Some Obscure Paul Films

Recently I've come across a number of lesser-known films about St. Paul so I thought I'd post a few bits and pieces about them here.

The first is Damascus (pictured above). It's a docudrama made in 2008 as part of a collaboration between Agape 4 Media (the team who distribute the Jesus film), Youth Arise and one or two others as part of the Pope's Year of St. Paul. It's shot in and around Damacus itself and uses actors from the region and at some point I should hopefully get around to reviewing it.

The next is Life of St. Paul (1949). According to the IMDb it starred DeForest Kelley, best known for his role as Dr "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek. Paul was played by Nelson Leigh who would reprise the role 8 years later in The Living Bible Series: Acts of the Apostles. Life of St. Paul was made the same year as The Pilgrimmage Play which also starred Leigh (as Jesus). Both films were made by the same director, John T. Coyle.

Then there is I Paul from 1980. IMDb contains a good synopsis of this one. It was essentially a soliloquy given by Fred J. Scollay as Paul delivers his final message from prison to Timothy using the words of the King James Bible. It's available on DVD in the States, but seemingly not in the UK, which is a shame given that this is the 400th anniversary of the KJV.

Dayamayudu appears to be a sequel to the Jesus film Dayasagar. It's about Peter and Paul and can be seen on YouTube in its entirety. (I assume given the advert that plays at the start and that its there in full that it's legitimate to watch it on YouTube). Sadly there are no subtitles.

Also online is Paul the Emissary which I've discussed in passing before and a long time ago at Arts and Faith. It's available through the producer's website TBN (you have to scroll down a bit as there are a number of other films you can view online including The Revolutionary.

Lastly, I posted a link on the Bible Films Facebook page to a piece on 1960's Paul of Tarsus. There's an article all about the 10 part series at Roobarb's Forum. According to Ian K McLachlan it still exists in its entirety in the BBC archives (as does 1956's Jesus of Nazareth. Another poster adds that there is a clip from the series in the Roger Delgado documentary on the Doctor Who Dalek War set. I'm not a great fan of Dr. Who these days, but I know a couple of readers of this site who are. Has anyone seen this documentary?

Whilst I'm mentioning the Facebook page, just a quick plug to encourage you to "like" it (which means all the news bits will appear in your News Feed) and to post your own links / opinions there. I really want the page to become much more communal and as so many of you know things that I don't it would be great to have your contributions direct.

More on Jesus of Nazareth (1956)

Back in 2007 I made a couple of posts about two old Bible films from the BBC, Paul of Tarsus (1960) and Jesus of Nazareth (1956), after Mark Goodacre had brought them to my attention. Then last year I happened upon copies of the books that were brought out to accompany each series, both of which have a number of photos. There was seemingly very little information on the two series online, although WitlessD managed to find a good deal of information about the programme from an ancient copy of radio times.

Then this morning I received news from Alan Chattaway (via his brother Peter) who very kindly passed on some information on the film online courtesy of Whirligig TV. There are a few photos (including the one above) and the following summary.

Television history was certainly made in 1956 by a series of eight programmes produced weekly by the BBC. This was the first full-life reportage of the life of Jesus Christ to be created for television. In it, for the first time, an actor appeared in the complete role of Jesus; the part was taken by Tom Fleming. Treated as an experiment, Jesus of Nazareth was placed in the children's programmes slot on Sundays. But it attracted an adult audience whose appreciation placed it, as a BBC survey showed, next to the Coronation of 1953 in national appeal.

The series was was produced by Joy Harington. It was considered her most notable work for television and she received the 1956 award of the Guild of Television Producers and Directors (now BAFTA), the first to be presented for a children's serial. A live studio production with exteriors filmed on location in Galilee and Jerusalem, it was a courageous undertaking. At that time, censorship regulations prohibited the portrayal of Christ by an actor in public performances. However, the Central Religious Council approved the project and Tom Fleming was cast as Jesus Christ. The serial was an outstanding success. Harington followed with a similar ten-part series, Paul of Tarsus (BBC, 1960), for which the exteriors were filmed mainly in Crete.

Sadly, whilst Whirligig mentions Paul of Tarsus it doesn't appear to have any further information on it at present.

