The Wandering Jew (1923 Elvey), feature film

The Wandering Jew (1923) is a silent feature film directed by Maurice Elvey. Based on The Wandering Jew (1920 Thurston), play.

Abstract

"Unlike Eugene Sue's novel, the drama of Ernest Temple Thurston places a lot of emphasis on the "biblical" episode in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate. Judith is dying and begs her lover Matathias to solicit the help of Christ, the only person who could cure her. "Let her return to her lawful husband and her child, and she will be saved," Jesus replied. Matathias is enraged. When Jesus is arrested, he manipulates the crowd so that he is condemned to death, then spits on his face as he carries his cross on the way to Golgotha. Christ condemned him to wander until his return. When Judith dies, Matathias, desperate, tries in vain to commit suicide ... The story continues in Antioch in 1150 during the first crusade, in Palermo in 1290, and finally in Seville in 1560, where the Wandering Jew, a physician tortured under the Inquisition, finally dies on the stake, having been forgiven by Christ. The latter is never shown (the British censorship forbids it): during Calvary, it is hidden by the soldiery and during the sacrament (faithful recreation of the painting by Leonardo da Vinci), it is presented by a light beam in the midst of its disciples. Matheson Lang takes over the role that made him famous on stage in London. Shooting at the studios of Sir Oswald Stoll in Cricklewood."--Hervé Dumont, L'antiquité au cinéma, p. 456.

The film was remade in 1933.

Production

Produced and released in Great Britain (1923).

External links

• [ Wikipedia]
• The Internet Movie Database