Whether will the twain will ye that I release unto you?

Jean Marais portrayed Pilate in Irving Rapper's film Pontius Pilate (1962) supported in his administration by his wife Claudia Procula (Jeanne Crain) and opposed by the high priest Caiphas (Basil Rathbone who played Pilate in Last Days of Pompeii - see above). In Judaea Pilate covers for the fact that Christ has been crucified and asks for a delay. Pilate's reluctance to execute Jesus in the gospels has been seen as reflecting the authors' agenda.

The Gospel of Mark depicting Jesus as innocent of plotting against the Roman Empire portrays Pilate as reluctant to execute Jesus. The sources for Pilate's life are the four canonical gospels Philo of Alexandria Josephus a brief mention by Tacitus and an inscription known as the Pilate Stone which confirms his historicity and establiPontius Pilates his title as prefect. He was replaced by Marcellus.