging climax. Ultimately we not only care what happens to Scorsese, but also Sally van Slyke, Tom Pollack and many others.

Whilst the leading characters from Universal, and even Paramount (who passed on the film at an earlier stage) are well fleshed out, that's less true of the film's main opponents. One notable exception, is Tim Penland the man Universal employed to act as a liaison with leading figures in the Christian Right. As someone who ultimately jumped from Universal's ship and became a key figure in their opponents campaign, it would have been easy to demonise him. Yet here, he's somewhat sympathetically presented as a semi-tragic figure: a man who got in out of his depth in a sea battle he failed to anticipate.

Interestingly, despite this book's primary focus on the controversy in the United States, the film's most vitriolic opposition actually came overseas, culminating in an arson attack during a screening in France. The film's limited release overseas is covered in the final chapter. But, in a way, these events are somewhat tangential to the concerns of this book as indicated by its title - "Hollywood Under Siege". It seeks to flesh out what really went on inside Universal studios during what was a very real crisis. And, in no uncertain terms, it succeeds.

Book Review: Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood

Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood
Robert S. Birchard

University Press of Kentucky
(July 1, 2008)
Hardcover, 496 pages
English
ISBN: (978)0813123240
22.6 x 15 x 3.8 cm

There's a great story about Cecil B. DeMille from the time when he was shooting The King of Kings. In order for his picture to capture the correct degree of reverence DeMille instructed the cast and crew that whilst his leading characters were still in make-up they were to be treated "as if they were the original characters of the Bible". Everything was going wonderfully until one day the actor playing Jesus, H.B. Warner, kept fluffing his lines. Finally, DeMille blew his top and poured forth a stream of abuse only for Warner to shoot back. "Mr. De Mille, do you realize to whom you are speaking?"¹

It's the kind of classic anecdote so typical of the great director's reputation; the pious tyrant so capable of flying into a rage when things went badly. But such stories have become so ingrained in our consciousness that it's sometimes difficult to get beyond them to the real Cecil B. DeMille.

Robert S. Birchard, however, opts for a different approach entirely. Having worked as a "volunteer film archivist" his connections with the DeMille estate not only enabled him to view all of the DeMille films still in existence, but also gave him sufficient access to a wealth of DeMille's correspondence. As a result, "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood" contains very few anecdotes such as the one above. Instead Birchard concentrates on the facts as conveyed through the mountain of correspondence DeMille left behind him.

The result is an impressively thorough examination of the story of DeMille's films. This should not be mistaken for a DeMille biography. There's nothing of his birth or childhood except in retrospect, and only if it becomes relevant to a particular film. Instead, the book opens in 1913 with the events that culminated in the production of DeMille's first film The Squaw Man. Birchard proceeds to take a separate chapter for each DeMille film. Whilst the chapters that cover the films now lost to us are obviously shorter than the others, they still provide a good deal of information about them. Some, I suppose, would see such history as a little pointless, but, in fact, these chapters are vital; they ensure that the book is about DeMille's body of work as a whole - a narrative comprised of shorter narratives if you will - rather than being a merely a collection of essays about some of his films.Much of the book is comprised of extended quotes from this correspondence, and Birchard uses it to highlight several facets of DeMille that tend to go unnoticed. In particular, DeMille's loyalty to fading stars who had worked for him in their younger years is demonstrated time and again. It casts a very different light on DeMille's appearance in Sunset Boulevard. And indeed whilst Birchard does provide the occasional example of DeMille's famous temper, overall he is presented as far more measured than the anecdotes would have you believe. The kind of person, in fact, who might possess sufficient collaborational skills to be able to produce seventy movies. Particular? Yes. A little short tempered? Certainly. Cruel and out of control? No.

ButBirchard's account is also honest enough not to portray DeMille as someone he wasn't. Birchard accepts that his artistry was not that of certain other well known directors, but insists that, nevertheless, there was more to his movies than he has often been credited with.

