An early example of feature-length filmmaking, this epic (by 1905 standards) is unusually entertaining despite the stiff acting and tableaux posing.

A surviving print exhibits an excellent example of the turn-of-the-century stencil-based hand-tinted Pathécolor process, which added a pastel coloring to release prints.

This edition features a full-frame video transfer mastered from a very-good Pathécolor (hand-tinted) English language 35mm print, entitled Passion and Death of Christ, as preserved by Haghefilm Holland, and distributed on home video by Lobster Films, Paris.

While the video transfer appears to be very-good, holding a broad range of colortones and image detail, the encoding of the video information to the DVD appears to be a bit higher than desireable, as unnecessary edge-sharpening and video compression artifacts will be visible to the sharp-eyed viewer. Playing the disc on high-definition equipment with signal upscaling helps to smooth out some of the artifacts, but the video information probably didn't need to be as compressed as it is.

The film is accompanied by a pipe organ music score that is appropriately liturgical. Sing, Hosanna!

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

Other EARLY FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.