Pontius Pilate (1962)

The events that culminated with the Passion of Christ seen from the perspective of Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of Judea who unwillingly condemned Christ to death. Based on the biblical Gospel of John.

Directors:

Gian Paolo Callegari (as G.P. Callegari), Irving Rapper

Writers:

Oreste Biancoli, Gian Paolo Callegari (as G.P. Callegari)

Stars:

Jean Marais, Jeanne Crain, Basil Rathbone

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Marais	...	Ponzio Pilato
Jeanne Crain	...	Claudia Procula
Basil Rathbone	...	Caiaphas
Letícia Román	...	Sarah
Massimo Serato	...	Nicodemus
Riccardo Garrone	...	Galba
Livio Lorenzon	...	Barabbas
Gianni Garko	...	Jonathan
John Drew Barrymore	...	Judas / Jesus
Roger Tréville	...	Aaron El Mesin
Carlo Giustini	...	Decio
Dante DiPaolo	...	Simone
Paul Muller	...	Mehlik
Alfredo Varelli	...	Giuseppe d'Arimatea
Manuela Ballard	...	Ester (as Manoela Ballard)

Storyline

The events that culminated with the Passion of Christ seen from the perspective of Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of Judea who unwillingly condemned Christ to death. Based on the biblical Gospel of John.

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Plot Keywords:

peplum | religion | reference to jesus christ | ancient rome | character name in title | 

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Taglines:

A Spectacular Drama of Raging Passions...Bitter Conflicts and Bloody Intrigues!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pontius Pilate

Filming Locations:

Cinecitta Studios, Cinecitta, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Glomer Film,Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Electric)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Basil Rathbone, who plays Caiaphas in this, took a turn as Pontius Pilate in the 1935 production from RKO, The Last Days of Pompeii.

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Connections

Edited into Caligula et Messaline (1981)

User Reviews

Lots of aged beefcake and stale cheesecake on display in this Passion Play

There's plenty of aged beefcake and stale cheesecake on display in Hollywood "woman's director" Irving Rapper's peplum-style Passion Play (co-directed by someone named Caligari) which attempts to cash in on a popular run of big budget biblical epics that began with SOLOMON & SHEBA.

Jean Cocteau's muse Jean Marais, no spring chicken, struts about as the titular magistrate and cuts a fine if flabby figure in his red cape, breastplate, sandals, and tiny gladiator skirt (he's topless, too, at one point) but apparently the only acting he can do is with his profile. Another old profile, Basil Rathbone, is also on hand as an ancient rabbi and a still-attractive Jeanne Crain unintentionally nails "patrician indifference" as Pilate's wife. Pilate's a womanizing martinet not without heart and the gang's all here from a ruthless, cut-throat Barabbas to a bony John Drew Barrymore in a dual role as both Jesus & Judas. The latter has a wild-eyed mad scene that would give JD's dad John a coronary and, like most movies of this sort, the Lord's visage is never shown, just his eyes. The money lenders get thrown out of the temple, too. I never knew the saying "I wash my hands of it" came from Pilate (or if I did, I forgot) and it's illustrated nicely here when he washes his hands after condemning Jesus and the basin water turns red with the Nazarine's eyes reflected in it.

There's much ado about an aqueduct and enough political intrigue between the Jews and the Romans in the first half of the film to put any viewer to sleep before the final crucifixion, which was unlike any I'd seen before on film. There's an eclipse and "spectacular cataclysm" as Jesus dies on the cross but unfortunately, for every plus there's a minus here and although it's no doubt unintentional, the movie does suggest the Jews killed Jesus since sending down an earthquake to destroy Jerusalem during the Crucifixion implies punishment, no? The U.S. release version cut out a wrap-around of Pilate's trial before Caligula but it's been restored (albeit with English subs) and although Rapper had an eye for spectacular widescreen tableaux (there really is a cast of thousands), it's pretty much a bore (albeit a strangely compelling one) and the low IMDb rating is about right for once.