{"id":2686,"date":"2005-07-25T21:33:00","date_gmt":"2005-07-25T21:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/07\/christian-critics-of-a-bygone-age\/"},"modified":"2005-07-25T21:33:00","modified_gmt":"2005-07-25T21:33:00","slug":"christian-critics-of-a-bygone-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/07\/christian-critics-of-a-bygone-age.html","title":{"rendered":"Christian critics of a bygone age…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are times I wish I could just take off for a day \u2014 or a week \u2014 and rummage around the periodical archives at a library. Today I was at the Regent College library<\/a>, looking for certain articles on film in old copies of Christian Century<\/a><\/i> and Christianity Today<\/a><\/i>, and I discovered some fascinating things along the way. Nothing of earth-shattering importance \u2014 just fascinating, to me, at least.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, I discovered that the March 16, 1973 issue of Christianity Today<\/i> introduced \u201ca new feature on the arts\u201d called \u201cThe Refiner\u2019s Fire\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s the big item on that issue\u2019s cover \u2014 and one of the two inaugural subjects covered in this section is the Billy Graham movie Time to Run<\/a><\/i>, which editorial associate Cheryl Forbes is actually rather critical of. Of the scene in which the heathen main characters turn off their TV set or drive away from the stadium parking lot when they hear Billy Graham\u2019s altar call, she writes, \u201cThis realistic touch does not entirely compensate for the contrived effect of introducing the crusade scenes in the first place.\u201d She also notes that the film is already behind the times: one character\u2019s mini-skirts are out of fashion, she says, and \u201cThe dialogue misses the mark in trying to be \u2018with it.'\u201d She says of the main character, \u201cThe rebel finally leaves and travels across the country, still, unbelievably, clean-shaven and neatly dressed (see photo).\u201d And then she concludes that \u201cit is doubtful that this technique of evangelism will work with moviegoers off the street . . . The film seems aimed at an evangelical audience.\u201d I don\u2019t know how long this \u201cRefiner\u2019s Fire\u201d feature lasted, but it is interesting to me that it would kick off by expressing its disappointment with evangelical filmmaking. A cheerleader\u2019s chorus, this wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I found a similarly critical review of Born Again<\/a><\/i> (1978), the film adaptation of Charles Colson\u2019s autobiography, starring Dean Jones. Once again, the reviewer praises some performances and expresses disappointment in others, including that of Dean Jones himself. (Sorry, I forgot to note in which issue this appeared.)<\/p>\n

Then there was the review of the film version of Hal Lindsey\u2019s The Late Great Planet Earth<\/a><\/i> (my essay<\/a>) in the January 27, 1978 issue \u2014 and it\u2019s written in a surprisingly serious tone, given that the person who wrote it is described as a contributing editor to The Wittenburg Door<\/a><\/i>. I am particularly intrigued by this item because I have long wondered when, exactly, this film was produced; given how the closing credits mimic the pyramid shape of the opening crawl in the Star Wars<\/i> films, it was obviously produced some time after May 1977, but given the many portentous predictions regarding the 1980s, it must have been finished no later than 1979 \u2014 and as it happens, the IMDB<\/a> claims that that was the year of the film\u2019s release. But if Christianity Today<\/i> reviewed the film in January 1978, then it could not have been produced any later than that; and given the lead time some magazines require, the film could very well have been finished by late 1977.<\/p>\n

And then there was Martin E. Marty\u2019s review of The Gospel According to St. Matthew<\/a><\/i> in the December 23, 1964 issue of Christian Century<\/i> \u2014 over a year before the film was released in the United States! \u2014 as well as a number of interesting articles from the 1950s and mid-1960s, decrying the exploitation of Billy Graham and other select church leaders during the promotion of epics like The Greatest Story Ever Told<\/a><\/i> (shades of The Passion<\/a><\/i>\u2018s marketing strategy, perhaps?), and exploring exactly what sort of relationship Hollywood and the Church ought to have.<\/p>\n

I might post some more details later, if and when I have the time. But it\u2019s interesting to see how, despite all the technical and cultural and aesthetic changes that have taken place in cinema over the last 40 or 50 years, the Christian community\u2019s relationship to it \u2014 and the terms in which this relationship is discussed \u2014 haven\u2019t really changed. And, as one who now writes for Christianity Today<\/i> myself, I have to say it is encouraging to see that artistic integrity was a concern for those who paved the way, too.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are times I wish I could just take off for a day \u2014 or a week \u2014 and rummage around the periodical archives at a library. Today I was at the Regent College library, looking for certain articles on film in old copies of Christian Century and Christianity Today, and I discovered some fascinating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChristian critics of a bygone age...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are times I wish I could just take off for a day -- or a week -- and rummage around the periodical archives at a library. 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