San Paolo dramma biblico (Milano Films, 1910)

For many years I've been following the work that Maria Wyke and various other academics have been doing around Silent Film portrayals of the ancient world (primarily Greek and Roman) though naturally that occasionally touches on the biblical as well. This was the team behind the superb "The Ancient World in Silent Cinema II" event in 2009 about which I wrote a lot at the time and they have continued the work ever since. Now called the "Museum of dreamworlds" the project has moved on to making many of these previously archive-bound works available to watch online.

While there are a number of relevant films for those interested in the Bible on Film, the one that particularly jumped out at me was the restoration of Milano Films' San Paolo dramma biblico, one of two films about St. Paul to be released that same year (and these are possibly the first films in which Paul appears). Back in 2017 I wrote a fairly long piece trying to distinguish between the two films, but none of what I wrote was based on any actual footage.

So it was exciting to finally get to watch it. I was about to try and write about all the facts I could glean about the film when I realised "Museum of dreamworlds" has an excellent, extensive write up about the film by Maria Assunta Pimpinelli from Italy's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Even if you don't have time to read it all, at least check out the stills she incorporates into the article as they capture the original film's beautiful use of colour tinting and toning, including the moments leading up to Paul's encounter on the Road to Damascus which combines "amber tinting with blue-green toning". The film that is available to watch is just black and white, so it's nice to see these colour stills as well.

One of the sources for Pimpinelli's article is Joseph North's Ph.D thesis "Martyrs on the Silver Screen: Early Church Martyrdom In Italian Silent Cinema (1898-1930)"  which also provides plenty of detail about the film and is also well worth reading (pp.112-119), including details of the footage that is not included in the online version of the film.

Despite the thoroughness of Pimpinelli's and North's articles, I'm going to record what they could not, namely my own impressions of the film, if for no other reason than giving me something to refer back to in the future.

There are plenty of films with which to compare San Paolo. 1910 was arguably the peak year for short biblical films, certainly it came from that period when 90 were released in just six years from 1908 to 1913. The industry was producing films of more or less all genres by this period, especially historical and literary adaptations, even if the Italian industry – Milano in particular – was very much in its infancy.

Pimpinelli notes that the film "was awarded the prize for best film on a religious theme, the ‘Gold Cup of His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, at the first ‘World Cinematography Competition’", speculating that Milano "undertook the production of San Paolo specifically to participate in the competition". Giovanni Lasi also notes that the film was retroactively awarded the "Coppa del Cardinal Ferrari" (Cardinal Ferrari cup).

Given all that, it's a little disappointing that – aside from the tinting – the film is somewhat underwhelming. The opening scenes provide neither context nor drama and the procession when James is captured is both unlikely (Where did this crowd come from? Are they his audience who are likely to be scared and run off?) and an injudicious use of a sizeable crowd of extras. Watching them all file past (even for 20 seconds) is kind of dull, and a crowd scene – an achievement of sorts back then – shouldn't be that.

Given that Milano Films was in its infancy, it's perhaps not unsurprising that Paul is not on a horse on the Road to Damascus. The horse is not in the Bible after all. Yet that does rob the film of a chance to inject some drama into the film's pivotal and most famous moment. Comparing San Paolo to 1908's Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei and it quickly becomes clear how pedestrian the film is.

The death of James is surprising for two reasons, firstly because the murder Saul is usually associated with is that of Stephen. Secondly because while a James does die at more or less this point in Acts (ch.12) it is James the son of Zebedee and brother of John, rather than James the Less, whom Herod executes by the sword. (James' death is not actually shown). Different traditions circulate about the death of James the Less, including stoning, being clubbed to death and crucifixion.

It does win points for a couple of moments in the second half, though. The first is the use of the Tomb of Caecilia Metella (Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella) in Rome, built around sixty to ninety years before Paul would be walking past it. Milano may not have had Pathé's flair for building sets, but who needs that when you have the real historical buildings themselves? The use of the Circus of Maxentius is less justified as it wasn't built until 250 or so years after Paul, and presumably wasn't a ruin then either, but it does serve to remind the viewer of the age and world in which these stories were located.

