Silent Bible Film Mystery - #05 Christus (1914/1916)

Back in 2007 and 2008 I wrote a couple of posts about the Italian Jesus film Christus. At the time there was a bit of a problem with what the date of the film was (was it 1914 or 1916?). As part of my research on Italian Jesus films I've been looking back at this film again, and it turns out that there were two different films called Christus one released in 1914, the other in 1916 or maybe even 1917.

I guess it's time for another instalment of Silent Bible Film Mysteries.

Firstly there is some confusion as to who directed which film. The cover of the DVD I have, cites Giuseppe De Liguoro as the director, but the film itself does not name the drector. Other sources cite Giulio Antamoro, with others mentioning Enrico Guazzoni's Quo Vadis? (1913). The film is on YouTube several times but usually attributed to Antamoro.

It turns out that this mystery isn't quite as mysterious as some of the others in this series. Discussion about a film called Christus is mentioned in a number of sources (Bertellini's "Italian Silent Cinema", Shepherd's "Silents of Jesus", Campbell & Pitts' "The Bible on Film", Kinnard & Davis' "Divine Images" and Adele Reinhartz's "Jesus of Hollywood", all of whom identify Antamoro as the director.

Pucci (in Shepherd) names De Liguoro as the director of a different film called Christus (200) and even notes the confusion caused by this Grapevine release, which is different from the one I bought from them over a decade ago (207). Both he and Bertellini (134n38) give the alternative title of De Liguoro's film. La sfinga della Ionio (The Sphinx of the Ionian Sea).

A little googling brought up a bit more information about the De Liguoro film (pictured above). Whilst Rome was fast becoming the film-production capital of Italy, the industry was growing in other regions as well. De Liguoro’s 1914 Christus had been filmed and financed in Sicily. Filmmaking did not start on the Catania side of the Island until 1914 so Liguoro’s film, based on a local legend about a sphinx-shaped outcrop of rocks, was amongst the first shot in the region. It was made under the banner of Etna films, funded by local industrialist Alfredo Alonzo, which targeted their output at the local, upper class market whilst seeking to engage a broader audience (Bertellini, 130).

The Christus of the title, however, is not Jesus Christ, as you might expect, but the name of a character from an entirely different story set around 1000 B.C. In 2014 an Italian paper ran a series looking back at their community a hundred years previously. You can read the original article in Italian, (or have a look at this translation to English), which includes the following summary:

"Christus tells the story of the impossible love of the lustful, corrupt, governor of Syracuse Xenia, for the young Christus, in love with the sweet Myriam, with punctual and atrocious death in the flames of a galley (built ad hoc) of the cruel Xenia, while Christus, together with old Gisio, manages to save Miriam locked up in a well. Meanwhile the protagonist, together with old Gisio, succeeds in saving Miriam who had been locked up in a well"

The article also makes it clear that Alonzo, inspired by Cabiria (1914) earlier in the year pumped a vast amount of money into Etna films, and that this epic was their most costly and spectacular production. In addition to a reputed cost of 300 extras and several major stars there was also the creation of vast sets and a ship for the scenes at sea. Sadly though it seems the film's marketing efforts failed to get any traction, with even the local media underplaying it, and it never broke out to become the European/Worldwide smash that Alonzo/Etna needed to recoup costs.

The confusion in this case however seems to be limited to Grapevine video and customers like me. Aside from their case and the surrounding confusion there is nothing else linking De Liguoro with a Jesus film called Christus. Whilst Grapevine no longer seem to sell the DVD set I bought they continue to market a film they claim is De Liguoro's Christus, but according to Pucci's endnote the film supplied is Maître's 1914 Life and Passion of Jesus Christ the subject of  Silent Bible Film Mystery #04 (207n1).

In summary, then, we have two films. The 1914 Christus, also known as La sfinga della Ionio (The Sphinx of the Ionian Sea),was made in Sicily by Etna films with Giuseppe De Liguoro at the helm. Rather than being a Jesus film however, it's a story from 100 years previously, whose hero (played by Alessandro Rocca) is simply called Christus, though it's biggest star was Alfonso Cassini in the role of Gisio.

Then there is the Jesus film called Christus released two or three years later in 1916/1917 was directed by Giulio Antamoro for the great Cines firm. This is the film I wrote about and which has been covered by the other authors listed above. a version of this film, (labelled correctly) is also available from Grapevine, though the print of the film on YouTube is better if you can hack the fairly occasional subtitles being in Italian. Jesus is played by Alberto Pasquali, and it's worth looking at CineKolossal's page on this film, for the sheer number of screenshots and stills (though they date it 1914 which is seemingly date production began). And it turns out that whilst Antamoro filmed most of the picture, Guazzoni did direct a few shots including part of the ascension scene (Pucci 201).

