List of Daniel Films

Whilst most of the stories from the Bible that get made into films tend to be those which are popular in Sunday Schools, one of the main exceptions is the story of Daniel. Popular in the pews; not so  much in Hollywood. Here's the titles of all the Daniel Films I've managed to find over the years:

Les martyrs chretiens: Daniel dans la fosse aux lions (Lucien Nonguet[France], 1905)
Les martyrs chretiens: Le Festin de Balthazar (Lucien Nonguet[France], 1905)
Daniel dans la fosse aux lions (Louis Feuillade[France], 1908)
Le Festin de Balthazar (Louis Feuillade[France], 1910)
Les Sept Péchés Capitaux: L’Orgueil (The Seven Capital Sins: No. 1, Pride (Nebuchadnezzar)) (Louis Feuillade[France], 1910)
Cast into the Flames (Gaumont[France], 1910)
The Fall of Babylon (Theo Frenkel[UK], 1911)
Le Festin de Balthazar (Gaumont[France], 1913)
Daniel (Frederick A. Thomson / Madison C. Peters[USA], 1913)
Slaves of Babylon (William Castle[USA], 1953)
Greatest Heroes of the Bible: Daniel in the Lions Den* (James L Conway[USA], 1978)
Greatest Heroes of the Bible: Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar* (James L. Conway [], 1979)
Nabucco (Henri Ronse[France], 1979)
Nabucco (Renzo Giacchieri[Italy], 1981)
Belshazzar (Harry Kupfer[Italy], 1985)
Nabucco (Robert De Simone[Italy], 1986)
Animated Stories from the Bible: Daniel (Richard Rich [USA], 1993)
Veggie Tales: Rack, Shack & Benny  ( Phil Vischer/Mike Nawrocki,[USA], 1995)
The Beginners Bible: The Story of Daniel in Lions' Den (Gary Selvaggio, [USA], 1996)Testament. The Bible in Animation: Daniel (Lioudmila Koshkina[UK], 1996)
Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Daniel and the Lions' Den (William R. Kowalchuk [USA], 1998)
Nabucco (Fabio Sparvoli[It/US/UK/FR/GER/CZ], 1998)
Nabucco (Gianfranco de Bosio[Austria], 2000)
Nabucco (Elijah Moshinsky[USA], 2001)
Veggie Tales: Where is God when I'm S-S-Scared? ( Phil Vischer/Mike Nawrocki,[USA], 2003)
Bugtime Adventures: It's the Pits (Jeff Holder[USA], 2006)
Liken Bible Series: Daniel and the Lions ([USA], 2006)
Belshazzar (Don Kent[France], 2008)
The Bible: Survival (Crispin Reece; Tony Mitchell; Christopher Spencer[USA/UK], 2013)
The Book of Daniel (Anna Zielinski[USA], 2013) - pictured above

Even just a cursory glance of these 30 titles reveals that almost all of them fall into at least one of four basic categories: church-based, animated, silent or opera adaptation. Sadly many of the early, short, silent films are now lost. That leaves a couple of entries from a longer series (Greatest Heroes of the Bible (1978-79) and The Bible(2013)) and the 1953 film Slaves of Babylon.

I must admit I know very little about Nabucco, Verdi's 1841 Opera which has been filmed at least six different times, or about Belshazzar, Handel's 1744 Oratorio which has been brought to the screen twice.

I'm about to do a piece on the Lion's Den in film and surprisingly there are significantly fewer films that cover this, given that the story is the most famous of those from the book of Daniel. I suspect this is because many of the films are from the early silent era. Anyway films that specifically cover the Lion's Den scene are:

Les martyrs chretiens: Daniel dans la fosse aux lions (Lucien Nonguet[France], 1905)
Daniel dans la fosse aux lions (Louis Feuillade[France], 1908)
Daniel (Frederick A. Thomson / Madison C. Peters[USA], 1913)
Slaves of Babylon (William Castle[USA], 1953)
Greatest Heroes of the Bible: Daniel in the Lions Den* (James L Conway[USA], 1978)
Animated Stories from the Bible: Daniel (Richard Rich [USA], 1993)
Testament. The Bible in Animation: Daniel (Lioudmila Koshkina[UK], 1996)
The Beginners Bible: The Story of Daniel in Lions' Den (Gary Selvaggio, [USA], 1996)
Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Daniel and the Lions' Den (William R. Kowalchuk [USA], 1998)
Veggie Tales: Where is God when I'm S-S-Scared? ( Phil Vischer/Mike Nawrocki,[USA], 2003)
Bugtime Adventures: It's the Pits (Jeff Holder[USA], 2006)
Liken Bible Series: Daniel and the Lions ([USA], 2006)
The Bible: Survival (Crispin Reece; Tony Mitchell; Christopher Spencer[USA/UK], 2013)
The Book of Daniel (Anna Zielinski[USA], 2013)

I suspect my piece will also mention the 2008 Argentinian film Leonera (Lion's Den) which isn't a modernisation, but simply uses the way that the phrase "going into the Lion's Den" has passed into popular parlance.