The second worthy moment is the shot shown in the opening image in this post, featuring Paul baptising an enslaved woman and a centurion in the catacombs. The scene is carefully composed to resemble a Tableaux-style classical painting (though I could not identify a specific referent) and the lighting and chiaroscuro is beautifully executed. Paul enters the room from the rear, proceeds through a small crowd of welcoming Christians before beckoning to the enslaved woman and the centurion to kneel, he in his armour, her dressed in noticeably more 'showy' fashion, with jewels and beads round her neck than the other women who wear simple shawls on their heads. 

The end of the film is missing from this BFI-held, German print, though North notes the version held by the Associazione Italiana per le Ricerche di Storia del Cinema continues after the intertitle "The death of the Apostle". "In the Roman countryside, a procession of people with Paul, a centurion and an executioner move towards the camera. Paul gently refuses to do the soldier’s bidding, the executioner pushes him down and the Christian women cover their eyes" (114). Pimpinelli includes a frame of this section and also shows and describes a final frame (following a lacuna) of flowers being placed on Paul's tomb.

North also cites a marketing description of the film's final scene set in the arena and featuring Nero and ending on Paul's tomb. However, North reserves judgement as to whether the description (not confirmed by the corresponding description in The Bioscope) is "is marketing hyperbole or a genuine description of the missing footage" (115).

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While all three sources here (Lasi, North and Pimpinelli) describe the scenes and intertitles to some degree, I thought it might be useful to lay them in a more structured fashion. I've used an English translation of the original German subtitles.

[Title] First Prize in the 1910 Cinematographic Competition Golden Cup of His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan
[Title] PART ONE: Paul as a Persecutor of Christians. Paul, a merchant in Tarsus, hears of the Christian congregations.
[Scene 1] Paul shown by a lake, gesticulates about some cloth with a small crowd.
[Title] Paul goes to the pine grove, the refuge of the Christians.
[Scene 2] Paul and a larger crowd march through some woods, stopping for a brief discussion.
[Title] Paul surprises James the Younger and has him dragged away to be stoned.
[Scene 3] James, standing, preaches to a small seated crowd as Paul's men creep up on him from two sides. He is dragged to the floor briefly and then led away.
[Scene 4] A large crowd, with James and his captors at the front file past the camera placed on the other side of a stream.
[Scene 5] A crowd in a wood waves off Paul and three companions
[Title]On the road to Damascus: The voice of the Lord!
[Scene 6a] Paul and his companions walk through the wood
[Title] (in front of billowing smoke) Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?
[Scene 6b] Paul is prostrate, his companions rush to get him to his feet. He gestures about his eyes and they carefully lead Paul on (pictured above).
[Title] The Conversion. Paul regains his sight and becomes a Christian.
[Scene 7] Paul and his companions walk down to a walled path and meet Ananias, who lays his hands on Paul's eyes. Paul (wide-eyed) is amazed, spreading his arms in praise. His companions scarper.
[Title] PART TWO. Paul as an Apostle. On the Appian Way, Paul enters the catacombs of the Christians.
[Scene 8] An older Paul with a younger companion walk down a road in Rome (in front of the Tomb of Caecilia Metella).
[Scene 9] The two now enter a door at the Circus of Maxentius.
[Title] The Conversion of Nero's Female Slave.
[Scene 10] Interior: In a dark room Paul baptises a young woman and a Roman centurion (pictured top).
[Title] The Fire of Rome and the Capture of Paul.
[Scene 11] Paul and his fellow Christians recoil at the sight of Rome burning (pictured above).
[Scene 12] Paul and the other Christians emerge into the outside and are arrested by Roman soldiers.
[Title] The Death of the Apostle.

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Lasi, Giovanni. (2012) La produzione cinematografica nel sistema economico-industriale italiano tra il 1908 e il 1914. Il caso della Milano Films. Doctoral thesis, Università di Bologna.
https://amsdottorato.unibo.it/view/dottorati/DOT319/

North, Joseph. A. (2015) Martyrs on the Silver Screen: Early Church Martyrdom in Italian Silent Cinema (1898-1930). Doctoral thesis, Durham University. https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/id/eprint/11728/

Pimpinelli, Maria Assunta (2026) "1910 - San Paolo (Milano Film)"at Museum of Dreamworlds.
https://museumofdreamworlds.org/analyses/35