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Bertellini, Giorgio (2013) “Southern (and Southernist) Italian Cinema” in Bertellini, Giorgio (ed.) (2013). Italian Silent Cinema: A Reader (New Barnett: John Libbey Publishing), pp. 123-134

Pucci, Giuseppe (2016) "Christus (Cines, 1916): Italy's First Religious 'Kolossal'  by Antamoro and Salvatori" in The Silents of Jesus in the Cinema (1897-1927); ed. Shepherd, David. pp.200-210

More on Cristus/Christus

I wrote about Cristus (as it's spelt on the opening title card, although it usually seems to be referred to as Christus back at the start of 2007 based on the large collection of stills at this site (see translation). I watched the film for the first time recently (during Digory's night feeds which is a great time to watch silent films) and so I have a few points from that original post to correct plus a few more to make.

Perhaps the biggest error in that post is my assumption that the 80 or so stills from the film were equally spaced. Hence I estimated that the nativity scene comprised roughly 40% of the film and the events of the passion a further 45%, leaving just 15% for everything else. In fact this is patently not the case. The version I have lasts for 82 minutes, and only about 23 minutes (28%) have passed by the time Jesus's birth and childhood are complete. The Last Supper scene, however, starts around the half way mark, a little earlier than I had originally thought. This leaves around 22% (18 minutes) of footage for Jesus's ministry. Still not a lot, but significantly more than my original guess.

It also appears that my original scene guide contains a number of errors, mainly in that middle section. There I listed the episodes in Jesus ministry as: Sermon on the Mount - (Matt 5-7); Temptation - (Mark 1:12-13); Baptism - (Mark 1:9-11); Rejection at Nazareth - (Mark 6:1-5); Mary Magdalene anoints Jesus's Feet - (Mark 14:3-9); Walking on Water - (Mark 6:45-52); Journey to Jerusalem - (Mark 10:32); Triumphal Entry - (Mark 11:1-10). In fact, it would be correct to list the scenes as follows:

Annunciation - (Matt 1:18-25 / Luke 1:26-1:38)
Census - (Luke 2:1-2)
Birth - (Luke 2:3-8)
Shepherds - (Luke 2:9-15)
Wise Men - (Matt 2:1-12)
Flight to Egypt - (Matt 2:13-15)
Boy Jesus - (Luke 2:41-52)
Simon the Pharisee - (Mark 14:3-9)
Cleansing the Temple - (Mark 11:12-19)
Suffer Little Children - Mark 10:13-16
Walking on Water - (Mark 6:45-52)
Adultress - (John 8:2-11)
Lazarus - (John 11:1-45)
Baptism by John - (Mark
Temptation - (Mark 1:12-13)
Transfiguration
[Extra Biblical Episode - "After The Sermon on the Mount"]
Triumphal Entry - (Mark 11:1-10)
Plot Against Jesus - (Mark 14:1-2)
Last Supper - (Mark 14:22-31)
Gethsemane - (Mark 14:32-52)
Trial - (Mark 14:53-64)
Beating - (Mark 14:65)
Pilate, Jesus and the Crowds - (John 18:28-40)
Flogging - (John 19:1-3)
Pilate condemns Jesus - (John 19:4-16)
Via Dolorosa - (Mark 15:20-22)
Crucifixion - (Mark 15:22-39)
Burial - (Mark 15:40-47)
The Guard at the Tomb – (Matt 27:62-66)
Risen Jesus Before Disciples – (Luke 24:36-41)
Ascension - (Luke 24:50-53)
(for notes on references see my citation guide)

Whilst the quality of the transfer I watched was fairly poor - many scenes were spoiled by a lack of contrast - it was evident that originally this was an attractively photographed film. The settings were far more attractive than other Bible films from that era (e.g. From the Manger to the Cross) and many shots are beautifully composed. Take for example the one above where the crescent of the trees offset and complement the shape of the crowd coming up the hill.

Another nice shot is the one that introduces Mary Magdalene. This scene is also interesting for its designation of Mary as a "courtesan". This is of course the description that Cecil B DeMille uses for Mary as well. Furthermore this scene is the beginning of the scene at Simon the Leper's house which is the first scene the film shows from Jesus's ministry. DeMille would also chose a scene with Mary at the start of his depiction of Jesus's ministry, but in that case it opens the film as a whole as he skips the birth narratives entirely.

Overall though, the film offers very little drama. There's little to connect the scenes so, as with many early silent Jesus films, it has a pageant-type feel and events tend to happen without any background development. In fact this film goes a little further than some of its predecessors and includes a couple of freeze frame moments at particularly iconic moments such as the Last Supper, and the crucifixion (where the clouds continue to move in the background but everything else stays still). Clearly either the director or the cameramen has a good eye for striking visuals, but is not as interested in fleshing out the iconic images.

