Golgotha is a 1935 French film about the final days and death of Jesus Christ.   It was directed by Julien Duvivier, and stars Harry Baur as Herod and Jean Gabin as Pontius Pilate.   Robert le Vigan plays Christ.   It opened in the U.S. in 1937 (but was banned by British censors).  Le Vigan's performance marks the first direct portrayal of Christ in a sound film.   As opposed to most of his appearances onscreen, Jesus is seen speaking and in closeup, not merely from a distance as in Ben-Hur or The Robe.  

Unfortunately, this movie will offend a number of people:  Many of the Jews in leading roles look stereotypical of the times and could have stepped right out of the costume sets of Jud Suss or Der Ewige Jude.  Jesus Christ looks as "aryan" as the Romans who are seemingly bullied into persecuting him and some of the statements -- especially concerning financial transactions, as well as the famous exhortation that Jesus' blood will be upon the heads of the Jews and their children -- are extremely inflammatory and politically incorrect by today's standards.  Nonetheless, it was not the purposeful intention of the director to inflame anti-Semitic passion; this film is simply a mirror of the times and its prejudices.

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PLEASE NOTE THAT SWITCHABLE (SOFT) SUBTITLES WILL NOT SHOW UP WHEN VIEWING THE SAMPLE BELOW.  IF YOU SEE SUBTITLES, THEN THEY ARE HARD-ENCODED (meaning, they cannot be turned off when viewing the film):