'King of Kings' coming to DVD

Each Tuesday there are hundreds of new DVD titles released, translating to thousands each year. No commercial outlet could possibly carry every title, and certainly no single publication could provide reviews for all of them.

From time to time, however, a film of special merit is released that deserves to be singled out. And such is the case with Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 silent masterpiece "The King of Kings," to be released Dec. 7 in a two-disc set from the Criterion Collection ($39.95). (Not to be confused with the 1961 remake with Jeffrey Hunter, which is also on DVD.)

"One of the most difficult themes, the story of Christ's passion and death, is transferred to the screen with a solemnity and a convincing impressiveness that surpasses 'The Ten Commandments' or any other picture of its type ever made," wrote Betty Colfax in her 1927 review in the Evening Graphic, a New York tabloid.

And those words could still be used today in expounding the merits of this extraordinary film.

Although DeMille remade many of his silent movies during the sound era, his "King of Kings" is "the one film that DeMille would not remake, for he felt that he could not improve upon it," according to artist Arnold Friberg, who worked closely with DeMille in 1956 on his final film, "The Ten Commandments." (Friberg is perhaps most famous for his Book of Mormon paintings and "The Prayer at Valley Forge," which depicts George Washington kneeling in prayer beside his steed.)

Friberg said that as a boy his artistic style was strongly influenced by seeing DeMille's "The King of Kings" in a movie theater, as well as the illustrations of Gustav Dore in his family Bible. Later, while working for DeMille, Friberg learned that DeMille had also been inspired after seeing a Dore exhibit, and those illustrations strongly influenced the visual images for "The King of Kings."

"DeMille was a master at composition," said Friberg."Nobody else has ever come close to DeMille's work in capturing the life of Christ on film."

The Criterion release owes a debt to James V. D'Arc, curator at Brigham Young University — which houses the immense Cecil B. DeMille collection in its archives. D'Arc was instrumental in Criterion including the original roadshow version of the film in this DVD release.

As soon as he heard about it, D'Arc contacted Criterion to offer BYU's vast resources from the DeMille Archives and to encourage them to seek out the 155-minute original print donated to the George Eastman House by the DeMille family.