Sharp criticism of Hollywood film concerns which are now making motion pictures on Biblical themes in Egypt, was voiced here today. Four major studios are now making or are planning to make pictures in Egypt, at least two of them on Biblical themes.
Egypt, which is at war with the State of Israel, will not permit American Jews to enter that country to work on these productions unless they are certified as essential to the project, it was stated here. All applicants for Egyptian visas must declare their religion.
Herb Brin, editor of the Anglo-Jewish weekly, Heritage, charged in a copyrighted story that “the sizzling situation takes on ominous meaning when film executives ask producers and writers not to declare themselves as Jewish.” A Hollywood film publication was cited as the source of information on this request to studio staffmembers who are Jewish.
The writer declared that in the Columbia production, “Joseph and His Brethren,” 17,500 Egyptian were given the job of playing Jews in the exodus to the Red Sea. Cecil B. DeMille is to begin filming “The Ten Commandments,” a $3,000, 000 production, in Egypt next November. Warner Brothers will produce “Land of the Pharoahs” there, and 20th Century-Fox, “The Egyptian. “
An editorial in the current issue of the paper asserted that “the whole sorry flight to Egypt is as if some companies at some future date–and it may yet be done–would go to Germany to film the Hitler story of Jewish extermination, with grandsons of Nazis playing the role of the slaughtered Jews. “
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
