''The Star of Bethlehem'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by

Edwin Thanhouser Edwin Thanhouser (November 11, 1865 – March 21, 1956) was an American actor, businessman, and film producer. He was most notable as a founder of the Thanhouser Company, which was one of the first motion picture studios. His wife Gertrude Th ...

and

Charles J. Hite Charles Jackson Hite (June 7, 1876 – August 21, 1914) was an American businessman and film producer of the early 20th century, most importantly the president and chief executive officer of the Thanhouser Film Corporation from 1912 to 1914. ...

, and featuring

Florence La Badie Florence La Badie (born Florence Russ; April 27, 1888 – October 13, 1917) was an American-Canadian actress in the early days of the silent film era. She was a major star between 1911 and 1917. Her career was at its height when she died a ...

, James Cruze, and William Russell. The film is a retelling of Biblical events preceding the

Nativity of Jesus The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of Matthew, Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea (Roman ...

. Directed by Lawrence Marston, the entire film is staged as brief

tableaux The International Conference on Automated Reasoning with Analytic Tableaux and Related Methods (TABLEAUX) is an annual international academic conference that deals with all aspects of automated reasoning with analytic tableaux. Periodically, it joi ...

. With much of the original lost (only 15 minutes survive), the existing footage can be difficult to interpret as a coherent whole.

Overview

The plot follows those narratives of the Bible which lead up to the birth of Jesus Christ. The cast was headed by Florence La Badie as Mary, James Cruze as

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, with William Russell as King Herod.

Cast

* Florence La Badie as Mary * James Cruze as Micah/Joseph * William Russell as King Herod * Justus D. Barnes as Gaspar, a Magi * Riley Chamberlin as Balthasar, a Magi * Charles Horan as Melchior, a Magi * Harry Marks as Scribe * Lawrence Merton as Scribe * N.S. Woods as Scribe * David H. Thompson as Pharisee, rabbi * Lew Woods as Pharisee, scribe *

Joseph Graybill Joseph Graybill (April 17, 1887 – August 3, 1913) was an American silent film actor. He appeared in several films directed by D.W. Griffith. Graybill joined the Biograph Company around 1909 in New York City. By 1910 Griffith was the main direc ...

as Roman messenger * Carl LeViness – shepherd * Frank Grimmer – shepherd *

Ethyle Cooke Ethyle Cooke (August 4, 1880 - April 20, 1949) was an American silent film actress of the 1910s. In 1915, she married another prominent silent film actor of the time, Harry Benham. Cooke starred in many popular films, such as ''A Small Town Gir ...

Production notes

This film was produced by the Thanhouser Company in 1912. In later life, La Badie described her role of Mary as the favorite of her career.

Status and availability

The film was originally shot on three full reels. Today, only a one-reel edited version survives and is preserved at the BFI National Archive and the John E. Allen, Incorporated archive. The surviving footage is now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. Because no copyright number exists in the film, it is possible that it was never officially copyrighted at the time of its release. ''The Star of Bethlehem'' was included on ''The Thanhouser Collection: Volumes 1, 2 and 3'' DVD collection released in 2006.

References

External links