La vie et la passion de Jésus Christ - 1903

Passion and Death of Christ // The Life and Passion of Christ // La passion // Passion Play
Vie et Passion du Christ is a 44-minute French silent film that was produced and released in 1903. As such, it is one of the earliest feature-length narrative films.
The film, with sequences made in the stencil color process Pathéchrome, takes a straightforward approach to its subject matter. All scenes are introduced by an intertitle giving the traditional name of the event (the Annunciation, the Nativity, etc.) followed by the actors playing out the familiar stories from the Gospels. Other than the scene titles, there are no other inter-titles.
In 1932, the film was re-issued in the U.S., distributed on a states-rights basis. Instead of the stencil coloring effect, however, the film was printed on red-tinted stock, with a musical score by James C. Bradford.
Its original French title was La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ.
Directors: Lucien Nonguet, Ferdinand Zecca
Stars: Madame Moreau and Monsieur Moreau