Indeed it's this considered, measured approach to DeMille's work that is the book's biggest strength. DeMille's own autobiography is entertaining , but leaves one wondering how things really happened. Higham's biography is criticised as being sycophantic.³ By contrast, Birchard sticks largely to the facts interspersing his own commentary on events with excerpts from letters and telegrams, and sections of movie dialogue. There are also three substantial collections of photos (the majority of which are from the author's own collection). There are also three appendices listing A - DeMille Pictures' Costs and Grosses, B - Other DeMille film credits, and C - Unrealised Projects.

However, at times, Birchard's love for his sources gets in the way somewhat, as the details occasionally elbow out some of the more interesting information. Take, for example, chapter 68 about Samson and Delilah. Birchard discusses, at some length, the departure a largely unknown member of DeMille's costume department - Ralph Jester - even quoting, in full, one of DeMille's letters to him. But moments later, Henry Wilcoxon's promotion to associate producer is given a mere half sentence, despite the fact that Katherine Orrison has written both his biography and a book on DeMille's 1956 Ten Commandments largely based on his memories.⁴ It also means that, sadly, the book isn't quite as engaging as it perhaps could have been. DeMille was an extraordinary character, but somehow the book drags a little on occasion.

Overall though, it's a fascinating insight into the inner workings of DeMille's seventy films with the such a wealth of evidence and the kind of precision that gives the reader real confidence in the trustworthiness of what they are being told. And whilst no-one will ever be able to capture everything about Cecil Blount DeMille within the pages of a mere book, "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood" is certainly an admirable attempt.

1 - Amusing though it is, I should clarify that this is precisely the kind of anecdote that the book avoids. It is, in fact, adapted from this story at anecdotage.com.
2 - Birchard, Robert S., "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood", The University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky, 2004), p.xiv
3 - See for example Jonathan Rosenbaum.
4 - Peter T. Chattaway - Interview with Katherine Orrison - FilmChat - March 21st 2006 - http://filmchatblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/katherine-orrison-interviews-up.html

Bible Films that Never Were

Cecil B. DeMille's name will forever be associated with the biblical epic even though he only ever made three and a half films based on the Bible - his two versions of The Ten Commandments (1923¹ and 1956), his Jesus film The King of Kings and 1949's Samson and Delilah. Indeed, given that Samson and the second Ten Commandments were two of the last three movies he ever made , it's a reputation he might never have earned at all. True, there were a number of other ancient epics in his seventy-film canon, but it was those last two films in particular, that cemented his place in the popular imagination as the man that made biblical epics.

However, I've been reading Robert S. Birchard's "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood" recently, and one of the appendices lists the veteran director's unrealised projects. Given the vast number of movies he made, it's surprising that there are only twelve sucfilms, but it's interesting that four of them are Bible films.

The first of these is The Deluge which I discussed last year. DeMille was considering making the film in the late 20s, but when it became apparent that Michael Curtiz was already making Noah's Ark he switched his attention to The King of Kings instead. Aspiring filmmakers considering adapting the story of Noah take note.

The second film on Birchard's list was Esther (or The Story of Esther) and he notes that MacKinlay Cantour was working on this in the summer of 1934². Birchard doesn't say anymore, but given that this was the same year that DeMille directed Cleopatra, my guess is that he ultimately decided he could only handle one heroine-driven ancient epic at a time.

There's a good deal more information on Queen of Queens, DeMille's planned story of Jesus's mother, (though it's hard to believe that such a title would ever have been taken seriously).

Jeannie Macpherson worked on the script from November 20, 1939 to July 27, 1940. William C. DeMille also worked on the script from March 4, 1940 to June 7, 1941, and William Cowan wrote on the project from September 3 to October 9, 1940. Queen of Queens met some resistance from the Catholic Church , and the film was never scheduled for production.³

Lastly, Birchard tell us that Macpherson also started work on a script for the story of King David, Thou Art the Man.⁴ This was six years before David and Bathsheba reached the screen with its take on David's adultery, so it seems unlikely that once again DeMille had been put off by a similar project at another studio. Perhaps, given his long-standing desire to bring Samson's story to the screen he decided to focus on that instead.

