Judith of Bethulia (1914)

Pretty Good

Instant Favorite.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

"Judith of Bethulia" was one of the first great full-length epics. While the Italian film, "Cabiria", came out later in 1914 and was much longer and much better, "Judith" did debut first--and no doubt its success led to director D.W. Griffith making his next great epic "The Birth of a Nation".The story is from the Apocrypha and apparently there was also a play about Judith as well--and Griffith crafted his story based on both. As far as the historical accuracy of the story goes, it's got some plot holes and inaccuracies but it makes for a nice story.The film begins with the Assyrians under General Holofernes (Henry Walthall--though he's difficult to see under that giant beard) attack the most likely fictional town of Bethulia. The Jews' faith wavers, but the fair widow, Judith (Blanche Sweet), has faith that God will deliver the city from the Assyrian army. When God doesn't act, Judith takes matters into her own hands--and disguises herself as one of Holofernes' strumpets (he has a lot and never actually seems to do much of anything but party). Eventually, Judith finds him drunk and whacks off his head and presents it to her people. The Assyrians in turn run like babies.So what's to like? The film looks amazing for 1914. The costumes, sets and the look of the film are a HUGE step forward for the film industry and it looks great. It also helped that the actors were quite distinguished and tended to act in a reasonable and restrained manner (for the most part). The only serious negatives are the language in the film (it's very old fashioned and occasionally silly) and that the film is occasionally heavy-handed. A very good film overall.

The story of Holofernes leading the Assyrians against the Judean city of Bethulia. After a failed attack the Assyrians try to withhold the water supply from the Judeans. Judith of Bethulia is called into action to save her people.This is the first D.W. Griffiths feature film. Indeed it's one of the very first full-length movies. It's a dry run for later Griffith epics such as Intolerance, which also features a biblical attack on an ancient city, in that case Babylon. This film is a lot less grand it has to be said. Watch out for the version available on-line with the abysmally inappropriately jolly score! It's really only going to be of interest to those who wish to delve into the origins of feature film-making. It's a little heavy going otherwise.

This was something of a milestone – denoting a leap for pioneer D.W. Griffith from his customary one or two-reelers to a then considerable length of 49 minutes in this version (its length may vary on account of differing speeds utilized during projection of Silent movies) as well as from a modern-day, or at least American, setting towards apparently unlimited scope. In that regard alone, JUDITH OF BETHULIA is worthy of attention – but Griffith's Victorian sensibilities (which he could never, or would not, shake off) still ground it into the antediluvian quality of film-making which is perhaps the most common objection raised by certain viewers nowadays to watching Silent pictures! Anyway, this was obviously inspired by the Old Testament tale in which a saintly woman sacrifices her dignity in order to release the Jewish people (depicted as long-bearded stereotypes which would not go down well today!) from oppression by the Assyrian army: she ingratiates herself within the affections of King Holofernes, whom she gets drunk one night and decapitates – after which the invaders disperse. Apart from a lengthy offensive outside the city walls, the running-time is padded-out with the plight of a young couple (the boy is a brave warrior and the girl eventually enslaved inside the enemy camp) and, also appearing from time to time, is Lillian Gish in a typical role symbolizing motherhood. Unfortunately, the print I acquired of this 95-year old title was extremely fuzzy – rendering the elaborate and often chaotic visuals even harder to make out – and it was accompanied besides by one of the most incongruous scores I have ever heard, approximating to a circus jingle (complete with laugh track!) which one finds at its most jubilant when the on-screen events seem to demand emotions of an entirely different nature!!

Some striking images and an intriguing performance from Blanche Sweet highlight this 1913 D.W. Griffith biblical film. This film also features very early performances from the Gish sisters.The story is the biblical tale of a virgin who gives up her honor by sleeping with evil Holofernes, in order to gain access to murder him. Personally, I found it all a bit too threadbare to justify even this short running time. However, there are some interesting photographic aspects of the film, such as some trick photography used to make the big battle sequences look more powerful, and a very advanced editing technique used to show a bloodless decapitation that might have made Hitchock proud.Primarily of interest to film historians and Griffith fans only.