Robert Henderson-Bland, Olcott's Christ is not who one thinks
Recently, a broadcast on French radio France Culture about First Passion (2011), the film directed by Philippe Baron broadcast on cable TV Histoire has led me to look closely at who was really Robert Henderson-Bland, the leading actor of Jesus Christ in From the Manger to the Cross (1912). A sentence of this post intrigued me : “Henderson-Bland made an heroic war. He passed through the balls because Jesus protected him.”
I watched carefully First Passion. It's me, filmed on the Mount of Olives, who relates this anecdote. Here is an excerpt :
Malaise, the little smile that ends the sequence seems to say yes “R. Henderson-Bland was much disturbed!” And I asked myself: where are the sources that lead you to say everything you say? You who, since the beginning of your research Olcott, denounce simplifications, mocks errors of the great historians and small ...
I consulted the documents I get. His autobiography: Actor, Soldier and Poet, newspaper articles, books published recently ...
Yes Henderson-Bland, Shakespearean actor, indicating a few of the performers Kalem. Yet he shared a tour of South Africa with Lily Langtry, great British actress known for her great beauty. He wrote poetry in his fiery adventure in Egypt and Palestine and related shooting in language that is not found in the other protagonists of this story (Gauntier, Vignola, McGowan ...) who also left their testimony. He is apart. Devout Christian, he said measuring the important role he agreed to endorse, which requires him to good behavior... It was he who wrote it.
For the rest, I say :
• Henderson- Bland played in only a film after From the Manger to the Cross.
Error , his filmography includes half a dozen films between 1920 and 1921 .
• He made ??a heroic war ( Somme- Ypres) ...He passes through the balls and sayst it is Jesus who protected him ... He was awarded the Victoria Cross ...
RHB is committed to make a real war in the Somme and Belgium. However, he was injured on April 26 , 1918 at Voormezeele , south of Ypres. He received praise from high - ranking soldiers. However, he has not been decorated with Victoria Cross Britain's highest military decoration . He died Aug. 21, 1941 , in London, during a bombing .
Those are the facts ! In its infancy, cinema spawned legends whose public relations Hollywood studios will be the biggest providers . The newspapers of the time are full of gossip , biographies arranged the stars who will be included in many histories of cinema.
From the Manger to the Cross is perhaps not the first film to be produced the phenomenon but the conditions of its production , the personality of the actor gave rise to legends that I have taken my turn in interview. I console myself that I did not pass on the most sensational .