Potter's Son of Man on DVD

Many thanks to my friend Kevin Neece for tipping me off about this one: Dennis Potter's 1969 TV play Son of Man is available to buy on DVD. It doesn't appear to be an official release, and indeed, the fact that the seller has stated that "all transfers are very good quality considering the age of the material and I have used professional editing equipment to master" suggests that potential purchasers should not have high expectations about the film's picturee and sound quality. (It will also be in black and white not in colour as per the still above). Nevertheless, I know that a lot of people are desperate to see this production.

In looking through my Son of Man label, I'm appalled to find that I've written so little on this film. I had planned to do a podcast on it, but sadly that is on pause for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, I hope this makes a few people's days. It would be great to hear some feedback from first-timers (or, for that matter, anyone else) on this film, so feel free to post your comments.

Paul of Tarsus and Jesus of Nazareth

NT Gateway's Mark Goodacre has been finding out some more information on the 1960 BBC TV series Paul of Tarsus. On Thursday he discussed the various bits of information he had gleaned from the associated novelisation. These included the book's ten chapter headings which, it's assumed, match up to the titles of the ten episodes. Interestingly, WitlessD left a comment on my earlier post which gave this and some additional information, from 2 different sources - the BFI Library and old copies of the Radio Times. Mark also describes the photos as the highlights of the book and notes how it relies more on Acts than on Paul's letters.

Mark's second post deals with his discovery that Paul of Tarsus was actually a sequel to a series called Jesus of Nazareth which aired in 1956. Various productions have gone by this name - in addition to Zeffirelli's famous 1977 TV series, there were silent film versions in 1916 (a theologically modified release of From the Manger to the Cross and 1928 as well as a Mexican version in 1942 - but this one was unknown to me. According to the IMDb it starred Tom Flemming in the lead role. Flemming went on to commentate on the 1972 Eurovision Song contest.

I'll not reproduce Mark's comments here, but would encourage those interested in these films to read his original posts for themselves.

I've also checked both Campbell and Pitts and Kinnard and Davis, and neither book mentions either series.

Troughton as Paul of Tarsus

Mark Goodacre has discovered details of an old BBC series called Paul of Tarsus (1960) which starred Patrick Troughton in the leading role. Troughton performed the role six years before he became the second Dr. Who in 1966.

Like Mark, I'd never heard of this film before. He quotes the brief entry in the BFI database ("A cycle of ten plays telling the story of the Acts of Christ's Apostles. BBC tx 1960/10/16 - 1960/12/18 (Sun)") and links to details of two episodes - To the Gentiles and The Feast of Pentecost - as well as the Cast List. The latter lists the writer, producer and director as Joy Harington, who, the following year, converted the production into a novel featuring pictures from the series. Mark's getting the book and will hopefully find out some more details. I'll echo his request for more information from anyone who knows more.

Guess what I missed - Son of Man (1969)

There's a lot of talk at the moment about the new South African Film by Mark Dornford-May Son of Man. This however is actually at least the third filmed version of Jesus' life of that title. The first, as far as I am aware was basically a shot for shot remake of The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ with one or two additional scenes added in. (FWIW it's currently available on ebay)

Prior to Dornford-May's film, the one most people have talked about when they talk about Son of Man was a 1969 filmed play by Dennis Potter, starring Colin Blakely as Jesus, Brian Blessed (Peter), Robert Hardy (Pilate), Bernard Hepton (Caiaphas), and Edward Hardwicke (Judas). It was directed by Gareth Davies. I first became aware of this film after reading Philip Yancey's book The Jesus I Never Knew - a book that is in many ways responsible for me ending up running this site.

Until recently it had only been shown on TV 3 times - the last time being in 1987 after Blakely's death from Leukemia. Clips were available on video if you bought the course based on Yancey's book. However, I've just found out that it was recently shown on BBC4 four weeks ago. Needless to say I'm very disappointed to have missed it. Whilst I have seen it (thanks to a rare showing at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham), it's a shame to have missed the chance to get a copy on DVD.

On the plus side, it does mean two things. Firstly, that it may have generated sufficient interest to lead to an eventual DVD release, or at least a repeat viewing. Secondly, it has generated a bit more information on the web and a few more stills from the play. The film was shown as part of BBC4's Potter Season, so there's some information there and some useful looking links. As for the stills - a number of these have been coloured. The play was originally shot in black and white, and the fact that a few of the stills remain in black and white implies that the version shown was still black and white, it is just a few of the stills that have been coloured. There are a few interesting comments about the screening here.

For what it's worth I wrote a few brief comments on the film for the IMDb

Matt