A motion picture about the life and legacy of Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now available online at MormonChannel.org.
This is the first full-length motion picture the Church has released on the Internet. It is also the first full-length Church movie available as a free download in several low-definition and high-definition versions (240p, 480p, 720p, and 1080p).
It is a revised version of the film that has been shown since 2005 in the Joseph Smith Building in Salt Lake City and in 19 visitors’ centers around the world. The revisions are to make it more easily understood by a wider audience, now that it is available to everyone online.
Ron Munns, who produced the original film, said, “The first Joseph Smith film was excellent and was well received by many. However, some parts were not easily understood if you did not already know the story. Everyone comes to the film with different backgrounds and knowledge and we wanted to make sure that every person who sees the film walks away with a better understanding of the Prophet Joseph and what he did.”
In the new version, “there is less focus on Joseph the man and more focus on Joseph the prophet. It’s the same story, just with a different emphasis,” said John Garbett, who produced the new movie. For example, a scene showing a leg operation Joseph had as a young boy was removed because it was less essential to the purpose of the film. Those who have seen the film before will notice that the revised version has a new narrator: an actress representing Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph’s mother.
“We chose this device to tell the story because Lucy Mack Smith was an eyewitness to everything that happened,” Garbett said. “This is a mother talking about her son in her own words.”
The revised version is five minutes shorter than the original and about 40 percent of the movie is new. Footage from the first version was re-edited to fit the revised storyline and Garbett and his team also shot some new scenes.
“Even if you have seen the previous version, don’t miss the opportunity to see the new one. It will help enhance your understanding of the life and mission of Joseph Smith,” said David Nielson, managing director of the Church’s Media Services Department.
Currently, the film is only in English but may expand to additional languages in the future.
Please think of a friend you can personally share this movie with. And also pass this information along to others with the challenge that they share it as well.
Please note that the version of “Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration” that appeared in first editions of the Doctrine & Covenants and Church History DVDs was the original movie shown in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, but later editions of the DVD set have the revised version of the movie.
Learn about other ways to access the movie Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration.
The church is so awesome! Thank you for offering this online!
Great movie! I enjoyed and was surprised by the quality of the Web production.
Is the version currently available on the Doctrine and Covenants Visual Resource DVD set the original 2005 version?
Bryan, the original is on the D&C Visual Resource DVDs (I don’t know if the Church is planning on changing the version on those DVDs).
Larry, do you happen to know how to get the video to not start automatically? I didn’t seen anything in the embed code that I could change and I’m not sure what to add to get it to not start automatically.
Will they be offering this in a downloadable form?
Answers to some of the questions above:
Downloadable: The Church is creating an MP4 version that will be downloadable.
The D&C Visual Resource DVD set (http://LDS365.com/2010/10/15/dc-church-history-dvd/) contains the original version of “Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration” as previously shown in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and not this revised version. There are no current plans to update the D&C Visual Resource DVDs with the revised version. There are also no current plans to release this revised version on DVD.
iTunes: The movie will not be available through ITunes, because the process would require a third party to distribute the content. However, the Church is looking at options.
I am so glad, as a lifelong member of the Church, that the original version of this film is available on DVD for personal use. I much prefer it to the new version because it was the understanding I received from the original film of the humanity of the Prophet which filled my soul each of the many times I was privileged to view it. I would be very sad if the new version was the only version I would ever again have personal access to as I feel the new version of the film diminishes that feeling.
Also, the thing that was most disturbing to me about the new film was the idea that the reason for Joseph and Hyrum’s being summoned to Carthage was because they had evaded capture when being transported back to Missouri. Members of the Church will wonder at that since the real reason they were summoned to Carthage was because of a charge of treason for the destruction of the printing press of the Nauvoo Expositor. As a historian, I find this very problematic!
I would love to share this with a close friend of mine who is investigating the church. Is there a Spanish version?
Carol,
It is available in Spanish on LDS.org at http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-01-joseph-smith-the-prophet-of-the-restoration?category=feature-films&lang=spa
Larry