The Greatest Story Ever Told

Movie Review: The Greatest Story Ever Told

Year of Release: 1965
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Max von Sydow, Carroll Baker, José Ferrer, Van Heflin, Charlton Heston, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Pat Boone

Plot outline: Biography of the life of Jesus Christ (IMDb).

Based on the book by Fulton Oursler, The Greatest Story Ever Told is a lifeless and uninspiring biography of the life of Jesus Christ. This may be the greatest story ever told, but it's no where near the greatest storytelling of the story. George Stevens was no slouch director. He made Shane, The Dairy of Anne Frank, and Giant. He was a man who had a film career of 40 years. He knew what he was doing. So I'm at a loss to explain why he made this movie in the manner he did. The $20 million lavish production shot mostly in Utah (supposedly it looks like the Holy Land), and in Ultra Panavision 70 widescreen, is overlong and tedious. It's filled with inconsequential cameos that range from John Wayne as a Roman centurion at the crucifixion proclaiming "Truly this man was the son of Gaard" and Shelley Winters as the Woman of No Name screaming "I'm cured." Most of the cameos are distracting, while the story remains lifeless and uninspiring. Swedish actor Max von Sydow is an austere blond Jesus whose fine performance, the best one in the pic, is undermined by the movie's static nature, poor pacing and too many appearances from all those unnecessary cameos. It seems almost every Hollywood actor did a set piece, making the length seem interminable. In one of the more enticing scenes Donald Pleasence as the Devil enters into a match of wits with Jesus, but von Sydow refuses to engage him and the scene fizzles like all the others. The veteran director never makes it a moving experience, which is what it's supposed to be all about. Even the music by Alfred Newman though tasteful is nevertheless only ordinary, except when it becomes too intrusive hammering out a too loud Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus from the "The Messiah." (DS, LCD)

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars