Das Kreuz von Golgatha

You can miss watching this French peplum from 1935 especially directed by Julien Divivier for what it represents at different level, especially to the memory of the French cinema industry. Seeing Jean Gavin as Ponce Pilate or Harry Baur as King Herod is quite something.

It is a profound special film. Seductive for cinematography and for wise solutions for few moments of the story, for details and for the nuances brilliant explored. It seems be the grandfather of Gospel of Matthew by Pasolini and source of inspiration for the Passion of Christ by Mel Gibson. Its sins, after decades and decades, are insignificant. The admiration for Jean Gabin is not touched by his Pilat of Pont, Robert le Vigan is, maybe, not the expected option for Jesus , but a decent one and the presence of Juliette Verneuil as Mary and Harry Baur as Herod are a precious gift, The entry in Jerusalem is real great. A beautiful architecture, a splendid result.

The scale of the production is impressive, especially in the humongous crowd scenes and the climactic thunderstorm effects. But the script is just ticking off familiar boxes ✔. Jean Gabin has one of his earliest - and oddest - parts as Pontius Pilate. The actor who played Jesus looked too old for the role in closeups....although an IMDb search confirms he was indeed just 35 at the time. **1/2 out of 4.

This movie was aired on french television when i was kid. However,I can't say the year and it's a real pity! Anyway due to its Christian & Family content, this was not a DANGER for my parents and i'm pretty sure i watched it on a afternoon, alone or maybe with my twin brother...

I WISH I HAD NOT !

Because watching this movie about Jesus life, so about him DYING and RESURRECTING, my child mind understood FOR THE 1ST TIME EVER, i was going to die one day AND NOT come back !

So this movie just broke me: it was a lot of tears, sleeping panic, deep anxiety ...

My parents first reaction was to forbid any violent TV content, and after a time, as life is, i overcame that terrible period ... I think that this was the moment when i developed my sleeping habit to imagine stories when i close my eyes...

As a teen and now an adult, i have always in mind the truly wise answer of our french actor Gérard Jugnot when asked about his death : " Yes... i'm thinking about it ... but like every people, i suppose: sometimes a bit and other times, not at all " ! Thanks Gégé, I AGREE with all my heart !

Duvivier's story of the Passion is badly thought of in its native country."Ridiculous ,a film that should never have been made,rubbish,you name it".

When today you try to see what is good and what is bad in this movie,this is easy.

What is definitely bad:the choice of the actors.Le Vigan is closer to Rasputin than to Christ.His hoarse voice has nothing to fascinate the crowds and his beard....well if you cannot say something nice..And what about Gabin's Pilate? Gabin's Parisian accent is guaranteed to net nothing but horse -laugh.OK ,Claudia (Edwige Feuillère) tells her hubby he was nurtured in the plebeian milieu,but this is probably the actor's worst part in the golden thirties -shall I have to add that Gabin is THE French actor of that era,if not of the whole French cinema.

But all that remains is splendid indeed and did not deserve such a contempt:the cinematography is wonderful ;two examples :the three crosses ,climbing up the Golgotha ,or Judas 's death ,seen from a distance .Aerial pictures of Jerusalem already display Duvivier's sense of space which will be used to even better effects in his celebrated "Pepe le Moko" .The movements in the crowd compare favorably with the best of the epics of those ancient times such as Fred Niblo's "Ben Hur" (1925).The forty lashes scene ,which the populace intently watches behind the bars ,is not out of place in a Duvivier movie:nobody in France depicted human wickedness like he did.

The political side of the story is not passed over in silence either: Judas's motivations ,at the beck and call of the Sanhedrin ,Herode's scene (Unlike Gabin and Le Vigan, Harry Baur is well cast as the king and however his appearance does not exceed five minutes).

In the end what is good outshines what is bad.