The Greatest Story Ever Told
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Film: C
Although I am not a religious person, I appreciate the
story of Jesus Christ as one of the most important and most compelling
narratives in Western civilization. An
individual born to a virgin mother who is the son of the creator, who teaches
wayward souls the path of righteousness, performs fantastic miracles, and
sacrifices himself for the benefit of humankind; how can you beat it? With the possible exception of the Homeric
epics, the Christ story has been subject to countless retellings and
references, in all forms of media. But,
always an industry that prides itself on excess, Hollywood has produced a
number of the most grandiose versions of Christ’s life. Perhaps the most extravagant of all is
George Stevens’ 1965 epic The Greatest Story Ever Told.
With a budget of biblical proportion ($20 million, which
adjusted in today’s dollars would easily produce a Spielbergian epic) and
unbelievable talent both in front and behind the camera, one would hope this
film would at least meet the expectations of its namesake (but, I guess it
would be difficult to exceed expectations if it were already the
“greatest”). George Stevens, with the help
of David Lean, directs an all-star cast as they attempt to recount the entire
life of Jesus (which explains its gargantuan length). While the film is beautifully shot in 2.66 X 1 Ultra Panavision
70 mm and wonderfully displays icon images of religious importance, the film is
damned under the weight of its own hubris.
Although the film was originally released at 260 minutes,
this still overly long 199-minute version recollects the life of Jesus from his
birth to resurrection (the lengthy opening credit sequence was definitely a
harbinger of the future). Since the
story of the New Testament is rather well known and yields relatively few plot
twists, there is little need to recap the entire plot. However, what is rather interesting in each
retelling of Christ’s life are the subtle nuances that affect the
interpretation of the Bible.
Stevens’ Jesus (played by the miscast, but always
effective Max von Sydow) is pristine, noble, divine, and yet extremely
distant. Such distance is noticeable
when the three wise men come to bear gifts at Jesus’ birth; their messiah was
just born and yet they celebrate with as much enthusiasm as a grounded
child. After King Herod’s (Claude
Raines) paranoid massacre of firstborn children (I would love to see how Mel
Gibson would film that), the story restarts with an adult Jesus ready to be
baptized by John the Baptist (Charlton Heston). A vociferous and spiritual John, whose message is anti-ape,
consistently screams, “it’s people!”…wait, wrong movie, same character. Rather, John quickly recognizes Jesus as the
Christ and summarily baptizes him with his cold, dead hand. From the rivers of Jordan, Jesus gathers his
followers, preaching the word of salvation and spiritualism. Naturally, all the usual Biblical characters
are present to assist or thwart Jesus on his pilgrimage. However, the most humorous of characters
cast are Telly Savalas (pre-Kojak, when he was still known for playing
bad guys, shaved his head for the part and kept it bald ever since) as a not so
Roman, Pontius Pilate and an uncredited John Wayne as the abusive Roman
Centurion.
The miracles Jesus performs are somewhat moving, but
rather overstated (Handel gets a good deal of play). It is understandable that witnessing such miracles would help
Jesus gather his flock, however, von Sydow’s characterization lacks the
charisma one would expect from the Son of God.
To become a follower of Jesus, one must suffer a great deal of
sacrifices, even if the reward is eternal salvation. The Biblical accounts of Jesus portray a thoroughly engaging and
dynamic individual, able to persuade both the downtrodden and the wealthy to
follow him, even in times of turmoil.
Yet, von Sydow’s Jesus is flat and stoic, and with the lack of many
close-ups, gets lost in the grandeur of the film.
In addition to rather spiritless characters, the film’s
editing keeps its humanity at a distance.
Scenes either drag too long or cut short of their climatic moment, which
is clearly evident at the abrupt stoppage in the soundtrack. As a result, the film is denied a crescendo,
or any high point of narrative tension (or exhilaration). Although the scenery is overwhelming and
filled with iconic religious imagery, it is not enough to overcome the film’s
shortcomings (but, yet he without a bad film, cast the first stone).
The disc itself does not boast a transfer worthy of the
film’s cinematography, even though the DVD is anamorphically enhanced. A number of scenes, especially around the
reel changes, have vast amounts of dust and scratches. I cannot imagine this film was poorly kept,
so the digital transfer should have been much cleaner. Likewise, the soundtrack was somewhat
unclean, despite a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound remix of what was
six-channel magnetic stereo in the original 70mm presentations, though this may
be down a few generations.
Surprisingly, the disc lacks the option for English subtitles, even
though there are subtitles in French and Spanish; I guess the deaf do not get
the opportunity to enjoy such a great story.
As for special features, the DVD box only boasts a wide screen digital
transfer. When what should be standard
is listed as extra, one should be wary of such a cinematic offering. But, then again, it fits in with the film’s
ethos of disappointment. This was
likely a recycling of the older video master used for the 12” LaserDisc of the
film years ago.
All told, if you just enjoy straightforward, innocuous
Biblical stories such as The Robe or The Ten Commandments, then
you should at least watch The Greatest Story Ever Told. However, if you enjoy religious-theme tales
with complex characters or harbor strong, if not controversial, messages, then
you would be better off watch Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece The Last Temptation
of Christ or even Mel Gibson’s contentious, yet complicated The Passion of
the Christ.
- Ron Von Burg
