Religiously themed epics were a bit of a thing in 1950s Hollywood. Sometimes the religious message was dominant. Other times, it was used more as background to tell a story about human relationships.
Given the demographics of mid-20th-century cinema audiences, it’s no surprise that the religious setting was always Judaeo-Christian. And the movies were invariably reverential, or at least respectful, of traditional Gospel narratives.
Quo Vadis got the ball rolling. Released at the tail-end of 1951 and based on an 1896 novel by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis had been previously filmed in the silent movie era, most recently in 1924. But this time, Hollywood pushed the boat out on a lavish Technicolor version, shooting it in post-war Italy, mostly in and around Rome.
The story is set in the first century during the final years of Nero’s imperial reign, and it pivots around the clash between the Roman Empire and Christianity. As Nero, Peter Ustinov’s performance is unrestrainedly over the top, portraying the emperor as both mad and bad. Burning Rome, he blames the Christians and launches a pogrom.
There’s also a love story running alongside this macro narrative. Robert Taylor plays a Roman military commander who falls for a Christian (Deborah Kerr) and is prepared to sacrifice everything to save her. Taylor and Kerr, in fact, get top billing, which perhaps indicates what the movie makers saw as the prime selling point. Take an intense romantic relationship, put it in a religiously themed historical setting and stir in lots of spectacle. Movies, after all, were first and foremost a business.
The Robe came along two years later, this time telling the tale of a Roman centurion responsible for overseeing the crucifixion of Jesus. After winning the crucified man’s robe in a dice game, the centurion’s life goes awry and he eventually becomes a believer. In the end, both he and his wife pay the ultimate price.
The Robe, too, was based on a novel. Originally published in 1942, the Lloyd C. Douglas book had been a huge success, topping the New York Times bestsellers for almost a year and remaining popular for a long time thereafter. I remember a copy circulating in my Irish childhood, albeit not one that I was motivated to read.
Source material aside, The Robe had another potent talking point going for it. It was the first film presented in CinemaScope, the new widescreen format. Mind you, as many theatres lacked the requisite facilities, lots of people only saw the conventional “flat” version and must have wondered what the fuss was all about.
Next up was a trip back to the Old Testament via Cecil B. DeMille’s remake of The Ten Commandments, which he’d previously done as a silent in 1923. Premiered in November 1956, this one was shot partly on location in Egypt and provided DeMille with a spectacular swan song for a producer-director career that had started in 1914. And it gave Charlton Heston one of his career-defining roles.
Lots of Hollywood stars wanted to play Moses, but DeMille had been impressed with Heston on a previous project, 1952’s The Greatest Show on Earth. Heston also lobbied for the role, doing his homework by reading up on the subject matter. Later, he humorously described his enthusiasm: “Then of course, I had to be circumcised. What actors won’t do for a good part (Nah … only kidding).”
Heston returned to the genre three years down the road, winning an Oscar for the lead role in Ben-Hur. But he wasn’t alone. Overall, the much-celebrated film nabbed 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Ben-Hur may now be best remembered for its famously gripping chariot race, but it had a formidable pre-movie pedigree. Dubbed the “most influential Christian book of the 19th century,” it began life as an 1880 novel by U.S. Army general Lew Wallace, surpassed Uncle Tom’s Cabin to become the century’s best-selling American novel, was translated into 20 other languages and remained in print for over 100 years.
However strange it may seem to us, these movies were enormously popular.
Quo Vadis is reputed to have saved MGM from impending bankruptcy; The Robe was the highest grosser of its year, easily besting classics like From Here to Eternity and Shane; adjusted for inflation, The Ten Commandments is the eighth most successful film of all time and Ben-Hur is 22nd.
Clearly, they hit their era’s cultural sweet spot. As the English novelist L.P. Hartley aptly put it: “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”
Troy Media columnist Pat Murphy casts a history buff’s eye at the goings-on in our world. Never cynical – well, perhaps a little bit.
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