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Click above to purchase "The Greatest Story Ever Told" at
amazon.com
The Greatest Story Ever Told
review by Anthony D.
Studio: MGM
Running Time: 196 Minutes
Starring Max von Sydow
Written by George Stevens and Carl Sandburg
Directed by George Stevens
Retail Price: $26.98
Features: Restored Road Show Version, Two
Documentaries, Deleted Scene, Photo Galleries, Theatrical
Trailer
Specs: 2.76:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby
Surround, English Closed Captions, French Subtitles, Spanish
Subtitles, Chapter Search
Sometimes a movie more than lives up to its title,
sometimes it doesn't. "The Greatest Story Ever Told" falls
into the latter category. Created at a time of movie palaces
with ever so much larger-than-life screens, but before the
overuse of Dolby Surround, when movie tickets were sometimes
bought months in advance, when going to the movies was an
actual event on the lines of going to a Broadway theater to
see the latest hit musical. The event of going to the movies
was actually worth the money invested: clean theaters,
comfortable seating, silent patrons who paid attention to
what was unspooling on THE BIG SCREEN. CinemaScope,
VistaVision, Super Panavision, Cine-a-Rama, all widescreen
formats to which movie goers flocked as the throngs flocked
to that man from Nazareth in "The Greatest Story Ever Told,"
director George Stevens' towering epic discourse on the life
of Christ. Using California's Death Valley as his pallette,
Stevens paints a broad canvas of breath-taking beauty, often
numbing the viewer with a pacing slow enough to be compared
to watching that paint dry.
Not that there's anything inherently wrong with "The
Greatest Story Ever Told," as it follows the scriptures'
Jesus Christ from humble birth in a lowly stable to
miraculous resurrection from death, three days following his
violent death on a cross. If there is such a thing as being
too pious, then Stevens' film falls into that trap; trying
to preserve the holiness of the story earnestly with a wide
variety of actors the film imprisons the viewer within a wax
museum with no visible means of escape."The Greatest Story
Ever Told's" sum of parts are ultimately greater than the
whole, creating a minor piece of cinema from a cinematic
master.
Working from a screenplay by James Lee Barrett
("Shenandoah") and "Creative Associate" Carl Sandburg (yes,
the poet), "The Greatest Story Ever Told" takes 196 minutes
to unfold - - that is not a typo - - three hours and sixteen
minutes, and though easy on the eyes, this is one of the few
films that would probably benefit from a judicious editing
down, rather than a restoration of its original Road Show
length. The screenplay offers very little time for
characterization, with the exception of Max von Sydow (then
unknown in the United States, save for metropolitan areas
lucky enough to have an art house cinema to have taken in
his films for Ingmar Bergman), as all the speaking parts
(something near to two hundred speaking roles) have been
cast with "name" players easily recognizable to audiences in
1965 in cameo status, leaving precious time to create a
believable character. This stunt casting reaches a cinematic
nadir with the sonorous John Wayne centurion intoning,
"Surely, this man was the son of God." One waits for the
word "pilgrim" to follow, but in vain. In today's video
market, however, this casting may not be as shameless as it
was in 1965 - - how many of today's video buyers, most in
the 24 - 34 year-old range, actually KNOW the legacy of film
performances of Richard Conte, Roddy McDowall, David
McCallum, Janet Margolin, Sidney Poitier, Carroll Baker, Sal
Mineo, Van Heflin, Ed Wynn, Marian Seldes, Victor Buono, or
even Claud Rains??? The names might be as familiar as future
television stars Angela Lansbury, Mark Lenard, Telly
Savalas, Michael Ansara, Russell Johnson, Pat Boone, Jamie
Farr and Robert Blake, but this type of casting leads more
to "Look! There's Angela Lansbury!" rather than "Wow! What a
sultry villain that Herodias is." If the casting is meant to
be for the ages, creating a work which will outlive its
cast, THAT day has yet to come. The tale itself has lasted
some two thousand years, will "The Greatest Story Ever Told"
be a film whose time has finally come in the year 3965???
Created as it were for a specific time and place - - the
film going world of 1965, and not the home theater
experience of this new millennium, one wonders just who the
audience is for this film, in this format, today.
Story wise, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" does not veer
far from the familiar: Jesus is born, Magi seek him out
offering gifts, Herod, the king of Judea lives in fear of
the prophecies regarding the lowly birth of a "messiah"
orders the slaughter of all new born male children, Jesus'
parents (Mary and Joseph) take flight into Egypt. Time
passes, roughly thirty years, and Jesus begins a mission of
preaching to the poor, the sick and the lowly. He takes on
twelve disciples to aid him spread "the Word of God"
throughout the land. Jesus heals the sick with a touch.
Jesus supports the unjustly chastised by turning the tables
on the accusers with the simple sentence, "Let He who is
among you without sin cast the first stone." Jesus' greatest
miracle, which causes heavenly choirs to sing, is in raising
a family friend from the dead. With this miraculous event,
Jesus becomes a dangerous man in the eyes of the religious
leaders, who plot against him. Because their laws cannot
condemn a man to death, they look to the Roman Emperor to
pronounce sentence on Jesus. They bribe a close associate of
Jesus to turn him over to the proper authorities. The Roman
Emporer, Pontius Pilate, sees no wrong in the works of
Jesus, and sends him before the puppet ruler of the region,
Herod, who is only interested in seeing the miracles this
man can do. Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who, when faced
with an angry mob, placates the throng by ordering Jesus to
be nailed to a cross (historically speaking, however,
Alexandrian crucifixions were carried out with nails, Roman
crucifixions were done with rope) outside of Jerusalem's
city limits. Following his death, Jesus is laid to rest in a
stone-covered tomb. Three days later, when a woman follower
goes to the tomb to pray, she finds that the stone is gone,
and a strange man in white tells her that the man she is
seeking has fulfilled the prophecy, and has risen from the
dead. Everyone rejoices, well, not everyone: Judas, the
betrayer has taken his own life, and a new religion is born
as the risen Jesus commands his disciples to "go out into
the world" retelling "The Greatest Story Ever Told."
