Religion: Shot in the Arm

His father, a fiery Methodist known as “Holy Joe,” used to tell him: “When I take a thing to prayer, I always succeed.” Son J. Arthur Rank has never forgotten what his father taught. When Rank first went into moviemaking in 1934, it was to make religious shorts. More recently, Britain’s Cinemogul Rank has made his name world-famed with productions of another sort, such as Henry V, Brief Encounter, Hamlet. But he has never stopped making religious shorts.

This week Rank’s Religious Films Ltd. unveiled a new production called Belshazzar’s Feast, and a new star — the Rt. Rev. Christopher Maude Chavasse, bishop of Rochester. The film opens with a shot of the bishop preaching. As the sermon unfolds, screen stills dramatize the story —from the feast, through the handwriting on the wall, to Daniel’s denunciation.

Belshazzar is an experiment which Rank thought up himself: a 15-minute illustrated sermon designed as a shot in the arm for congregations being slowly droned to death by uninspired parsons. If it is a success, it will be followed by other shorts, starring distinguished preachers.