I Beheld His Glory

I Beheld His Glory is a 53-minute television film made in 1953 and first shown on Easter Week on the anthology Family Theatre. It was presented by Cathedral Films, the same studio which had presented the church-sponsored film The Great Commandment, in 1939. Directed by John T. Coyle, most of I Beheld His Glory is told in flashback by Cornelius, a Roman Centurion (played by veteran actor George Macready, for once cast against type in a sympathetic role). Cornelius, who is open-minded about the teachings of Christ, becomes concerned for His safety after hearing about the plot to have Him killed. He is finally converted to Christianity after hearing the story of Christ's Resurrection from the apostle Thomas. The film shows the Last Supper, the trial of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the appearance of Christ to Doubting Thomas and the other Apostles. Christ is played by the otherwise unknown actor Robert Wilson, who virtually made a career out of playing Him. Wilson appeared in the role on several church-sponsored films such as Day of Triumph (1954), which starred Lee J. Cobb as the High Priest Zadok and was one of the first full-length American sound films to actually show Christ in close-up. Films of the era, except for documentary footage of Passion Plays, invariably avoided this for fear of negative audience reaction. Motion pictures such as The Great Commandment, Ben Hur (1959) and The Robe (1953) showed Christ only in long shot or from the back.

I Beheld His Glory has, in recent years, been shown on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

External links

I Beheld His Glory at the Internet Movie Database