The Shepherd King (1923)

Directed by

J. Gordon Edwards

Genre

silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 30m

Rating

8.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A shepherd named David is prophesied to become king of Israel. He serves in King Saul's court, faces betrayal, and leads an army to defeat the Philistines. After Saul dies in battle, David becomes king and marries Saul's daughter.

biblicalepicdramaticromanticadventuroustriumphanttragicstately

What happens

The Shepherd King is a 1923 American silent biblical epic film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Violet Mersereau, Nerio Bernardi, and Guido Trento. It is a film adaptation of a 1904 Broadway play by Wright Lorimer and Arnold Reeves. The film depicts the biblical story of David (Bernardi), a shepherd prophesied to replace Saul (Trento) as king. David is invited into Saul's court, but eventually betrayed. He assembles an army that defeats the Philistines, becomes king after Saul's death in battle, and marries Saul's daughter Michal (Mersereau). Advertising for the film tried to take advantage of the popular interest in Egypt following the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, despite only an introductory scene in the film taking place in Egypt. The film opened to mixed reviews from contemporary critics. In part due to direct competition from another biblical epic, Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, The Shepherd King was not considered successful. Like many of Fox Film's early works, it was likely lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Saul and David (1909)
• House of David (2025)
• David (2025)
• The Chosen Prince, or The Friendship of David and Jonathan (1917)
• Saul E David (1965)
• David (1997)
• The Story of David (1976)
• A Story of David (1961)