As he proudly claimed near the end of his life: “ my ministry was making religious movies and getting more people to read the Bible than anyone else ever has” (Orrison 108). His views about religion and American society transmitted through this innovative media modality significantly shaped the culture of his country in ways that would be churlish to deny and unsafe to ignore, especially as “an architect of modern consumption” (Higashi Culture 203) who “had considerable influence on the craft of motion-picture making and on the popular culture of the United States at large” (Wexman 84).ģDespite public cynicism about religious filmmakers more concerned with selling seats than saving souls, DeMille was “a genuinely and deeply religious man” (Butler 144) from a profoundly religious family. Top of pageĢAs a seminal film pioneer, innovative producer-director 2, and self-confessed pop culture professional (DeMille and Hayne 195), DeMille instituted the “Age of Hollywood” (Paglia 12), helped develop the classical narrative style, and became “the man most identified with the biblical epic” (Lang 13) with his indelible classics: The Ten Commandments (1923), The King of Kings (1927), Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Ten Commandments (1956). Further research into DeMille studies, Hollywood epics, and the emerging interdisciplinary field of religion-and-film is recommended, warranted, and already long overdue. It was concluded that DeMille was a defter biblical filmmaker than has been hitherto appreciated. Often unappreciated was DeMille’s harmonisation of the conflicting hanging versus disembowelment accounts of Judas’ demise. Utilising humanist film criticism as the guiding analytical lens, the critical DeMille, film and religion literature was selectively reviewed and his silent Jesus film, The King of Kings (1927) was closely examined to reveal his dramatic construction of Judas Iscariot, which was briefly compared to some cinematic rivals to highlight its frequent superiority. DeMille, the legendary cofounder of Hollywood, progenitor of Paramount studio, and unsung Christian auteur was a master of the American biblical epic whose indelible classics became the template for numerous ancient epics thereafter.
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