The Pilgrimage Play

I really lucked out getting this movie in a recent DVD box set entitled : " Historic Classics" - 50 Movie Pack at Best Buy. I can not tell you how impressed I was seeing Nelson Leigh play Jesus.

This movie was made in 1949, and even though it was low budget with a no-name cast, it was a remarkable version of the greatest story ever told. I highly recommend "The Pilgrimage Play" to all Christians of every denomination. Once you get into this picture, you will most likely be glued to the end.

The story takes place in a prison where Peter tells two other prisoners the story of Jesus. This movie is very fast paced and so enjoyable to watch. Hats off to all the people responsible for making this grand picture. This DVD will be a hidden gem in my movie collection.

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

The Hollywood Bowl presents a holiday production about Jesus Christ in his final days. The film was on my Holiday Family Classics with Santa Claus on the DVD box. Anyway the quality is not high perhaps because of age and it is in color too. The cast is largely unknown to me. I don't recognize any of their names. Still this film is better suited for Easter and Passover than Christmas. While the color is better than black and white for today's audiences, black and white would have been better suited to help preserve the film quality. Although I am surprised that the Hollywood Bowl would produce a biblical production but I shouldn't be. We never get many close-ups of the cast on screen to see them become the roles.

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.