Aside from the list of DeMille's films-that-never-were, I was also interested to read that Steve Reeves and Cary Grant had both been considered for the leading role in Samson and Delilah. Reeves is not in the least surprising, given that he went on to play Hercules and Goliath, but it's incredible to think that any kind of consideration was ever given to Grant. Of course, the whole point of the Samson and Delilah story is that the source of Samson's strength isn't obvious. So it wouldn't have been inconceivable for Grant to play him, but when you look at the final film, and it's emphasis on, and love for, Mature's oiled torso, it's hard to imagine Grant in that same role.

====

On a not unrelated note, Eric David of Christianity Today has written a short piece on French director Robert Bresson which claims that he was initially approached to direct Dino de Laurentiis' The Bible: In The Beginning.

In the mid 1960s, Dino de Laurentiis planned a series of films based on the Bible, featuring top directors of the day, including Huston, Visconti, Welles and Fellini. When Bresson, slated to direct Genesis, told de Laurentiis that he planned to film it in Hebrew and Aramaic, and wouldn't show any animals on Noah's Ark, only their footprints in the sand, he was fired. Huston took over and The Bible: In The Beginning, was released, but did not perform well enough to justify the other directors helming their respective films. Bresson yearned to film Genesis the rest of his life, but it never came to pass.

That would certainly have made for a very different film, but given that Bresson instead went on to direct his masterful Christ-figure film Au hasard Balthazar that same year, and that Huston's version has so much to commend it, it may well have all been for the best.

Telford Reviews Passion Books

Durham University's William Telford is someone who's been studying the Bible and film for a long, long time. He first published on the subject as long ago as 1995 when his essay "The New Testament in Fiction and Film: A Biblical Scholar's Perspective" was included in Words Remembered, Texts Renewed. Essays in Honour of J. F. A. Sawyer and the text of his lecture on Jesus films - Images of Christ in the Cinema - has been around in one form or another for practically as long as I can remember.

So I was interested to see that the recent Review of Biblical Literature carried his reviews of not one, but two of the books that were written about Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ - "Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications" edited by Zev Garber and "Mel Gibson's Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and The Passion of the Christ by editors Timothy K. Beal and Tod Linafelt. Garber's book has been reviewed at SBL twice before, (first by Mark Goodacre and then by Timothy D. Finlay) and I think it's fair to say that Telford's review falls somewhere between the two.

Incidentally, Telford's staff pages at Durham reveal that he has just signed a book contract with Blackwell's to combine edited versions of his "published and unpublished work on Jesus in film".

New Book on Last Temptation

Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, the Religious Right, and the Culture Wars
Thomas R. Lindlof
University Press of Kentucky (July 1, 2008)
Hardcover, 408 pages
English
ISBN: (978)0813125170
9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches

Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ was 20 years old last month and to mark the occasion Thomas R. Lindlof has published a book looking at the controversy that surrounded the release of the film. Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, the Religious Right, and the Culture Wars looks to be a dense inspection of many aspects of the movie from filming in Morocco to the clashes with the religious right.

Here's an extract from the publisher's blurb:

Thomas R. Lindlof offers a comprehensive account of how this provocative film came to be made and how Universal Pictures and its parent company MCA became targets of the most intense, unremitting attacks ever mounted against a media company...The making of The Last Temptation of Christ caught evangelical Christians at a moment when they were suffering a crisis of confidence in their leadership. The religious right seized on the film as a way to rehabilitate its image and to mobilize ordinary citizens to attack liberalism in art and culture...Hollywood Under Siege draws upon interviews with many of the key figures—Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Michael Ovitz, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jack Valenti, Thomas P. Pollock, and Willem Dafoe—to explore the trajectory of the film from its conception to the subsequent epic controversy and beyond. Lindlof offers a fascinating dissection of a critical episode in the embryonic culture wars, illuminating the explosive effects of the clash between the interests of the media industry and the forces of social conservatism.