When you pop in this dvd, please be sure that you have
the largest viewing screen available because MGM has
faithfully transferred "The Greatest Story Ever Told" in its
original W-I-D-E-S-C-R-E-E-N G-L-O-R-Y with a whopping
2.76:1 aspect ratio! The opening credits are quite tiny, and
obviously edge enhanced, but even on a 36 inch screen, the
information is still quite a strain to read. It certainly
doesn't help that the credits were designed with near-maroon
typography on a mustard yellow background. What follows
though, is an almost perfect rendering of the film itself,
with very few signals that it is a library title from the
middle 1960's. The initial reel has a few splotches, which
miraculously disappear as the film progresses. The
Technicolor® cinematography of Academy Award®
nominated William C. Mellor is carefully preserved with its
riches of colors intact. In a disappointment, though, the
blacks are not nearly as rich as the other colors: the
"Temptation" scene (Chapter 7) shows far too much grain in
the darker areas of the frame. Alas, during the
"Crucifixion" sequence (Chapter 30) , the grain becomes as
evident as the picture itself. The image has no significant
flaws, however, as flesh tones are accurately balanced to
the lighting with contrast levels seeming to be right on the
money. Whites are neither bleachy looking, nor do they
glisten outside of their element. As previously stated, this
film has a beautiful painterly quality to it which is
evidenced constantly by Stevens' stunning use of location
and actor placement. I suppose that my major gripe is that
in this format, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is not larger
than life, as it would be in a theater.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo Surround is a correct
rendering of the film's original 6-Track stereo presentation
(An alternate 5.1 surround option is in French). It won't
necessarily give your subwoofer an "Independence Day"-like
workout, but "The Greatest Story Ever Told" has a soundtrack
which is all-encompassing, with Alfred Newman's somber score
(with an assistant from the classical work of Handel)
benefitting the surround channels. Some truly great effects
can be found in the creepy sound manifestations during
Chapter 21, the climax of the film's first half. Vague
whispers, or wind instruments softly fill the rear channels
as Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus - - sounds which be at
home in an "old dark house" type of movie - - and as Jesus
commands Lazarus to "Come Forth!" The orchestra takes up the
keening full-throttle, thunder blasts and a heavenly choir
shouts out a chorus of "Hallelujah!" Sound design at its
best, never failing to bring a lump to the throat - - of
Handel lovers everywhere! Otherwise the sound presentation
is just what one would expect from a film of this
age...studio-produced dialogue, overwhelming use of music,
with rare excursions into the bass' lowest registers.
The second disc's Still Gallery is sub-divided into nine
separate sections: Original Production art, George Stevens
During Pre-production, Production Camp at Glen Canyon
Location, Behind the Scenes of the John the Baptist
Sequence, Behind the Scenes of "Lilies of the Valley"
Sequence, Pyramid Lake Location Photos, On-Location Photos,
Behind the Scenes of the Lazarus' Tomb Sequence and
Soundstage in Hollywood Sequence. Many of the photos
represented are new, but there is a photo in the Soundstage
area that shows not George Stevens directing, but uncredited
David Lean (doing a friend a favor) whispering directions to
Claude Rains as Herod. All of the photos offer a rare
glimpse into the hidden workings on a film set.
Seriously lacking however, is the Costume Sketches. Here
there are only four sketches..and not one of them of the
leading character! A Deleted Scene is actually an alternate
version, for foreign release, of the "Via Dolorosa"
sequence, found on the film's disc as "Carrying the Cross"
(Chapter 29), which hardly varies from the same scene during
the film. The Theatrical Trailer is presented in widescreen
(2.35:1) offering up quotes from the critics who liked the
film before going into the film's narrative values. The
trailer is almost a Reader's Digest® Condensed version
of the film: all highlights and no substance; all to the
strains of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus."
Not to be missed are the two documentaries exclusive to
this presentation. Although billed on the back cover as an
"Original Making-Of Featurette," the short "Filmmaker"
Documentary is a keen look at the artist George Stevens at
work on the film. On the other hand, He Walks in Beauty, is
a reasonably-new Documentary on the film itself with
interviews from several of the major players, including Max
von Sydow, Shelly Winters, Charleton Heston and other
Hollywood figures. Neither one of these features are fluff
pieces, the latter is an invaluable addition for students
(or fans) of George Stevens, though at times, "He Walks in
Beauty" repeats some of the information from the 1965
documentary. Also, thanks to MGM for including a four-page
insert with production notes and Chapter Guide.
"The Greatest Story Ever Told" is one of those films that
is nearly impossible to decry. Often thought of as a film
made in George Stevens' dotage, it is one of those rare
films with heart. Steven's love of the film medium is
evident in every frame of the film, and this was a director
who didn't jump onto the widescreen bandwagon in the 1950's,
preferring to work in the less than standard, but not quite
square confines of the camera lens. "The Greatest Story Ever
Told," in all its widescreen glory, is a carefully composed,
beautifully realized film from a master filmmaker. Viewers
with large monitors will certainly be happy to add this
"Special Edition" to their libraries, however, all others
are likely to be left wanting.
 (3.5/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
(3.5/5)
 (2.5/5)
(4/5,
NOT an average)
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