''Parable'' is a 1964 American short

Christian film The Christian film industry is an aspect of Christian media for films containing a Christian-themed message or moral. They are often interdenominational films, but can also be films targeting a specific denomination of Christianity. Criteria Pop ...

written and directed by

Rolf Forsberg Rolf Forsberg (July 12, 1925 – February 16, 2017) was an American playwright, film and theater director. Biography Forsberg is known for directing films such as '' The Late Great Planet Earth'' and '' Parable'', a film produced for the '' 19 ...

, made for the Lutheran Council and became popular when first screened at the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...

in 1964, and again in 1965 at the Protestant Pavilion. The film depicts

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

as a clown and the world as a circus and is considered both a revolutionary Christian film and one which proved to be influential. In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

The film ''Parable'' is presented through action and music alone and has no dialogue. It tells the story of handful of people working in an old fashioned circus under the rule of Magnus, a puppeteer who strings up human beings as living marionettes and controls their every move. Christ (Clarence Mitchell) is represented as a clown dressed in white, riding atop a donkey. The clown travels around the circus helping people with their problems and gaining followers until he finally takes the place of Magnus's human puppets and is strung up and murdered. Transformed by the clown's sacrifice, Magnus smears his face with white greasepaint and takes the clown's place on the donkey as Christ resurrected.

Cast

* Tom Erhart as Punch *

Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey CBE (née Bahadur; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian-British-American actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere with her debut cookbook ...

as The Magician's Assistant *

Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey (8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015) was a British-Indian actor. His career covered film, radio, stage and television roles over six decades and more than 150 British, American, and Indian movies. During the 1980s and 1990s he wa ...

as Circus Worker * Clarence Mitchell as The Clown *Baraboo East Elementary Students as Children in the audience

Production

''Parable'' was shot in 1964 at The

Circus World Museum The Circus World Museum is a museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin, devoted to circus-related history. The museum features circus artifacts and exhibits and hosts daily live circus performances throughout the summer. It is owned by the Wisconsin Hi ...

Baraboo Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is sit ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. It was written and directed by

with an additional directing credit given to Tom Rook and producer credit to Fred Niles. The cast include

, Tom Erhart, and Clarence Mitchell. It is 20 minutes long and was shot on 35mm color film. Production company credit goes to the Fred A. Niles Communications Centers Inc. of Chicago; and the film is distributed through the

Council of Churches of the City of New York The Council of Churches of the City of New York (CCCNY) was established in 1815 as the Brooklyn Church and Mission Society. It is the oldest ecumenical council of churches in the United States.

Topic background

The origins of Christian media in America goes back to live performances of the '' Passion Play'', the story of the final days of Jesus Christ from

The Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

to his sacrifice and resurrection, performed by traveling acting troupes that often included a menagerie of animals. Upon the introduction of silent movies, Biblical films, like ''The Passion Play of Oberammergau'' of 1898 which was based on the 1634 Oberammergau Passion Play, '' From the Manger to the Cross'' in 1912, and Cecil B DeMille's ''

King of Kings King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...

'' in 1927 helped to make

Bible stories The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

a popular cinematic subject. Other Christian films that were non-biblical in nature included Missionary movies, and Evangelical ministry films. During the early 20th Century many of America's ministers and Christian religious leaders condemned Hollywood as a "

cesspool A cesspit (or cesspool or soak pit in some contexts) is a term with various meanings: it is used to describe either an underground holding tank (sealed at the bottom) or a soak pit (not sealed at the bottom). It can be used for the temporary co ...

", saying that watching movies was a sin. During the 1960s a small corner of Christian filmmaking underwent a transformation from presenting static lectures, proselytizing, and presenting "sentimental" treatments of Bible stories, to becoming art films meant to evoke personal revelations about God in the viewer. Rolf Forsberg's ''Parable'' was one such film, portraying Christ as a clown and the world as a circus.

Recognition

The film gained artistic accolades at its premiere in the Protestant Pavilion at the

In the years that followed, ''Parable'' won numerous awards including a Gold Lion from the

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

, a Hugo from the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

, and a citation from

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

. This helped set the stage for a movement in Christian filmmaking that would strive to connect to the viewers on an artistic level instead of simply preaching. Four years later, ''Parable'' was featured in the Christian pavillon at the Montreal permanent fair "Man and His World" during the summer of 1968. Less than a decade after ''Parable'' was released, the figure of Christ portrayed as a clown was reprised in the musical ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hym ...

'', which the author said was inspired by the film ''Parable''. Rolf Forsberg continued to make artistically inspired Christian films until he teamed up with

Hal Lindsey Harold Lee Lindsey (born November 23, 1929) – known as Hal Lindsey – is a best-selling American evangelical writer. He is a Christian Zionist, a dispensationalist and a television host. He wrote a series of popular apocalyptic books – beg ...

in 1978 to write and direct the dramatic sequences in the apocalyptic movie '' The Late Great Planet Earth'', which became one of the top-grossing films to back up their predication. In response to numerous inquries for the film, it was re-released by EcuFilm on the movie's 40th anniversary in 2004. In 2012, "Parable" was inducted into the

The Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as a historic film that helped to shape American culture.

References

Notes

External links

*''Parable'' essay by Mark Quigley on the

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parable (film) 1964 films 1964 drama films United States National Film Registry films American independent films American drama short films Films based on the Gospels Films shot in Wisconsin World's fair films 1964 New York World's Fair 1960s English-language films 1960s American films