It's certainly an interesting premise and it sounds like it will be quite a different prospect to the other recent book on Last Temptation - Scandalizing Jesus? Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years On. I'll be reviewing this latest book shortly.

New Scripture Index for 'Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination'

I reviewed Staley and Walsh's 'Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination' last year and have found it invaluable ever since. So I was pleased to hear that Jeff Staley has made another resource for the book available on line - a scripture index. I can imagine that this will prove very useful.

There's also a list of humourous Jesus shorts which I've don't recall seeing before.

Verhoeven's 'Jezus van Nazareth' Due for Publication in September

Back in December 2006 I reported that director Paul Verhoeven had decided to write a book about Jesus as a step towards fulfilling his dream of one day making a film about him. Empire had interviewed Verhoeven in the run up to the release of Black Book and he'd mentioned the project saying he feared getting attacked by fundamentalists.

15 months later and it seems the book is almost ready for publication, although initially it's only going to be available in the director's native Dutch. Hollywood Reporter are saying that Verhoeven's 'Jezus van Nazareth: Een realistisch portret' (Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait) will be published by Meulenhoff in September, and a quick search on their website uncovered the above cover art and a brief description (still unintelligible even after using Google Translation). Fortunately, Fox News have picked out the main headlines.

In his upcoming biography of Jesus, "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven will make the shocking claim that Christ probably was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee.
[snip]
The book... also states that Christ was not betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

Fox has wheeled in Catholic League President Bill Donohue to fulfill the role of outraged Christian, but, really, Verhoeven is saying nothing that hasn't been said a hundred times before. In fact similar claims are even made in another Jesus film - Jesus of Montreal - so it's hard to believe that Donohue is really that shocked. That said, his suggestion that the Basic Instinct director "should go back to Sharon Stone's legs" seems very odd indeed. Is Donohue really suggesting Verhoeven make more soft porn?

Divine Images the MovieKinnard and Davis get the YouTube Treatment

I tend not to link to YouTube very much, partly because much of what is there is dubious from a copyright point of view, partly because embedded YouTube films take ages to download for those who are not on broadband, and partly because there's so much there that this blog could easily specialise in YouTube finds alone.

This, however, caught my eye. The filmmakers blurb describes this as "Images of Jesus Christ In Movies, with Music By Python Lee Jackson (Featuring Rod Stewart): In A Broken Dream". What it doesn't note, however, is that all the images featured are from Roy Kinnard and Tim Davis's excellent 'Divine Images' an extensive list of films about Jesus with numerous illustrations.

In effect then this short film is an abridged adaptation of that book. Which I kind of like. I'm a big fan of the book so I hope that not only will its authors be please, but that it will bring it to a wider audience. The image above, by the way, is from 1949's The Lawton Story starring Millard Coody as the actor who plays Jesus in a local passion play.

Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic ImaginationA Handbook to Jesus on DVD

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (2007)
Paperback: 208 pages
Language English
ISBN-10: 0664230318
ISBN-13: 978-0664230319
Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 16 x 1.8 cm
Additional Resources available online

The central premise of this latest addition to the books-about-Jesus-films canon is that the move from VHS to DVD has 'radically changed the way scholars, teachers and students can use Jesus films'.¹ Digital technology has created a universal way of being able to reference a certain point in a certain film no matter which DVD player is being used.

