Cecil B. DeMille

The King of Kings

The King of Kings

The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this beloved film in a two-disc edition featuring both the 112-minute general-release version and the rarely seen 155-minute cut that premiered at the grand opening of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1927
  • 155 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #266

Special Features

  • Restored digital transfers of both versions of the film: DeMille’s 155-minute roadshow version and his subsequent 112-minute general release
  • New 5.1 surround scores by composers Donald Sosin (1927 version) and Timothy J. Tikker (1931 version), plus the original score for the 1931 release by Hugo Riesenfeld
  • Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of The King of Kings
  • Cast portraits by photographer W.M. Mortensen
  • Production and costume sketches by renowned artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck
  • Stills gallery of rare production and publicity photos
  • Original illustrated program and press book featuring photographs from the film’s gala premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and studio correspondence from DeMille
  • Original theatrical trailers
  • Plus: a 1927 essay by DeMille, an excerpt from Robert S. Birchard’s book Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood, production notes, and a new essay by film critic Peter Matthews

    New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • Restored digital transfers of both versions of the film: DeMille’s 155-minute roadshow version and his subsequent 112-minute general release
  • New 5.1 surround scores by composers Donald Sosin (1927 version) and Timothy J. Tikker (1931 version), plus the original score for the 1931 release by Hugo Riesenfeld
  • Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of The King of Kings
  • Cast portraits by photographer W.M. Mortensen
  • Production and costume sketches by renowned artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck
  • Stills gallery of rare production and publicity photos
  • Original illustrated program and press book featuring photographs from the film’s gala premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and studio correspondence from DeMille
  • Original theatrical trailers
  • Plus: a 1927 essay by DeMille, an excerpt from Robert S. Birchard’s book Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood, production notes, and a new essay by film critic Peter Matthews

    New cover by Eric Skillman
The King of Kings
Cast
H.B. Warner
Jesus
Dorothy Cumming
Mary
Jacqueline Logan
Mary Magdalene
Rudolph Schildkraut
Caiaphas
Sam De Grasse
The Pharisee
Casson Ferguson
The Scribe
Victor Varconi
Pontius Pilate
Majel Coleman
Proculla
Montagu Love
Roman Centurion
William Boyd
Simon of Cyrene
Micky Moore
Mark
Theodore Kosloff
Malchus
George Siegmann
Barabbas
Julia Faye
Martha
Josephine Norman
Mary of Bethany
Kenneth Thomson
Lazarus
Credits
Director
Cecil B. DeMille
Story and continuity
Jeanie Macpherson
Chief photography
J. Peverell Marley
Assisted by
J.A. Badaracco
Assisted by
Fred Westerberg
Assistant director
Frank Urson
Second assistants
Roy Burns
Second assistants
William J. Cowen
Art director
Mitchell Leisen
Set dresser
Theodore Dickson
Costumes
Adrian
Costumes
Earl Luick
Costumes
Gwen Wakeling
Associate film editor
Clifford Howard
Editing
Anne Bauchens
Editing
Harold McLernon
Research
Elizabeth McGaffrey
Color photography
Technicolor

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