The Pilgrimage Play

This is essentially a filmed stage play detailing the life of Jesus. Its not bad, and it is better than many other filmed stage plays, but it suffers from it being little more than actors walk through the scenes quoting excerpts from the bible. Most of the actors give earnest and good performances, though by simply quoting scripture they have very little to work with the up shot of which is that some give performances that would better on stage rather than on film. I would have loved to see the actor playing Jesus do so in movie that was more than just an exercise in quotation since he brings something to the role lacking in many other screen Jesus'. More Sunday school material than entertainment this is the type of thing you might run across as filler at 3am on religious oriented cable stations. 4 out of 10, mostly because its good enough to make you wish it had been more than it is.

A film for Sunday school. It is the easy conclusion, not completely unfair but not the must honest.

Because it is a film of its time, not remarkable - it is filmed on stage - , not having a big budget or offering premises of blockbuster. It is the story of saint Apostle Peter about the Lord, in prison, behind his execution on cross. And, maybe surprising, it works more than well.

Sure, many critics are right about this film. But , in nice way, it is just a decent reflection of the life and work and sacrifice of Christ. A good point - the intervention of Nicodemus in Savior trial. Modest, off course, but real interesting for the manner to propose the story so familiar for you.

In short, just a good job with meritory sparkles.

This 92-minute film is of a staged production of "The Pilgrimage Play," written in 1920 and first produced, directed by and acted in by Christine Wetherill Stevenson. The credits say that this 1949 film is of the play "as presented by the Hollywood Bowl Association through The Pilgrimage Play Foundation." Thus, this film is a piece of history in itself. And it's about a play that was a prominent piece of history for more than four decades. And that play also had a lot to do with the founding of two prominent Hollywood venues - the Hollywood Bowl and the nearby present-day Ford outdoor theater. More on that after this brief review of the film and play.

The story here is about the last three years of the life of Jesus Christ. It opens around 64 AD in a jail scene in Rome where Simon Peter is incarcerated. It's during the reign of Nero, who executed Peter that year after accusing the Christians of having started the fires that destroyed much of Rome. After a prison guard has spoken harshly with Peter, two cellmates wonder at Peter's calm and peaceful demeanor. So, he asks them if they've heard of Jesus Christ, and when they say they haven't, he begins to tell them the story - the source of his peace and calm.

From there on, one scene after another shows Jesus with his apostles and various crowds. There is an occasional return to Peter telling the story to his two cell mates. The dialogue is very true to the Scriptures in the Bible. And, as Peter starts to tell the story, he recites nearly verbatim the opening of John's Gospel -- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God...." The scenes then show Christ teaching, telling parables, and healing the blind; and the story ends with the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

I have seen most of the films about Jesus. This may be the only one that is a major video recording of a play. The feature films have panoramas and scenes with regular action and movements. But here, the small bands of people or crowds are mostly questioning Jesus or listening to him as he speaks many of the lines of scripture. This film, by itself, is very well done for a stage setting. If anything, the scenes of this play give a more real sense - than do most of the regular movies - of the captive attention given by crowds to Jesus, as described in the Bible.

As for the cast, all of them give good performances. Nelson Leigh does a very good job in the role of Jesus. But, when I recently got the DVD of this film, I wasn't familiar with a single one of the cast. So, in checking their bios and film credits on IMDb, I found that I have seen and rated some 200 films that the various actors have appeared in. Nelson Leigh was in 20 movies that I have rated and/or reviewed. I've watched and rated 17 films that Stephen Chase and Tudor Owen were in. And 34 films with John Doucette and 33 with Crane Whitley. Many of the roles of these actors were uncredited which means that they were bit parts. And yet, the top six actors of this cast had many, many credits. Leigh had 176 credits, Chase had 153, Penn had 116, Hale had 150, Owen had 116, and Doucette had 289.

Most of this cast were stage actors, and some of them had no other film credits than this one. But, most of the lead actors also made movies and appeared in TV series. They all were in a number of big hit movies and/or TV shows and series. Some big hit films with one or more of this cast were "Les Miserable" of 1935 and 1962, "High Noon" of 1952, "Julius Caesar" of 1953, "A Star is Born" of 1954, "Rebel Without a Cause" of 1955, "Gunfight at the O. K. Corral" of 1957, "Ben-Hur" of 1959, "To Kill a Mockingbird" of 1962, "True Grit" of 1969, and "Patton" of 1970.

Now, about the Hollywood Bowl and Ford outdoor theaters. Christine Wetherill Stevenson (1878-1922) was an heiress of the Pittsburg Paint Company. In 1920 she wrote the script for this play, based on the four gospels of the Bible. She was instrumental in purchasing the 60 acres for the Theatre Arts Alliance that eventually became the Hollywood Bowl. But, because of a difference over performing religious plays, she and actor Harry Ellis Reed found a 29-acre site just across the way in Cahuenga Pass. She bought it, and they built The Pilgrimage Play theatre.

Stevenson directed the play and acted in it for its first three years, but died after taking ill when visiting her sister in Pennsylvania. She was just 44 years old. The cast then performed the play for her family, who had not seen it before. In July 1924, the Wetherill family gave the rights, equipment, and theatre grounds to the city of Los Angeles. The Pilgrimage Play continued to be performed for more than 40 years, interrupted once by a fire that destroyed the theater. It was rebuilt and continued until 1964. A lawsuit led to the ending of the play, because it was a religious theme sponsored by the County of Los Angeles. The theater was rebuilt and renovated and renamed after John Anson Ford, a long-time member of the county board of supervisors.

The Pilgrimage Play had become known worldwide and a number of actors got their starts in it. Fay Wray was a teenager in the play during the 1920s, before she became a star after "King Kong" of 1933. And Robert Vaughn was 22 in his acting debut as Judas in 1955 - before his first TV series appearances.

There are much better versions of The Pilgrimage Play on screen. This one lacks the emotional depths that the modern versions brings. This film feels like a play on screen instead of a movie, it's not grand.

I will say this film is for Christians only - I can't see others watching this and enjoying it as purely cinema.

Nelson Leigh does play Jesus well, he's the only one that seems to take the film seriously and to heart. The other actors in this film seem more like zombies and just saying the line rather than acting them out.

I don't recommend this film - watch a more modern version of this story if you want to see a film on the adult life of Jesus.

4/10.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST

This film is meant for people like me. I don't know that much about "The Bible". I found this more like watching an educational film you would see in grade school. It held my attention. I think if this film was made today they would change a few things. Many scenes are just one master shot and it stalls the film. Other than that I have no complaints. By the time the film ended I wanted to know more.

Children will be bored watching this. Adults might be at times. If you don't think of the film as a "film" and think about as a "Teaching tool" then you will enjoy this