As a result the authors Jeff Staley ("Reading with a Passion") and Richard Walsh ("Reading the Gospels in the Dark") have set about creating this guide to Jesus on DVD, which makes the best use of the new technology. Taking the 18 of the most important Jesus films available on DVD (see my earlier post for the full list) they have given a run down of all the DVD chapters, with each subdivided into a list of biblical episodes that occur in that chapter. These come complete with extensive biblical references, and precise timings, as well as a few additional comments. The book climaxes with the final chapter "A Gospels Harmony of Jesus Films on DVD" which the authors describe as the 'generative heart of our work'.² Such a work is long overdue. Whilst aspects of it have been included in the appendices of previous works (notably Tatum, and Stern, Jefford and Debona) it's great to have something to help those who regularly find themselves trying to locate a particular biblical episode from a film, and finding that it takes a lot longer than they initially imagined.

Having said all that, the book offers far more than simply a collection of data. The eighteen chapters looking at the films themselves are bookended by two which are simply titled "Watching Jesus Films" and "Teaching Jesus Films". The former (which is excellent) lists various questions relating to the different aspects of film: Camera, Editing, Set, Lighting; Story, Plot, Causation; Characters; Genre, Tone, Ideology; and Motifs and Symbols. These themes then become, loosely speaking, the basis for which the 18 films are discussed in the main section of the book.

In contrast, the penultimate chapter ("Teaching Jesus Films") subdivides its subject matter into teaching using clips, teaching using a complete film, and Christ figure films. The first section discusses notable treatments of key incidents and characters in the films they have selected: the second offers 'topical suggestions' for 'a more holistic use of Jesus films' ranging from Peasant Faith and Capitalism to Queer Concerns.³

In addition to the DVD chapter listings, each of the 18 main chapters also contains a good deal of analysis. There's an opening plot summary, discussion about the film's memorable characters and visuals, and a handful of pertinent scriptures, all before brief discussions of the film's cultural location (or genre) and the film's director.

Of course, many of these areas have already been discussed in the various other volumes on Jesus in film, which makes it all the more impressive that Staley and Walsh are able to bring to the table so many fresh, and at times fascinating, insights. The authors are particularly adept at reading film visually, which is something that has been somewhat lacking in the library of Jesus film books to date.

The book is also eminently readable, and accessible to a far wider audience than Walsh's last book. "Reading the Gospels in the Dark", was most certainly interesting, but nevertheless quite difficult reading and not always entirely convincing. Here, non-specialists will feel at home, whilst those of us who are more experienced in this area will find plenty to chew on.

As always, there are a couple of minor quibbles. Firstly, I'm surprised that for the sake of completion the authors did not include details of all the versions of these films that are currently available DVD. Whilst the chapter listing would still have to focus on only one of these releases, this would certainly have enhanced the sections on DVD extra features, and would, no doubt, prove useful to readers who are keen to acquire some of the titles they did not have beforehand.

Secondly, the plot summaries are, at times a little long, often mentioning nearly every scene. Given that there is a full scene listing at the end of each chapter, these could have been a little briefer and given space for more of the authors' own observations.

But these are minor quibbles about a book that will prove invaluable to the growing numbers of people who lecture, teach and lead discussions on cinematic portrayals of Jesus. Staley and Walsh have brought an end to the hours spent in front of video (and indeed, DVD) machines trying to find a particular clip, and I, for one, am extremely grateful!

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1 - Staley, Jeffrey L., and Walsh, Richard, "Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination: A Handbook to Jesus on DVD", Louisville / London, Westminster John Knox Press (2007), p.v (Preface)
2 - Staley, Jeffrey L., and Walsh, Richard, "Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination: A Handbook to Jesus on DVD", Louisville / London, Westminster John Knox Press (2007), p.vii (Preface)
3 - Staley, Jeffrey L., and Walsh, Richard, "Jesus, the Gospels, and Cinematic Imagination: A Handbook to Jesus on DVD", Louisville / London, Westminster John Knox Press (2007), p.167

2nd Review for "Mel Gibson's Passion" Book (Garber)

Back in May, I linked to Mark Goodacre's review of a new book about The Passion of the Christ - "Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications" edited by Zev Garber. Mark has now posted a link to another review of the same volume by Timothy D. Finlay. Both reviews now sit alongside one another on the Review of Biblical Literature website.

