A recent article in The Watchtower, February 15, 2014 addresses the centenary of the Photo-Drama of Creation. Then comment it on this 'remarkable work', but it will never be displayed by the Watchtower again ...
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The 1890’s introduced silent motion pictures to the public. As early as 1903, a religious film was shown in a New York City church. The motion-picture industry was thus in its infancy in 1912 when Russell boldly launched preparations for the “Photo-Drama.” He realized that this mode of communication could convey Bible truth in a way that the printed page alone could not.
The writers of the Watchtower need better detail his writings. What religious film was screened in a church in 1903? Why the name was not mentioned? Maybe something embarrassing to the Watchtower ...
It is very likely that this religious film was "La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ" (The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ), launched and displayed in the same year, 1903. This biblical film was produced in France and was the first film with colorful scenes and music who have record, 10 years before emerging the Photo-Drama. You can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BnCHVzzDMM
The eight-hour “Photo-Drama” presentation, usually shown in four parts, featured 96 brief recorded Bible lectures narrated by a well-known speaker with one of the most recognizable voices of that era. Classical music accompanied many scenes. Skilled operators played the voice and music recordings on phonographs, synchronizing the sound with color slides and film reenactments of famous Bible stories.
Who was he? In the recordings I have, Charles Taze Russell himself is the one who narrates the 96 parts of the Photo-Drama.
Most of the film footage and many of the glass slides came from commercial studios. Professional artists in Philadelphia, New York, Paris, and London hand painted the glass slides and the films, frame by frame. Teams of workers in Bethel’s Art Room also did much of the painting, often making replacements for broken slides. In addition to the purchased films, Bethel family members were filmed in nearby Yonkers, New York, as they played the parts of Abraham, Isaac, and the angel who prevented Abraham from actually sacrificing his son.—Gen. 22:9-12.
The Watchtower has not produced much of the Photo-Drama. What is more interesting, it does not mention that most of the Photo-Drama is nothing more than the scenes that "religious film" displayed in a church in 1903! Yes, most colorful scenes of Photo-Drama of Creation are scenes from the French film "La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ" (1903)! The Watchtower loves to boast such colorful scenes, but it did not produce them. Although remade a scene with actors of Bethel, as the article says, still not innovated anything, just took advantage and copied an existing idea.
An associate of Brother Russell told the press that this medium would “interest countless thousands in Scripture, more than anything that [had] been done for religious advancement in the past.” Would the clergy applaud such an innovative effort to reach the spiritually hungry masses? On the contrary, Christendom’s ministers as a whole denounced the “Photo-Drama,” some even using sly or brazen tactics to prevent the public from seeing it. In one venue, a ministers’ union had the electricity cut off.
And why clerics should applaud him? The Watchtower has applauded any production Christianity? No. And why the Watchtower does not mention exactly what the clerics condemned the Photo-Drama? Was it the fact that this film suggest that Adam was the first pharaoh? The biblical character Melchizedek built the pyramids of Egypt? Jehovah dwells the Pleiades? Among other things that were certainly reasons to condemn him, although nothing justifies any excess that they have had.
Finally, just bounce the Photo-Drama of Creation was a really interesting production. Viewers of the Photo-Drama in theaters should really have been impressed with what he saw. Charles Taze Russell was a preacher highly intelligent and knew very well invest in what he believed. Despite some extravagant ideas, Bible Students of that era were a group absolutely harmless. My implication is how the Watchtower approaches the subject today. Unfortunate that after the death of Russell, the Watchtower has taken the direction it has taken, today becoming manager of a religion totally different from what he, with great effort, organized.
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- I'm, "Estudante da Bíblia", from Brazil. Author of the Blog "Zion's Watch Tower", in portuguese language.
This comment was originally published in the brazilian Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses forum.