LizzieMaine
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For a long time the definitive screen Jesus was H. B. Warner, who played the part in DeMille's silent "King of Kings" in 1927 -- a film which was still widely distributed on 16mm for church-basement showings well into the 1950s. Warner was not a muscular athletic type, nor was he in any way Semitic, but he did have the long, thin features that matched the common dime-store chromos of Jesus that hung on many living room walls in the twenties and before -- for better or worse, this was the visualization of Jesus that came to most peoples' minds at the time.
It was the definitive role of Warner's career for a very long time. But now, if he's remembered at all, it's for this role:
Yep, good old alcoholic druggist Mr. Gower was the screen's best-known Jesus. What audiences of 1947 must have thought when they saw this particular actor cast in this particular role suggests that Mr. Capra was being deliberately provocative when casting him.
It was the definitive role of Warner's career for a very long time. But now, if he's remembered at all, it's for this role:
Yep, good old alcoholic druggist Mr. Gower was the screen's best-known Jesus. What audiences of 1947 must have thought when they saw this particular actor cast in this particular role suggests that Mr. Capra was being deliberately provocative when casting him.