''The Story of Joseph and His Brethren'' (Italian: ''Giuseppe venduto dai fratelli'') is a 1961 Yugoslavian/Italian film directed by Irving Rapper and Luciano Ricci. The film is also known as ''Joseph Sold by His Brothers'', ''Joseph and His Brethren'' (American DVD box title) and ''Sold into Egypt'' in the United Kingdom. It was the last film of Belinda Lee.

Plot summary

Joseph lives in the land of Canaan, where he is the favorite of his father Jacob's 12 sons. Joseph's brothers envy his favored position in the family and his uncanny ability to interpret people's dreams. When Jacob assigns Joseph to take a flock of sheep to sell, the brothers see their opportunity to be rid of him forever. They beat him and sell him to a slave trader. They then return to Jacob and tell him Joseph has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph is bought by Potiphar, the pharaoh's superintendent of prisons.

Potiphar's wife Potiphar's wife is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. She was the wife of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard in the time of Jacob and his twelve sons. According to the Book of Genesis, she falsely accused Joseph of attempted ra ...

Henet is strongly attracted to Joseph and tries to seduce him. When he refuses, she falsely accuses him of attempting to rape her, and Joseph is thrown into prison. Later, when Potiphar learns what Henet has done, he kills her and then himself. Joseph is joined in prison by the Pharaoh's butler and baker, who have fallen out of favor. The two have been plagued by dreams, which Joseph interprets correctly. When the Pharaoh himself has a dream he cannot decipher, his newly reinstated butler suggests he consult Joseph. Joseph interprets the dream to mean that Egypt will enjoy seven years of prosperity, followed by seven years of

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

. Joseph suggests setting aside grain from the seven prosperous years in preparation for the famine. Pharaoh accepts the suggestion and appoints Joseph to take charge of the task. Over the next several years, Joseph's power continues to grow. He marries a woman named

Asenath Asenath (, ; Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, ''Asenéth'') is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman. She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. There are two Ra ...

and fends off an attack from the King of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. When the famine begins, Egypt has stored enough grain for itself, as well as some to sell to neighboring nations. When Joseph's family back in Canaan travel to Egypt to buy grain, his brothers fail to recognize him and Joseph shrewdly uses this to his advantage. He holds his brother Simeon (son of Jacob) hostage and orders the others to bring Jacob and

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

. Joseph reveals his identity and forgives his brothers.

Cast

* Geoffrey Horne as Joseph * Robert Morley as Potiphar * Belinda Lee as Henet * Vira Silenti as

* Terence Hill as

* Carlo Giustini as Reuben *

Finlay Currie William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He re ...

as Jacob * Arturo Dominici as Rekmira * Robert Rietti as Pharaoh * Julian Brooks as Chief Baker * Mimo Billi as Chief Butler * Carlo Angeletti ("Marietto") as Benjamin as a Child * Marco Guglielmi as Judah * Dante DiPaolo as Simeon *

Charles Borromel Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

as Dan * Helmuth Schneider as

Zebulon Zebulun (; also ''Zebulon'', ''Zabulon'', or ''Zaboules'') was, according to the Books of Genesis and Numbers,Genesis 46:14 the last of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's tenth son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Zebulun. Some ...

* Loris Bazzocchi as Issachar *

Marin Marija Marin (French) or Marín (Spanish "sailor") may refer to: People * Marin (name), including a list of persons with the given name or surname * MaRin, in-game name of professional South Korean ''League of Legends'' player Jang Gyeong-hwan (born 19 ...

as Asher *

Nino Segurini Nino or Niño may refer to: *Nino (name) *Niño (name) * Antonin Scalia, American Supreme Court justice whose nickname was "Nino" *El Niño, a climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean *NINO, an abbreviation for National Insurance number in th ...

as Gad *

Tonko Sarcevic Tonko is a South Slavic masculine given name. In Croatian, it is a hypocorism of the name Antun and other cognates of Antonius. It is found in Slovene as a diminutive form of Anton, Antonij, and Antonijo in Slovenia. Given name *Tonko Lonz ...

as Levi

Production

It was one of two films Rapper directed in Italy, the other being '' Pontius Pilate''. Filming took place in Rome in October 1960. Robert Morley set fire to Belinda Lee's wig in one scene.

Reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "the clumsiest, the silliest, the worst of the quasi Bible stories to come along since wide screen was born... if you go see it, be prepared to howl." The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' called it "sedate and extremely prosaic." The ''Daily Mail'' reviewing ''Joseph'' in 1964 said Robert Morely put a stern face on a monstrous piece of miscasting" and "we come away sadly reflecting that properly handled, which she so rarely was, Belinda Lee might have been groomed into some kind of English Loren."Feuding galore Author: Cecil Wilson Date: Saturday, Mar. 28, 1964 p 13 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 21124

References

External links

*
The Story of Joseph and His Brethren''
at TCMDB
Film page
at BFI * {{DEFAULTSORT:Story of Joseph And His Brethren, The 1961 films Yugoslav drama films 1961 drama films 1960s English-language films CinemaScope films English-language Italian films English-language Yugoslav films 1960s Italian-language films Films scored by Mario Nascimbene Cultural depictions of Joseph (Genesis) 1962 drama films 1962 films 1960s multilingual films Italian multilingual films Yugoslav multilingual films