"The Great Commandment" is, like "Ben-Hur", a film telling a fictitious story based around the life of Jesus. The main character is Joel, the elder son of a village rabbi, who hopes that his son will follow him into the rabbinate. Joel, however, is secretly a Zealot, one of a group of nationalistic Jews hoping to lead an uprising to free their people from Roman occupation. He is aware of the teachings of Jesus and believes Him to be the promised Messiah of the Jewish people. Joel hopes that he can persuade Jesus to accept the position of leader of the Zealot cause, and is encouraged by Jesus' disciple, Judas Iscariot, who cherishes similar hopes. A subplot deals with the rivalry between Joel and his younger brother Zadok (another Zealot, even more fanatical and hot-headed than Joel) for the love of the beautiful Tamar. Another important character is Longinus, the Roman centurion who presided over the Crucifixion.
The film was expressly made in order to convey a Christian message. One of the producers, James K. Friedrich, was a clergyman, and the production company was called Cathedral Films. The Great Commandment of the title is the lesson to be drawn from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, "love thy neighbour as thyself". It is hardly surprising, therefore, that it should end with the conversion to Christianity of Joel, Tamar and Longinus. To comply with the requirements of the censors Jesus is not shown directly, only as a reflection in the water, although we hear His voice, provided by the director Irving Pichel.
As well as its obvious religious message, the film may also have had a political message to the America of 1939, the year in which war broke out in Europe. Although the Gospels tell us that Judas betrayed Jesus for monetary reward in the form of his "thirty pieces of silver", it has become something of a cliché in fictional treatments of the Gospel story to depict him as a revolutionary firebrand and his betrayal of Jesus as having political rather than financial motives. This slant on the story appears in the 1961 epic "King of Kings", and it also appears here, probably in the days before it became a cliché. The film draws a contrast between the pacifism of Jesus and another of His disciples, Andrew, and the revolutionary zeal of Judas and Zadok. The film might therefore have been intended to support America's strong isolationist movement by preaching the pacifist message that war, even a war fought in an ostensibly just cause, can never be justified.
Its plot may have some similarities with films like "Ben-Hur" and "King of Kings", but "The Great Commandment" is made in a style which is about as far from the grandiose spectacle of the typical Hollywood Biblical epic as one can get. It was made in black-and-white on an obviously low budget without any spectacular set pieces and without any major stars among the cast. Yet for all its Poverty Row origins the film is made with an obvious sincerity. It preaches its Christian message for its own sake, not as a means of making money by appealing to Bible Belt audiences. If only one could say the same of all big bucks Biblical adaptations. 7/10
The film was expressly made in order to convey a Christian message. One of the producers, James K. Friedrich, was a clergyman, and the production company was called Cathedral Films. The Great Commandment of the title is the lesson to be drawn from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, "love thy neighbour as thyself". It is hardly surprising, therefore, that it should end with the conversion to Christianity of Joel, Tamar and Longinus. To comply with the requirements of the censors Jesus is not shown directly, only as a reflection in the water, although we hear His voice, provided by the director Irving Pichel.
As well as its obvious religious message, the film may also have had a political message to the America of 1939, the year in which war broke out in Europe. Although the Gospels tell us that Judas betrayed Jesus for monetary reward in the form of his "thirty pieces of silver", it has become something of a cliché in fictional treatments of the Gospel story to depict him as a revolutionary firebrand and his betrayal of Jesus as having political rather than financial motives. This slant on the story appears in the 1961 epic "King of Kings", and it also appears here, probably in the days before it became a cliché. The film draws a contrast between the pacifism of Jesus and another of His disciples, Andrew, and the revolutionary zeal of Judas and Zadok. The film might therefore have been intended to support America's strong isolationist movement by preaching the pacifist message that war, even a war fought in an ostensibly just cause, can never be justified.
Its plot may have some similarities with films like "Ben-Hur" and "King of Kings", but "The Great Commandment" is made in a style which is about as far from the grandiose spectacle of the typical Hollywood Biblical epic as one can get. It was made in black-and-white on an obviously low budget without any spectacular set pieces and without any major stars among the cast. Yet for all its Poverty Row origins the film is made with an obvious sincerity. It preaches its Christian message for its own sake, not as a means of making money by appealing to Bible Belt audiences. If only one could say the same of all big bucks Biblical adaptations. 7/10