Any Information For The Living Bible?

[EZway2go]

I recently picked up a DVD entitled The Living Bible with the subtitles The New Testament and Jesus The Christ. It stars Nelson Leigh as Jesus. The DVD is from Hollywood Best and contains 12 episodes.

Does anyone have any information about this series? I have never heard of it and, surprisingly, haven't really been able to find too much about it on the internet other than it's from the early 1950s. There isn't too much about Nelson Leigh either.

I was wondering when it originally aired. I'm guessing it was probably syndicated since there's so little information about it.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

From what I can find, "The Living Bible" was a series made in 1952 and has 24 episodes going from Jesus' birth to his crucifixion and ascension. I was unable to find any listing for this series on network TV and assume it was made available to TV stations for airing on a local level. I did see one report that there were actually 26 episodes made, but two ("Jesus Heals The Man Born Blind" and "The Upper Room") are not included in the video made available. Nelson Leigh (1905-1985) who played Jesus in this series appeared in many motion pictures and TV shows during his acting career, interestingly some of those were as a religous figure. Martin Balsam also appears in this series as "Jairus".

 

[anotherguyTN]

Is this possibly some series that is PD now and available on fairly low priced DVDs?

There was a translation (actually more of a paraphrase according to experts) called The Living Bible in the 70's and 80's, and it's called the New Living translation now, but I don't think there is any connection with this series.

 

[EZway2go]

Thanks, Cincinnati Kid and anotherguy. I also think it had to be produced for local broadcast back in the day. Don't know about it being in the public domain, but it was very low-priced ($10). I may end up with the full collection of 26 episodes after all. I just ordered a companion DVD, The Old Testament, containing 14 episodes.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Any chance this was origionally marketed for local church consumption? I recall a production on VHS showing God discussing with Jesus His plan for salvation, asking His Son to give his life for sinners. Playing God was William Windom. Tim Mathison played Jesus. Never saw this at the movies, but I do recall a Roman Catholic Church in Farmington NM showing this in a CCD class.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

This sounds like something that might pop up on EWTN. Also, there was a televised Biblical drama back in the early 50's where James Dean played one of the Apostles. It
wasn't the Living Bible, was it?

 

[anotherguyTN]

I've seen more Biblically based programming released on DVD in the last few weeks, probably since the Bible series on History has turned out to be a hit. Could that be why The Living Bible series has been released?

 

[skippercollector]

In the late 1970s in religion class (Catholic high school) we watched a film that I vaguely remember as being a sort of news program about the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. I suspect the film would have been on reel-to-reel tape. I also remember the film as being sepia as opposed to black-and-white. I don't think it was the same as what jfrancispastirchak saw, though, because I would have noticed Tim Matheson.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

I've seen more Biblically based programming released on DVD in the last few weeks, probably since the Bible series on History has turned out to be a hit. Could that be why The Living Bible series has been released?

Maybe, but another consideration is seasonal, Easter. PS: We enjoyed watching that History Channel Bible series.

 

[Tim L]

There were quite a few religious toned TV series, mostly in syndication..Such as Insight, This Is The Life and The Christophers..Family Theatre aired from 1951-58. Some of these were even shown as time-fillers on NET/Public TV stations into the late 1960's..Earlier, stations would show these in prime time, pre-empting network shows..Some special programs were shown at Easter and Christmas, sometimes with up and coming stars..

WNBK-Channel 4 Cleveland showed 2 episodes of "Living Bible" (I would assume it's the same DVD now out) Sundays at 10-10:30 AM during October 1952-September 1953

 

[anotherguyTN]

I've seen more Biblically based programming released on DVD in the last few weeks, probably since the Bible series on History has turned out to be a hit. Could that be why The Living Bible series has been released?

Maybe, but another consideration is seasonal, Easter. PS: We enjoyed watching that History Channel Bible series.

Yes, I forgot Easter is coming earlier, but it still seems like even more than usual this year.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

I've seen more Biblically based programming released on DVD in the last few weeks, probably since the Bible series on History has turned out to be a hit. Could that be why The Living Bible series has been released?

Maybe, but another consideration is seasonal, Easter. PS: We enjoyed watching that History Channel Bible series.

Speaking of--I checked Zap2it and an Easter tradition (although the movie concerns the first Passover) will be returning on Saturday evening, March 30 on ABC: "The Ten Commandments" (1956). For the ninth year in a row the movie will air on a Saturday evening (all but one year in that stretch the night before Easter)--it hasn't aired on Easter Sunday night since 2003 (in '04 it aired Palm Sunday--then "Desparate Housewives" comes along and bumps Moses to Saturday nights ever since).

Back to the "Living Bible": I would think that reruns of that series would have also aired on TBN at least once in the network's history (but not exactly sure).