The Story of Joseph and His Brethren (1962) Giuseppe venduto dai fratelli (original title)

Directors:

Irving Rapper
Luciano Ricci

Writers:

Oreste Biancoli (Italian version)
Ennio De Concini (Italian version)
(more)

Release Date:

December 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

"...his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and she said, lie with me..." (Genesis 39:7)

Plot Keywords:

Costume | Biblical | Independent Film

Cast

Geoffrey Horne	...	Joseph
Robert Morley	...	Potiphar
Belinda Lee	...	Henet
Vira Silenti	...	Asenath
Terence Hill	...	Benjamin (as Mario Girotti)
Carlo Giustini	...	Reuben
Finlay Currie	...	Jacob
Arturo Dominici	...	Rekmira
Robert Rietty	...	Pharaoh
Julian Brooks	...	Chief Baker
Mimo Billi	...	Chief Butler (as Mimmo Billi)
Marietto	...	Benjamin as a Child
Marco Guglielmi	...	Judah
Dante DiPaolo	...	Simeon
Charles Borromel	...	Dan
Helmuth Schneider	...	Zebulon
Loris Bazzocchi	...	Issachar
Marin Marija	...	Asher
Nino Segurini	...	Gad (as Antonio Segurini)
Tonko Sarcevic	...	Levi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bruno Arié	...	Debating Man
Enrico Chiappafreddo	...	Debating Man
Victor Rietti	...	Baker (scenes deleted)
Pietro Tordi	...	Enemy

Directed by
Irving Rapper		(English version)
Luciano Ricci		(Italian version)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Oreste Biancoli		Italian version
Ennio De Concini		Italian version
Guy Elmes		English version
Guglielmo Santangelo		screenplay
Guglielmo Santangelo		story

Produced by
Luigi Carpentieri	....	producer
Ermanno Donati	....	producer

Original Music by
Mario Nascimbene

Cinematography by
Riccardo Pallottini

Film Editing by
Mario Serandrei

Art Direction by
Oscar D'Amico		(as Oskar D'Amico)

Set Decoration by
Ennio Michettoni

Costume Design by
Maria De Matteis

Makeup Department
Sergio Angeloni	....	makeup artist
Galileo Mandini	....	hair stylist
Piero Mecacci	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Piero Donati	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Giovanni Fago	....	assistant director

Art Department
Gianni Gianese	....	sculptor

Sound Department
Raffaele Del Monte	....	sound
Mario Messina	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Joseph Nathanson	....	matte shots (as Joseph Natanson)

Camera and Electrical Department
Sandro Mancori	....	camera operator
Stelvio Massi	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Marisa Crimi	....	wardrobe
Giuliano Papi	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Ornella Micheli	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Franco Ferrara	....	conductor

Other crew
Giorgio Baldi	....	production assistant
Livio Maffei	....	production assistant
Richard McNamara	....	dialogue director
Jacob W. Nathan	....	historical consultant
Guido Pala	....	historical consultant
Luciano Ricci	....	supervisor
Paola Salvadori	....	continuity
Pina Zani	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Cosmopolis
• Dubrava Film
• Jolly Film

Distributors

• Colorama Features (1962) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• St. Clair Vision (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• VCI Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Archives Productions (2006) (USA) (TV) (as "An Archives Production, 2001")
• Stellar Film Associates (2006) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Philharmonic Orchestra of Rome  orchestra

Also Known As:

"Giuseppe venduto dai fratelli" - Yugoslavia (original title)
"Joseph and His Brethren" - USA (DVD box title)

Runtime:

USA:103 min

Country:

Yugoslavia | Italy

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Titanus Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cosmopolis

Movie Connections:

Followed by Pontius Pilate (1962)

Joseph AND HIS BRETHREN (Irving Rapper and Luciano Ricci, 1960) **

In the wake of the adoption of the Widescreen process and the consequent increase in popularity of the Biblical subgenre within the realm of the Epic, stories from the Old and New Testament became a much-raided Hollywood commodity during the 1950s and 1960s. It was only a matter of time before the ultra-Catholic Italians got onto the bandwagon and grew another branch into their own in-house brand of the epic that was renamed the peplum.

As would eventually became the custom, veteran Hollywood film-makers – among them Frank Borzage, Raoul Walsh, Jacques Tourneur and Edgar G. Ulmer – were engaged to supervise the production of these cheaper Italian epics and so it is that Irving Rapper – best-known for the schmaltzy but solid Bette Davis vehicles NOW, VOYAGER (1942) and DECEPTION (1946) – became involved with bringing to the big-screen the story of Joseph; subsequently, he would be employed in a similar capacity on PONTIUS PILATE (1962). While the co-director here was one Luciano Ricci – who would later (under the alias of Herbert Wise) be the officially credited director of THE CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD (1964) despite the reported intervention of two others! – the actors who came on board Joseph AND HIS BRETHREN were far better known. Chief among them were Robert Morley (ludicrously hamming it up as Potiphar) and genre staple Finlay Currie (as a dignified Jacob), while the younger roles were entrusted to an eclectic bunch: Geoffrey Horne (in the title role), Belinda Lee (as Potiphar’s deceitful wife, she featured in several of these Italian cheapies and would eventually die tragically within a year in a road accident), Arturo Domenici (as Potiphar’s ambitious counsellor), Terence Hill (as Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin) and Dante Di Paolo (as the main schemer among Joseph’s jealous brothers).

One may wonder why I’m talking about everything else but the film and, unfortunately, that’s because it is no great shakes. While the story was good enough to be remade thrice on celluloid – as a 1974 TV movie by Michael Cacoyannis, yet again for TV in 1995 and as a Dreamworks animated feature in 2000 – not to mention revamped as a musical extravaganza on the stage, the version under review is dreary, dull and unmemorable. Small wonder, then that the film has fallen into public domain and is available on various budget DVDs in an English-dubbed, pan-and-scan, washed out print which further serves to alienate the viewer.