Tuesday, December 13, 2016

By the Gods!

Ruth (Elana Eden) is handed some ornate gifts by Mahlon (Tom Tryon) in THE STORY OF RUTH

Good production, if a bit predictable. My only big complaint about this film is the dialogue. Some of it is quite painful to listen to. Because of this the characters often come across as dense. Tom Tryon is very good and fits the role perfectly. Elana is good but her limited grasp of the English language (coupled with the bad dialogue) sorta hurts her performance. In this film, like so many other Biblical films made in the 1950s and 60s, gods which weren't Jehovah or God itself are depicted as evil and pagan. Today, we sorta know better (I think...). In the story child sacrifices are made to the god Chemosh, also known as Moloch. Human sacrificial offerings were a big part of ancient history. Stopping them was one of the big reasons for the rise of Christianity.

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