The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
About The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
Twenty-five tableaux tell the Gospel story, starting with the arrival in Bethlehem, the Nativity and the Magi, and the sleep of the child. Later scenes include the Samaritan, Jairus's daughter, Mary Magdalene washing Jesus's feet, Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the garden, Judas, Caiaphas, Peter's denial, and Pilate. A cinema-history account of the same film carries the sequence through to the Resurrection.
Cast & crew
More about The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
Alice Guy-Blaché directed. Anatole Thiberville photographed it. Victorin Jasset and Henri Menessier designed sets and costumes from James Tissot's engravings. Gaumont released the 33-minute film in 1906. The French title is La vie du Christ. Scenes were shot in the Gaumont studios at Buttes-Chaumont and in the Fontainebleau forest.
Themes
Look
Anatole Thiberville shot the tableaux, most of them with a fixed camera, and one scene of the Samaritan on location.
Preservation
A copy is on the Internet Archive under the French title.
Notes
- Distributors could buy the tableaux separately.
- Guy's 1906 version drops the Annunciation, the massacre of the innocents, and the flight into Egypt, which were in a longer 1903 life of Christ, and spends more time on the last week.
- One location scene is the Samaritan episode. The other tableaux use a fixed camera on built sets.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Scenes
- The Magi arrive at the Nativity tableau.
- Judas's betrayal and Peter's denial are staged as separate numbered scenes.
Influenced by
- The Gospels
- James Tissot's Bible engravings
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-la-vie-du-christ-aka-the-birth-the-life-and-the-death-of-christ)