Together, these reviews are testament to the diverse range of approached there are to critiquing a book, particularly a 'dual-substance' work such as this. Mark's review treats the book as a single volume and deals with the various authors' collective faults. Finlay, on the other hand, takes the time to write a brief précis of each individual contribution. Finlay is more positive than Mark, although that is perhaps because summarising all 18 essays only leaves a little space for critical reflection.

Mark has offered some comments on the differences between his review and Finlays:

The review of Mel Gibson's Passion sits alongside my much more negative review of the same book. I received an email from the editor of the collection not long after my review was published suggesting that I did not give the reader a sense of the essayists' articles. My response is that I attempted to characterize the collection as a whole, drawing attention to the common themes and general thrust of the book, at the same time as pointing to the book's difficulties. Finlay's review therefore compliments mine to the extent that he provides a brief summary of each of the essays individually.

The two reviews work well together, although I, personally, find Mark's more interesting to read. And I can't say that Finlay's review makes me any keener to look at Garber's book for myself.

Book Review: "The Bible on the Big Screen - A Guide from Silent Films to Today's Movies"

Whilst there have been numerous books written in recent years about film portrayals of Jesus, books examining Bible movies in general have been somewhat thinner on the ground. Aside from Richard H. Campbell and Michael R. Pitts' seminal "The Bible on Film: A Checklist 1897-1980", and Bruce Babington and Peter W. Evans' impressive "Biblical Epics: Sacred Narrative in the Hollywood Cinema", books about films about the Hebrew Bible have either just looked at one particular film, or have been only a small part of a larger work detailing Hollywood's record of world history.

As a result, J. Stephen Lang's "The Bible on the Big Screen - A Guide from Silent Films to Today's Movies" is most welcome. Lang has already written an impressive number of books ranging from his "Complete Book of Bible Trivia" (which has sold 600,000 copies) to his "Complete Idiot's Guide to The Confederacy". He's clearly an author who relishes the challenge of a good research project.

Lang shapes his material around 8 eras in cinematic history: up to 1912, the remaining silent period from 1912-1929, The "lean years" of the 30s and 40s, the "golden 50s, the "silver age" of the 60s, the 1970s, the controversy of the 80s and 90s, and the films of the new millennium. Chapters start with a general overview before focussing on the major Bible films from each period. This enables Lang to discuss 35 films to a fairly good level of detail, whilst also making passing comments on numerous others.

No selection is perfect - what is omitted always leaves someone scratching their head - but Lang's is pretty robust. He omits films released straight to DVD, TV movies (with the exception of Jesus of Nazareth) and films that have been specifically for church groups, as well as films that offer a less-direct interpretation of the biblical text (such as Jesus of Montreal). As a result he has space to include a handful of interesting choices such as Michael Grampus' The Passover Plot and Roberto Rossellini's Il Messia.

There's perhaps also been a shortage of books written in this area for and/or by evangelicals. Whilst there's no direct evidence of Lang's theological affiliation, he certainly appears to be an evangelical protestant. He loves Jesus of Nazareth and The Ten Commandments (1956), and hates Jesus Christ Superstar and Life of Brian. He's particular concerned with where the films deviate from the biblical text, makes passing comments about "liberals"¹, and keenly defends the Gospels from charges of anti-Semitism.² As a result his work also seems to fill this other void in the Bible films books market.

It's perhaps the combination of Lang's love of research and his evangelicalism which results in his reviews of these films focussing largely on their plots. Lang's detailed discussion of each individual plot often makes up the majority of the film's analysis. Whilst this approach leaves little doubt as to what happens in each story, which those who have not seen the film in question may find useful, it makes for dull, laborious reading for everyone else. That said, from time to time his writing style flourishes a bit as he discovers he has more to say than simply reciting the details of every scene. This is particularly evident with some of the more recent films which he has clearly enjoyed. Lang also seems unhappy with films that use a lot of artistic licence, although, to his credit, he is able to see the strengths of Last Temptation of Christ as well as its flaws.

