Providing a real Easter treat for the discerning movie watcher, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will show Cecil B. DeMille’s classic 1927 cinematic recounting of the life of Jesus Christ, King of Kings, uncut and without interruptions, tonight beginning at midnight EDT.

As I wrote about the film for National Review Online,

[DeMille’s] King of Kings is one of my favorite films. To tell the story of Jesus’s life as presented in the four Gospels, DeMille used Scriptural quotations for all his subtitles. This choice gives the film an explicit foundation in the Bible, which strongly complements the director’s realistic and persuasive visual treatment (which he still manages to make as grand as any of his other films). DeMille made some fascinating interpretive choices in the narrative, such as showing precisely what he believes Jesus wrote in the dust when he challenged the Pharisees to step forward and, if without sin, cast the first stone at the woman taken in adultery. In addition, DeMille’s depiction of Mary Magdalene as a wealthy courtesan is an eminently plausible interpretation of the Biblical material and makes for a quite moving and morally persuasive secondary narrative.

It’s a silent film, but even if you don’t usually enjoy movies from before the sound era, you should give this one a try. With an excellent performance by H. B. Warner as Jesus, the Christ, and DeMille’s typically intelligent and masterly direction and gorgeous, painterly visual images, the film is moving, forceful, and insightful. It is one of the great classics of the cinema.

DeMille’s film is preceded on TCM (at 9 EDT) by the 1961 version directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Jeffrey Hunter, which is also quite good and is well worth watching.

In fact, you might as well make an evening of it by watching Easter Parade on TCM beginning at 7 EDT. This 1948 MGM musical directed by Charles Waters stars Fred Astaire as a vaudeville dancing star who takes singer Judy Garland under his wing to make her his new dance partner.

The film is visually stunning in bright, classic Technicolor, boasts excellent performances by the leads and a typically brilliant MGM supporting cast led by Ann Miller and Peter Lawford, and includes some classic musical set pieces such as "A Couple of Swells," "Steppin’ Out with My Baby," and of course the splendid title sequence. A must-see.

Cecil B. DeMille’s King of Kings: Highly Recommended

Easter Parade: Highly Recommended.

—S. T. Karnick