File:1933 Elvey (film).jpg

The Wandering Jew / The Eternal Jew (1933) is a feature film (sound, B&W, 111m), directed by Maurice Elvey.

Abstract

Elvey remade his 1923 version of this film, at the Sound City studios in Shepperton and Twickenham in Middlesex. The film retained the same storyline based on The Wandering Jew (1920 Thurston), play.

Conrad Veidt stars as the Jew who urges Roman authorities to crucify Jesus and release Barabbas. As a punishment, he is condemned by God to wander the Earth for many centuries, enduring innumerable trials and tribulations on several continents.

The second half of the film portrayed Jews generally in a compassionate light as the victims of unjustified persecution throughout history. The protagonist finally is condemned to the stake, a victim of the Spanish Inquisition. As he burns, he is forgiven by God and finally allowed to die.

The "biblical" prologue, however, retains strong anti-Jewish elements, so much so that at the request of the rabbinate of New York, the version distributed in 1935 in the United States was amputated by 26 minutes.

Bibliography

• Hervé Dumont, L'antiquité au cinéma, p.457

Cast

• Conrad Veidt = Wandering Jew
• Basil Gill = Pontius Pilate (cut from US version)

Editions

Produced in Great Britain (1933). Released in London, England (15 November 1993) and New York, NY (11 January 1935).

Translations

• Ahasver, der ewige Jude (Austrian ed.)
• O Judeu Errante / O Homem que não Podia Morrer (Brazilian ed.)
• El judío errante (Spanish ed.)
• O periplanomenos Ioudaios (Greek ed.)
• Den vandrande juden (Swedish ed.; 26 March 1937)

External links

• Wikipedia.en
• IMDb