Christus (1916)

Edit - I revised some of the points in this post here.
A while back someone very kindly let me know that the silent, Italian Jesus film Christus was available in Italy as part of a 2 DVD set along with Maria Figlia Del Suo Figlio. They also point out this page which has a brief overview of the film, and a whopping 78 stills from the film. That page is in Italian, but there's a translated version of courtesy of Google.

There were a number of things about this page that caught my eye. Firstly it's obvious from the photos that this was a lavish production in it's day and the accompanying text notes that over 2000 actors and extras were used. Just look, for example, at the numbers of people accompanying the wise men.

Secondly if the ratio of stills to runtime is anything like accurate then around 40% of the film's runtime is devoted to the nativity sequences. The length of the film is given in metres, which means that its length in minutes depends on the projector's frames per second. Manfred Tiemann's notes on over 650 Jesus films records it as 60 minutes, but at 2279m it's likely to have been somewhat longer.

One that that particularly jumped out was that the face of the actor playing Jesus was familiar, but it wasn't until I reached the stills of the resurrection and ascension that I realised where I knew him from. Back in May, I blogged about a film released either in 1916 or in 1919 under the title Jesus of Nazareth. It turned out that the film was actually a re-release of From the Manger to the Cross with resurrection and ascension scenes from two different films tagged on. And this film is one of the bits of footage used. What's even more interesting about this is the way that Christus borrows ideas from From the Manger to the Cross, such as the use of the Sphinx and the Pyramids, the boy Jesus forming a cross shape with hi shadow etc. There are also obvious borrows from other Jesus films of the era, such as the appearance of the angels to the shepherds which is straight out of The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ .

Silent Jesus films were obviously fairly restricted in the amount of dialogue they could convey, and as a result most of them focussed more on Jesus the miracle worker, rather than Jesus the teacher. This film, however, may be an exception. The only discernable miracle displayed is the walking on water. It's possible that some of the crowd scenes relate to miracles in the temple or something, but otherwise there is very little of the miraculous in this film. This is perhaps not surprising. As noted above around 40% of the film deals with the nativity and a further 45% deals with the last supper onwards leaving only around 15% to do with Jesus's life and ministry. We do however see him teaching in at least two different contexts.

Assuming the order of these stills is correct a scene guide for the film looks as follows:

Annunciation - (Matt 1:18-25 / Luke 1:26-1:38)
Census - (Luke 2:1-2)
Birth - (Luke 2:3-8)
Shepherds - (Luke 2:9-15)
Wise Men - (Matt 2:1-12)
Flight to Egypt - (Matt 2:13-15)
Boy Jesus - (Luke 2:41-52)
Sermon on the Mount - (Matt 5-7)
Temptation (?) - (Mark 1:12-13)
Baptism - (Mark 1:9-11)
Rejection at Nazareth ? - (Mark 6:1-5)
Mary Magdalene ?
Jesus's Feet Anointed - (Mark 14:3-9)
Walking on Water - (Mark 6:45-52)
Journey to Jerusalem - (Mark 10:32)
Triumphal Entry - (Mark 11:1-10)
Last Supper - (Mark 14:22-31)
Plot to Kill Jesus - (Mark 14:1-2)
Gethsemane - (Mark 14:32-52)
Trial - (Mark 14:53-64)
Beating - (Mark 14:65)
Pilate, Jesus and the Crowds - (John 18:28-40)
Flogging - (John 19:1-3)
Pilate condemns Jesus - (John 19:4-16)
Via Dolorosa - (Mark 15:20-22)
Crucifixion - (Mark 15:22-39)
Burial - (Mark 15:40-47)
The Guard at the Tomb – (Matt 27:62-66)
Risen Jesus Before Disciples – (Luke 24:36-41)
Ascension - (Luke 24:50-53)

This is all very provisional based on the stills on the site, but it appears that Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount before his baptism which also occurs after his temptation.

Visually there are a few interesting shots. Firstly, one shot has Jesus carrying a sheep on his shoulders. It's rare to see such an image these days except on super-kitschy items, but I'm under the impression that it was much more common. Rather than a reference to a direct incident, it is of course a literalisation of Jesus's metaphorical use of a good shepherd. I also like the shot of Joseph's dream prior to the Flight to Egypt. Certainly mundane by today's standards, but I've not seen such an early use of that technique prior to this. There is also one with someone who looks like they are meant to be a prostitute, who may or may not be Mary Magdalene. Nothing specific to say other than that I'm particularly drawn to the composition of this scene. To me, at least, it seems fairly advanced for its day (although I'm certainly no expert in such things).

Finally, it does appear that some of this footage uses a different actor to play Jesus. Either that or the actor playing him (Alberto Pasquali) looks very different from certain angles.