There were a bunch of them pretty soon after films started to be screened commercially, eg The Passion, directed by Lumierre, (France) 1898 and The Passion Play of Oberammergau dir Vincent (America) 1898 - cinema was developing in both places.
They weren’t particularly controversial and they were very popular. Early cinema was basically following on from theatre, and there had been an accepted European cultural tradition of depictions of Jesus death dating back to Medieval times, aka Passion Plays, and of course Christmas Nativity plays.
So films using this template did very well. You soon see longer ones through the silent era.
There were a bunch of them pretty soon after films started to be screened commercially, eg The Passion, directed by Lumierre, (France) 1898 and The Passion Play of Oberammergau dir Vincent (America) 1898 - cinema was developing in both places.
They weren’t particularly controversial and they were very popular. Early cinema was basically following on from theatre, and there had been an accepted European cultural tradition of depictions of Jesus death dating back to Medieval times, aka Passion Plays, and of course Christmas Nativity plays.
So films using this template did very well. You soon see longer ones through the silent era.
Thanks!