Star of Bethlehem
About Star of Bethlehem
Three magi follow a moving star toward Bethlehem to see a newborn child. King Herod, alarmed by a prophecy, orders the child found and killed. The film stages the events before the Nativity as short tableaux.
Cast & crew
More about Star of Bethlehem
Edwin Thanhouser and Charles J. Hite produced it. Lawrence Marston directed. Lloyd Lonergan wrote it. Florence La Badie, James Cruze, and William Russell lead. The surviving material runs about 15 minutes. Most of the original is gone, and the remaining tableaux are hard to read as one story.
Themes
Background
American producers issued Nativity films for the Christmas programs of 1912. Thanhouser's entry uses the magi and Herod rather than a life of Christ.
Making
Marston lined the Biblical scenes up as separate pictures: the star, the magi, Herod's order. What remains is a fragment of that sequence.
Preservation
Most of the original is lost. About 15 minutes survive, and the remaining tableaux do not play as a complete narrative.
Notes
- Harry Benham, Justus D. Barnes, and David H. Thompson are also billed.
- The staging is a series of brief tableaux rather than a continuous chase.
- Wikipedia notes that only about 15 minutes survive.
- Thanhouser put the Nativity story out as a 1912 Christmas subject.
- Cruze, later a director, is in the cast with La Badie.
Scenes
- The magi set out under the moving star.
- Herod orders the child found and killed.