Joseph in the Land of Egypt

Name: Joseph in the Land of Egypt
Genre: Drama
Released: 1914-02-01
Duration: 52 min
Rating: 5.1
Cast: James Cruze, Marguerite Snow, John Lehnberg

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

YOUR RATING

Drama

The second of "Thanhouser Big Productions," a monthly schedule, Joseph in the Land of Egypt was a true "feature" film, a new class of film which came to dominate the market by the end of 191... Read allThe second of "Thanhouser Big Productions," a monthly schedule, Joseph in the Land of Egypt was a true "feature" film, a new class of film which came to dominate the market by the end of 1914. A feature was an hour or more, heavily advertised, with elaborate production values, of... Read allThe second of "Thanhouser Big Productions," a monthly schedule, Joseph in the Land of Egypt was a true "feature" film, a new class of film which came to dominate the market by the end of 1914. A feature was an hour or more, heavily advertised, with elaborate production values, often with higher ticket prices, longer runs per theater, strongly promoted star cast and wa... Read all

Director
- Eugene Moore
Writers
- Theodore A. Liebler Jr.
- Lloyd Lonergan
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- Eugene Moore
Writers
- Theodore A. Liebler Jr.
- Lloyd Lonergan
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Featured review

6/10

The Story of Joseph

This is a respectful but slightly stodgy film realization of the Biblical story of Joseph -- played here by future director James Cruze.

Part of the problem is caused by the length of the takes. Thanhouser had developed a house style of camera work in which a brisk pace of cutting hid the camera movement necessary to maintain composition. But in this movie the length of a shot seems to be tied to the average length of the titles, which average five lines from the Bible: screen title, then illustrate it. This was, by 1914, rather old hat, but given that this was a Biblical epic and that FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS two years earlier had been such a huge success using the same techniques, the practice is understandable, if slow.

Certainly this was a large production, even for Thanhouser, which was a very ambitious company, quite willing to spend money on sets and costumes. It shows. Also the uncredited set designer and camera man were quite clever. The Egyptian sets have a pretty good 19th Century illustration look to them, sometimes approaching watercolor.

Over all, the effect is a not brilliant and it will never bump Demille from the list of great Biblical epics, but interesting to fans of silent films.