The Shadow of Nazareth

The Shadow of Nazareth is a 1913 silent movie that takes place in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus and tells the story of a vain woman named Judith, her brother Judas Iscariot, and her two admirers, a thief named Barabbas, and Caiaphas, the high priest of Jerusalem.

Both Barrabas and Jesus are sentenced to die by crucifixion, but Jewish custom allows the release of a prisoner on the day of the Passover feast. Pontius Pilate, the Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, has the authority to decide whether to free Barabbas or Jesus in honor of the Passover. However, Pilate is unwilling to make the decision himself, so he lets a crowd that has gathered before him choose who is to live. The crowd chooses Barabbas, who is set free, and Jesus, who is innocent of any wrongdoing, dies on the cross. Following the crucifixion, Judas in remorse hangs himself, and Judith, driven mad by the death of her brother, stabs Caiaphas, and then commits suicide.As with many silent films of the day, The Shadow of Nazareth resulted from cooperation of several companies. Filming took place at the Hollywood studio of Venus Features with J. Farrell MacDonald as director, and despite the fact that MacDonald is listed in the opening credits as producer, financing for the project actually came from Powers Photo Plays, Inc., a New York concern owned by Pat Powers, the treasurer of Universal Pictures. Despite this connection, Warner Features, not Universal, had distribution rights. Warner billed the feature, which was shown in three parts aboutminutes total running time, as a big biblical production, a successful marketing strategy as the film is said to have been very popular in the bible belt of the south. ........

Source: Wikipedia