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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1921)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY. MORNING, MARCH 13, 1921. m A N 2b Pi 0 9 P A Ambitious Motion Picture Bible" Which Government Helped Produce Said to Be Disapproved .i-ii. :; r"-' sv Seventy-Reel of "The Holy the Italian v:J . n,f W Eve Eating the Fatal Apple. AN extraordinary disagreement has arisen between. Ilia ; Holiness the Pope - and the Italian Government : over a moving: picture called ?The I Holy Bible." Tiiis is planned to show the salient features of the sacred Story; from the Creation onward. j His Holiness the Pope, it is said, has for bidden Catholics to view the picture on the 1 ground that it is immodest in parts and not designed . to help the Interests ot religion. On the other hand, the Italian Government has subsidized the production and is endeavoring tp promote it in every; -way in order to demonstrate the superior ity of Italian films over those of other countries, and especially of France. . The Italian Government and the I Pope have, of course, always been more or less in a state of antagonism, and this has now broken out anew on the very, up-to-date subject of moving pictures. It fa understood that the Pope dees not by any means consider the picture as alto gether' bad, but that a few parts of it are of such a character as to make. It improper to produce It with the pretence ot a reli gious motive. . : What offended His Holiness especially was the manner in which Adam and Eve were represented in the Garden of Eden. Of course, it was necessary to j ; display our first parents as un dressed prior to the fall, because the Bible telle us distinctly that that was their condition and says that they "were naked and were not ashamed." , But, of course, there are dif ferent ways . of representing nudity. According to some cri tics, Adam and Eve display themselves in this film in a bold ' and unblushing manner that makes "September Morn" seem, a model of modesty by compari son. -Moreover the woman chosen to play Eve Is of a very - fleshly type. It is also objected that there is an unnecessary amount of nudity in subsequent ecenes ot the film. The controversy - is a very peculiar one, because when the film was in ' preparation it was understood that the Pope warmly approved ot it as well calculated to teach . the sacred story to the people in Italy and other countries, and thus com bat the modern tendency to neglect religion and religious history, which has caused His much anxiety. The Impression Pope approved the film was Dasea on a quannea approval given by a minor official at the Vatican when the project Was first described to'hlm.;- ' When the Pope actually witnessed a pri vate exhibition o( the picture he was hor rified at many of the scenes. It la stated that the one which displeased His Holi ness is that which shows Eve eating tho apple the fruit of the tree that gave to man knowledge ot good and evil. , ; - -me .rope requested tne mm comoanv destroy the picture, but this ' they r Dying Victims of the . Ten JPlagues of Egypt. r. The Birth of Eve in the Garden of Eden, Created from the KUj of Adam, According to the Bible Narrative of the and Story, of the Creation. ; Miserable Sinners . . . , . - - c --! ot Babel, In Mesopotamia they employe! on the Pinnacle of . a Mountain aa the -' . ' Great Flood Risea " Around Them to Destroy Them, While Noah and Hit Family Are Safe in the Ark. 4 v. ' t (I 5 Adam and Eve Listening to the Voice of God in the .Garden of Eden, Unclothed and Unashamed. ; the Garden After Eye t . Holiness that the probably to fused to do. He then issued his order disapproving the picture. After that the company made some modifications In the film, but these, it is reported, do tot yet satisfy the Holy rather, ilia man date will undoubtedly have a grave effect in deterring many pious persons from seeing the film, but, on the other hand, it may result in greatl;- Increasing the attendance of others. The production of the film cost 5,000,000 lire, or nearly ?1.000,00(X in pre-war money. A large part ot this money is said to have been advanced by the Italian Gov ernment, which desired this to be . the most elaborate, Impressive and stupendous film ever produced, and thus promote and advertise the Italian film industry through out the world. The Italian Government de sired especially to counteract the effect created by "Atlantlde," a film based on Pierre Benoit's new book and aided by the