There are also a couple of lesser problems. Lang has clearly got access to a great body of research, but he only occasionally references it. This means that although there are several interesting asides, the reader is unable to follow them up further. There's also some unnecessary repetition, occasionally occurring just a few pages of the original statement.³ Finally, various minor errors are present, for example Lang misses the oft discussed misquote of Lev 25:10 in The Ten Commandments (1956)⁴, and gives the number of Philistine foreskins that David was required to fetch (1 Sam 18:25) is given as 400 rather than 100⁵, (to name but two).

None of this changes the fact that this book is a must-have for anyone who is interested in the cinematic interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Whilst its writing style is somewhat stodgy, it offers the only detailed, in-print, discussion of several important Biblical movies.

1 - e.g. p.51 and p.54.
2 - pp.22-25 in particular, but anti-Semitism is discussed throughout.
3 - e.g. discussion about Michael Curtiz on pages 48 and 55, or D.W. Griffith's omission of "Go, and sin no more" (John 8:11) on p.51 and p.54.
4 - p.130
5 - p.237

Book Review: Film and Religion: An Introduction

Books about film and religion are becoming increasingly popular these days, and it's proving harder and harder for would-be authors to find a niche in the market that's really worth exploring in print. So you'd be forgiven for not greeting the release of yet another book with the words "religion" and "film" in the title with unbridled enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the new publication by Paul V. M. Flesher and Robert Torry "Film and Religion: An Introduction" breaks new ground in a couple of areas that, at least to my knowledge, have yet to be explored.

The first thing that marks this book out as different from the others is that this volume is designed for use in the classroom. Aimed primarily at undergrads and their instructors, the book attempts to make no secret of that fact. It even opens with a "Preface for Teachers" which includes a couple of useful resources which continue the issued raised by the book. One is the Film and Religion blog, and the other features downloadable discussion guides (although at the time of going to print these had not been uploaded).

It's important to keep in mind this book's intended purpose whilst reading it, because otherwise it might seem disjointed. It starts off with a reasonably in depth introduction before discussing a new approach to biblical films. It then pauses that discussion to discuss films about Christmas and science fiction. There follows six chapters on Bible films, before changing direction again to look at general "religious films" for a few chapters, before the final section explores how the Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam have been portrayed in film. Of course, in a classroom setting for an introductory course on Film and Religion this makes perfect sense - it's simply an overview of a broad topic, that at times is disjointed.

The other thing that is particularly distinctive about this book is its application of the Jewish targumic method to Bible movies. I want to look at this in some detail because I believe that it should now become one of the standard approaches to studying the epic movie genre.¹

Torry and Flesher's approach is primarily outlined in chapter 1 – which, at first glance, would appear to be about Christmas Films in general and adaptations of Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in particular. The reason for this seemingly unlikely combination is that the authors consider children's novels as having "significant authoritative power".²

This is relevant for two reasons. Firstly, if a book and its film adaptation are closely linked "then the book – if well-known or authoritative – will help authorize the film".³ More importantly, the point about targums is that they "combine exactingly accurate renderings of the Hebrew Text into Aramaic with additional material. These additions can be as small as a word or two or as large as several paragraphs".⁴ These additions "not only bring their own meaning, but they function as context".⁵

The authors proceed to list two primary, and four secondary Rules of Targum.⁶ "The main characteristics of the targumic interpretation are given by the primary rules, while the secondary rules cover less frequent yet relevant features".⁷ These are as follows:

Primary Rules
Rule1:When translating or presenting the original text do so exactly.
Rule 2: When adding material, integrate it smoothly into the translation.
Secondary Rules
Rule 3: A large addition may be placed at the beginning or end of the story to ensure that the new context is clear.
Rule 4: An addition may be drawn from or imitate related material elsewhere in the work.
Rule 5: A word may be substituted for one in the original, without disturbing the surrounding translation.
Rule 6: Occasionally some of the original may be ignored or left out. The translation smoothly adapts to this loss.⁸

Having demonstrated how movies based on Seuss's "Grinch" fit these rules, Torry and Flesher pause to discuss the paranoid cultural context of the 1950s via When Worlds Collide and The Day the Earth Stood Still. (Throughout the book the authors stress how important the cultural context is to a film's meaning).

