Joseph 

The Biblical story of Joseph, who was sold to slavery by his brothers who were jealous of his prophetic abilities to analyze dreams and of his being their fathers' favorite.

Stars:

Ben Kingsley, Paul Mercurio, Martin Landau

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Ben Kingsley	...	Potiphar unknown episodes

Storyline

The story begins in Egypt, in the marketplace of Avaris where Joseph is sold as a slave to Potiphar, the Pharaoh's Chief Steward. Joseph, the favored son of the patriarch Jacob, was given into captivity by his own envious brothers. A tireless and highly productive worker, Joseph wins his master's trust and is named steward of Potiphar's household. However, Joseph also unwittingly arouses the lust of Potiphar's wife. Luring him into her room one day, she orders Joseph to give her pleasure. But Joseph prefers punishment, even death, to betraying his master. As he flees from the room, the desperate woman tears off Joseph's garment and brandishes it as proof of her violation. As Potiphar questions him, Joseph begins to narrate the story of his past, a tale of suffering and hardship. We flash back to the time when Jacob and his family settled near the town of Schechem. It is a brief and unhappy stay, for when Jacob's daughter Dinah is ravished by the young prince of Schechem, Jacob's sons ...

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Plot Keywords:

tv mini series | brother | pharaoh | egypt | dream | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Details

Country:

Italy Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 April 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Joseph

Filming Locations:

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beta Film, Lube, Lux Vide

Technical Specs

Runtime:

178 min (miniseries) 185 min (miniseries)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paul Mercurio is the son of Australian movie legend Gus Mercurio.

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Quotes

Reuben: Father, I cannot leave Simeon in prison. If I fail to bring Benjamin back I offer the lives of my own two sons.
Jacob: How typical of you, Reuben. If I lose Benjamin I can begin exterminating my entire family!

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Connections

Version of Greatest Heroes of the Bible: Jacob's Challenge (1979)

User Reviews

A great story from the Bible!

The story of Joseph and his brothers is one of the most impressing and rich of significance stories amongst the many others great legends from the Bible. Even the Nobel Prize winner - German author Thomas Mann - wrote a novel called 'Joseph and his Brothers' giving his personal interpretation of this intense, gripping and compassionate episode of the Bible. However, the cinema never pays much attention to this story. In fact, anyone can easily remember movies like 'The Ten Commandments' which tells the adventure of Moses in his search for the Promised Land or 'Sanson and Dellila'. But the drama of the betrayed Joseph, his suffer among the Egyptians and his conquer of power and fortune, was never at the first line of consideration by the producers of Hollywood. This movie, produced in Italy, bring to us this entranced story with an average success. The movie is a bit overlong (180 min) but never boring; the sets and costumes are accurate and the movie has a great photograph. Martin Landau gives a convinced performance as Jacob, Ben Kingsley is correct as Potifar but Paul Mercurio is very bad as Joseph. Maybe another actor with more intensity could give more strenght and energy to the movie. Anyway, if you find this one in a DVD/VHS rent store and if you like Biblical movies, don't lose this one. It's really worthwhile.