For
anyone interested in filmmaking, a film that features the internal operations
of a film studio—especially one during the “Golden Age” of Hollywood—is likely
to be captivating. After all, as Eddie Mannix, the studio executive in Hail,
Caesar! (2016), says, the “vast masses of humanity look to pictures
for information and uplift and, yes, entertainment.” This film provides all
three for its audience on what film-making was like in the studio system. With
regards to the Christian theology, however, the result is mixed. The film makes the point that theological
information best comes out indirectly from dramatic dialogue rather than
discussion on theology itself. In other words, inserting a theological lecture
into a film’s narrative is less effective than an impassioned speech by which
entertainment and uplift can carry the information.