Having taken their time in establishing these two important foundations the writers go on to build on them by examining Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953) and The Ten Commandments (1956). Disappointingly the important of the targumic approach starts to fade in Chapter 5 (King of Kings, and is only present intermittently thereafter (such as chapter 8 on The Passion of the Christ).

The remaining chapters are of less relevance to this blog, but are, nonetheless interesting. I've been an admirer of both The Apostle and Field of Dreams for quite a while, so fresh discussion on these films is most welcome. Additionally, given the importance the book places on the US culture which produced the films discusses, the final chapter "Islam and Fanaticism: Only in the Eye of the Beholder?" is certainly the right note to finish on.

Overall there's much to commend Flesher and Torry for, even if the book will seem a little bit heterogeneous for those not reading it alongside a course. In particular, use of the targumic method could become particularly significant for those studying films based on the Bible.

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1 - Some of those who have this book may have noticed that I'm quoted by way of an endorsement. They will also, no doubt, be aware that often these quotations appear out of their original context. I have no problem with that in this case. I'm happy to endorse the book. I really enjoyed reading it and gained some useful ideas. I did think, however, that it would be worth me highlighting the fact that it is the idea of approaching Bible films as targums that I'm particular excited by.
2 - Flesher, Paul V. M., and Torry, Robert, "Film and Religion: An Introduction", Abingdon Press (Nashville) 2007, p.12
3 - ibid. p.18
4 - ibid. p.12
5 - ibid. p.20
6 - It is unclear from the book whether these rules are based on their own observations, those of other modern scholars, or if they are from ancient Jewish sources
7 - ibid. p.20-21
8 - ibid. p.20

A Few Thoughts on "Through a Screen Darkly"

I seem to be in the middle of book review week at the moment, and as a bout of ill health enabled me to finish reading Jeffrey Overstreet's "Through a Screen Darkly" at the weekend I thought I'd post a few comments about it here. This is not an official review as such, because Jeffrey's a friend, and has very much shaped the way I think about film. There's simply no way that I could be balanced and objective about the book. It also makes it harder to know which ideas etc. are new and original when you read glimpses of them on his blog, and discuss them on Arts and Faith.

Having said that there was much in this book that was new, even to me. Of course the same Overstreet approach to the arts was there, replete with advice on how to look closer, hear what the film is trying to say, and spot the fingerprints of the Almighty. At the same time it's clear that this is far from a re-hash of past glories. Jeffrey writes here about films I've heard him discuss numerous times before, but he also brings a freshness to them. Take, for example, Punch Drunk Lve one of my favourite films of all time. Over the years I've read various bits and pieces that Jeffrey has written on this film, but his comments here were fresh. Instead of the welcome air of familiarity I was expecting, I found myself having to consider new insights.

It's not just the number of observations that Jeffrey makes that make this book an addictive read - he also has a wonderfully fluent writing style. Jeffrey's next stop is the imminent release of his first novel "Auralia's Colours", which has already garnered some impressive reviews. His double life has served him well. At times, "Through a Screen Darkly" feels like a novel as it weaves together plot synopses, commentary and auto-biography into a single well-tailored garment.

It seems like the book has, so far, been well received - in fact just the other day I heard about it being added to the required reading list for an undergrad film programme in LA. In truth I don't imagine that it's primarily written for that kind of audience - but it's significant that it's considered to be suitable for that standard as well as a general audience.

Like I said - far from impartial - but then I suppose given how much I've enjoyed Jeffrey's writing in the past, this would have had to have been quite disappointing for me to think otherwise. Thankfully, quite the opposite is true.