From Holy Harlot to Passionate Penitent: Mary Magdalene in Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings (1927)

Hollywood pioneer, Cecil B. DeMille, was a master of the American biblical epic, a pop culture professional, and a Christian true believer who went to great pains constructing religious characters whilst pursuing his cinematic art. Although eagerly awaited by the paying public, his films were frequently ignored, dismissed or devalued by academia thus resulting in scant scholarly attention and pedagogic under-utilisation. This situation needs urgent correction and renewal. Consequently, utilising humanist film criticism as the guiding analytical lens, the critical DeMille, film and religion literature was selectively reviewed, and his construction of Mary Magdalene within The King of Kings was explicated and briefly compared to other exemplars of this infamous scarlet woman. It was concluded that DeMille’s Magdalene was artfully constructed, dramatically engaging and scripturally insightful, thus demonstrating his deft skills as a cinematic lay preacher. Further research into DeMille studies and the emerging interdisciplinary field of religion-and-film was recommended.