There are few people in history that are known by most of the population of the world. One of those people was Jesus Christ. The Man is known as the Son of God. The Saviour, The Redeemer, The Prince of Peace and by many other names. But He has also been a huge part of cinema over the years.
Now author Phil Hall has written a book entitled Jesus Christ Movie Star that tracks the films of Jesus from early cinema right up to 2020. I have to say I love the title first off. It is a homage to the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
We probably all remember the epic Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ that took the world by storm in 2004. But that is probably where most film fans knowledge of Jesus movies ends. Now I consider myself a cinephile and I pretty much know most of the films in history even if I haven't actually seen the film. I must say there is quite a few films in this book I never realized existed.
The book starts off with an 1898 film The Passion Play of Obermmergau starring Frank Russell as Jesus. Than takes us through the early Jesus film in cinema history. The Jeus arrives in sound films in 1935's Golgatha starring Robert Le Vigan.
Jesus would enter into a very interesting realm at the 1964 World's Fair with the film Parable. This controversial film was not your typical religious film, oh no. It took place in a traveling circus. Strange but of course controversial Jesus film would not stop there. There would also be a 1974 pornographic Jesus film and the extremely controversial The Last Temptation of Christ.
Than there covered in the most well known Jesus movie of all time The Passion of the Christ and probably the most watched Jesus movie 1979's The Jesus Film. Being translated in 1,803 languages a Guinness Book World Record.
This book is an extremely fast paced 186 pages long. There is so many films covered in this book that there would impossible to list them all here. Plus I really think you should explore the book and uncover these mysteries for yourself. It is really fun to discover films you never knew existed.
Phil Hall really did a remarkable job compiling a very interesting list of so many Jesus films with tons of information about each films. But yet even this book still doesn't cover every Jesus film. Who knows maybe we will get Jesus Christ Movie Star Book 2. You never know!
For cinema fans this is going to be a very interesting read. And I must say I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book. The information was insightful and I feel I came away from this book with a greater knowledge of Jesus cinema. Which is something that you can not put a price on.
So if you are a fan of religious cinema I highly recommend this book to you the reader. Jesus Christ Movie Star is available for purchase on Kindle, Paperback or Hardcover. You can head over to Amazon.com and get your copy today
Out of 4 Books (4 being the best) Jesus Christ Movie Star receives...
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