The King of Kings

Film Info

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

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.

Cast

Jesus	H.B. Warner
Mary	Dorothy Cumming
Mary Magdalene	Jacqueline Logan
Caiaphas	Rudolph Schildkraut
The Pharisee	Sam De Grasse
The Scribe	Casson Ferguson
Pontius Pilate	Victor Varconi
Proculla	Majel Coleman
Roman Centurion	Montagu Love
Simon of Cyrene	William Boyd
Mark	Micky Moore
Malchus	Theodore Kosloff
Barabbas	George Siegmann
Martha	Julia Faye
Mary of Bethany	Josephine Norman
Lazarus	Kenneth Thomson

Credits

Director	Cecil B. DeMille
Story and continuity	Jeanie Macpherson
Chief photography	J. Peverell Marley
Assisted by	J.A. Badaracco and Fred Westerberg
Assistant director	Frank Urson
Second assistants	Roy Burns and William J. Cowen
Art director	Mitchell Leisen
Set dresser	Theodore Dickson
Costumes	Adrian, Earl Luick and Gwen Wakeling
Associate film editor	Clifford Howard
Editing	Anne Bauchens and Harold McLernon
Research	Elizabeth McGaffrey
Color photography	Technicolor

Disc Features

SPECIAL-EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:

New, restored digital transfers of both versions of The King of Kings: DeMille’s 155-minute roadshow version and his subsequent 112-minute general release
New Dolby Digital 5.1 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 booklet featuring 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