Giacobbe, l'uomo che lottò con Dio (1963)

Director:

Marcello Baldi

Writers:

Ottavio Jemma (writer)
Giuseppe Mangione (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Peplum | Jacob | Israel | Genesis | Biblical Epic

Cast

Giorgio Cerioni	...	Giacobbe - Jacob
Jean Morcier
Judy Parker	...	Rachele - Rachel
Alfredo Rizzo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giuseppe Addobbati	...	Adamo - Adam (as John Douglas)
Sergio Ammirata
Nando Angelini
Letitia Bollante		(as Letizia Bollanti)
Piero Bugli
Consalvo Dell'Arti
Luisa Della Noce	...	Lia - Leah
Elena Demerik		(as Elena de Merik)
Dario Dolci
Bernard Farber		(as Bernard Faber)
Fosco Giachetti	...	Abramo - Abraham
Massimo Giuliani
Rosalia Maggio
Roberto Mannoni
Lilly Mantovani
Jole Mauro
Roberto Miali
Glauco Onorato
Anna Orso		(as Anna Maria Orso)
Roberto Paoletti
Claudio Perone
Paolo Pieri
Massimo Pietrobon
Pino Sciacqua		(as Giuseppe Pinacqua)
Vinicio Sofia
Moa Tahi
Ruth von Hagen

Directed by
Marcello Baldi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ottavio Jemma		writer
Giuseppe Mangione		writer

Original Music by
Teo Usuelli

Cinematography by
Marcello Masciocchi

Film Editing by
Giuliana Attenni
Lina Caterini

Production Design by
Piero Poletto

Production Companies

• San Paolo Films

Distributors

• Daughters of St. Paul (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Saint Paul Communication (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) (2006) (USA) (TV)
• Eurociné

Also Known As:

"Jacob: The Man Who Fought with God" - USA (video title)

Runtime:

Germany:84 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

San Paolo Films

Movie Connections:

Version of "Greatest Heroes of the Bible: Joseph in Egypt" (1978)

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The grand and ancient stories of the Old Testament reach back to the very beginnings of human civilization. The story begins with Abraham, who traveled from the land of Sumer through Haran then down into Canaan and Egypt. We see images of his tribe set to reverent music traveling and arriving at the promised land, only to start fighting amongst one another until Lot and his party split from Abraham.

God and 2 angels appear in human form to Abraham, who, on their way to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reveal to Abraham that his wife Sarah will bear him a son. Years later, his son Isaac is nearly killed by the aging Abraham in a climactic scene quite well done, until the voice of God stays his knife wielding hand.

We then move to the story of Jacob, who deceives Abraham into giving the birthright normally reserved for the firstborn (of Isaac, Esau) to himself. Esau's anger drives Jacob away to the city of Haran, where Laban, brother of Rebecca (Isaac's wife) tends his sheep. Jacob agrees to work for 7 then 7 more years to win the second daughter of Laban, Rachael, as his wife.

Jacob, after 20 years, decides to return to the land of Canaan, only to meet his brother Esau and his soldiers. As his people are surrounded by armed men, Jacob begs forgiveness and is granted such by Esau. They part ways and the movie closes with Jacob leading his people back into Canaan.

This Italian movie, available as part of a set of DVD's in a box entitled "Epics of the Old Testament" (VCI), is also available separately as of this writing. The DVD image quality is not so good, but it is presented in widescreen, albeit non-anamorphic letter-boxed. So, you will have to zoom to view it on your wide screen TV.

I was impressed with the production values, the music, and the reverent tone of the movie. It did have its occasional awkwardly delivered lines and expressions, but overall the acting was acceptable. If you enjoy some of the greatest stories that have ever been told, this movie and the boxed set is something worth having and enjoying.