Word: cohn
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...responsible for Jesus' death? Although the Gospels tend to blame the Jews of Jerusalem, Christian Biblical scholars generally agree that the Evangelists underplayed Roman responsibility. Now, Israel Supreme Court Justice Haim Cohn, an expert in the history of Jewish legal traditions, argues that not only did the Jews have no part in the trial of Christ, but also that the Sanhedrin, Judaism's high court, actually tried to save him from death...
...Judge Cohn's thesis, which has intrigued Christian Scriptural experts in Jerusalem, is contained in an article in the current issue of the Israel Law Review. Analyzing the Gospel accounts of the Passion in the light of known facts about legal customs and traditions of Jesus' time, Cohn insists that Jesus was tried and condemned for the political crime of insurrection-a charge that could be handled only by the Roman Procurator and not by a Jewish court. The Justice supports this suggestion by reference to the Gospel texts: when Jesus was asked by Pilate...
Nevertheless, there was something instinctive about Cohn's fancy, if not his fanny. He respected talent, and he succeeded in getting some of Hollywood's best people to work for him. Leo McCarey, Robert Rossen, Frank Capra and George Stevens directed his films; Humphrey Bogart, Jack Lemmon, William Holden, Gary Grant, Irene Dunne, Claudette Colbert and Judy Holliday acted in them. And some of Cohn's features are classics: // Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, All the King's Men, Born Yesterday...
Monster Misery. How could such a vulgarian be capable of producing good movies? Some of Cohn's detractors reply with the old saw about flowers springing from dunghills. Author Thomas conversely believes that Cohn's toughness was merely an act to keep his vulnerability and sensitivity from showing. The truth probably lies somewhere between. Cohn was a merchant. He made more than his share of shoddy products: the Blondie series, Boston Blackie, Crime Doctor. But the B pictures earned profits and gave Columbia a chance to trade up. It meant acquiring quality merchandise, and often Cohn paid...
...price that others paid to work for him could be measured only in misery. They were not the only losers; like most dictators, Cohn eventually dehumanized himself by dehumanizing his subjects. Despite Biographer Thomas' cosmetic job, the outlines of the monster cannot be missed. In the new Hollywood, Cohn's kind of vulgarity can still be found-but not his kind of power. The absence of that power has made moviemakers' lives a lot better. The irony is that the same can seldom be said for their pictures...