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

Within the Eastern Christian tradition, Claudia Procles is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In the 3rd century, Origen suggested in his Homilies on Matthew that she had become a Christian. Western Christian tradition considers her dream sent by the devil in an attempt to thwart the salvation that was going to result from Christ's death.

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Connections

Edited into Caligula et Messaline (1981)

User Reviews

A confusing work.

The director had great ambitions;he wanted to mix politics with religion but the results show too much confusion,and the fact that Jesus and Judas are played by the same actor (!) doesn't help.Actually Jesus appears lately in the production ;the first half is marred by too many subplots :the aqueduct,the young girl who tries to seduce Pilate,the Sanhedrin,Nicodemus,gladiators devoured by ouch! crocodiles,Barabbas who sometimes seems at the Sanhedrin's beck and call,and of course the Temple.Irving Rapper has certainly De Millesque ambitions but he 's no match for the "ten commandments" man.He should have stuck to melodrama ("Now voyager",1942).

Pilate is played by great actor Jean Marais,but the production is overwhelming and he can't really display his brilliant skills.In fact,the movie is a flashback (Why?The screen play did not ask for that at all).

The second part is more run of the mill Passion stuff even if the camera focuses on Pilate,showing the crucifixion from a distance.To "enliven" things a bit,it seems that Good Friday events are turned into a disaster movie,complete with destruction of Pilate's palace and his wife's death.

Rapper ,like Wyler before him in "Ben Hur" ,never shows the Christ's face,except for a shot of his eyes.As for Barabbas,you'll always be better off with Richard Fleischer's eponymous movie(1962)