French Government. The French film had been remarkable tor the amount of money and effort spent oa "tocatioa," The X Xlese-Up ; the Face of After Had Murdered His Brother Abel. producers went to the Sahara Desert tcmake this film, and one of the ' most Remarkable ' scenes was laid in -a volcanic crater in that region. Other scenes showed thousands of wild desert Arabs, .deadly 'W-Ti sandstorms, wild terrors and won- Adn nd Eve in ders ot the dasert Had Tasted of the Tree of Knowledge, In creating the ; Clothed in Fig Leaves, film of The Holy ' . ciDie" tne Italians carried their operations to the forbidden, almost unexplored wilder ness of Sinai, and to many other scenes of the Bible story. They located a large part of the story upon Mount Glnai, where Jeho vah spoke to Hoses and grave him the Ten Commandments. Other parts of the picture were taken in Egypt, Palestine and Babylonia. . f . , " The Italians and their Government delib erately set out to beat the French film makers. They hired the inhabitants of en tire towns, to take part In certain scenes en tire tribes of Arabs, kings and - chiefs, and all the member of certain ancient monas teries and convents in the East. They filmed camels, lions, snakes and many other wild and domestic animals of the Orient. In one scene the building oj the, Tgwpc over 20,000 actors. In the entire film mora than 100,000 actors were engaged. The entire original film consists of 70J Italian reels, 35,000 feet In length. ' After all the effort and money that have been expended on this film it will seem to many very unfortunate that the producers could not make It free from grave objec lion! The film naturally starts with the crea tion of the world, which is represented in a very entertaining and Instructive man ner. After that we soon come to the epi sode. of Adam and Eve. The modern pub- lie see their first ancestor growing out of ' the dust under the hand of the Almighty. ; Soon after that comes the creation ot Eve, and here occurs, perhaps, the flr3t I ground for criticism. While Adam is lying in a deep sleep the Creator takes one of ; his ribs and makes a companion for him ; In the form of woman. I Eve is created perfectly full grown and S well-developed. She stands up boldly In I the sunlight clad only In her long golden ; hair.; After that there ere a number of very picturesque and idyllic scenes in the ; Garden of Eden. : v - The spectator sees Adam and Eve listen- ; Ing to the voice ot the Lord, telling them : that they must not eat ot the fruit of "the I tree which is in the midst of the Garden.'' The serpent then tempts Eve and she eats ' of the apple and gives it to her husband. This is a scene which has come In for' considerable criticism because Eva munches the apple as if she were thor-; oughly enjoying it. Instead of behaving in : a furtive manner as a woman would do ! who. knew that she was committing a for : bidden act. j Another Bible episode which gave occa- -slon for much local cohor was the building; ! of the Tower of BabeL ! Thousands of primi- tlve men, real Arabs, ' gather around at stony space In Meso potamia and discuss ; the building of a; tower whose ton shall , reach to ; hea-1 ven. They go to work and raise tip; the mighty tower, one floor after an-i other. When the workmen have car-; ried it tp a dizzy; height the" confusion.! of tongues falls upon them and they an scattered. I The destruction oC Godom and Gomor rah Is the next speo' tacular episode. ; The oppression of; the Israelites by; Phsraoh, the ten! plagues sent to af flict the Egyptians and the Exodus ot i the Israelites under ; the leadership r i Moses are pictured. ' One of the most am-: bitlous scenes in the) I entire film la that I which represents the miraculous passage) of the Israelites through the Red Sea and ' the drowning of Pharaoh's pursuing host. I This part of the film was actually made on the shores ot the Red Sea. The wandering of the Israelites for forty S years in the wilderness and the desert of Sinai furnish another opportunity for im pressive local atmosphere.. The worship: of the golden calf, Moses smiting the rock to bring forth water, the pillar of fire, the I .scenes upon Mount Sinai are all repre- I sented with great realism. The producers J say that they made the greatest effort of all and suffered the greatest hardships in l producing this part of the film. They ? penetrated the barren wilderness of SinalJ where there is practically no water or which a white man can live. K C) MX. XaUniUoul Tutu Struct la.