Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Greatest Story Ever Told
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: *1*
- Commentary: Yet another one of Mom's "jesus-dvds" (I use this term tongue-in-cheek, as I also consider The Ten Commandments a "jesus-dvd"). I didn't think we'd ever own it because the last time we watched it on TV I noticed there were no English subtitles, which is essential for my mother's enjoyment of any movie. I found a cheap copy of it at the grocery store today, though, with closed captioning (although no English subtitles, which is unfortunate since closed captioning is sometimes kind of iffy on our set) so decided I'd get it for Mom. I think this is one of her favorites of this genre; not because it features yet another Nordic Jesus, but because of the scope and grand presentation. And, it's length. Weighty movies work better for her when they go to extreme lengths. This is not my favorite, but I am attracted to it's spectacle.
Now all we need to do is procure a copy of The Last Temptation of Christ [we finally did procure a copy of this movie] and Mom will figure we're set.
Update 2/7/18: Yes, I donated this movie to my local library. In the end, I knew I would never watch it again. Funny, because there are several jesus-dvds and bible epics in my/our collection that I enjoy, even when they are clearly cheesy. But this one? No can do. Sorry, Mom.
Update 5/16/2022: The cast in this movie is stupendous. Take a look at the Wikipedia segment about it; not the listing, but the paragraph below. An even better, more complete, list is the one at IMDb, as it attaches more actors to their roles than Wikipedia. It's a lot of fun to go through it. It was as though the production company decided to corral every actor signed to the overseeing studio into one movie before they started dying off. I mean, Pat Boone as The Angel at the Tomb? Really? Clearly, I mean, clearly a vanity project, and an unsuccessful one, at that. But, Mom loved it. I have a feeling there were, and are, a lot of Christian women "of a certain age" that feel the same.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Max von Sydow Jesus Dorothy McGuire The Virgin Mary Charlton Heston John the Baptist Claude Rains Herod the Great José Ferrer Herod Antipas Telly Savalas Pontius Pilate Martin Landau Caiaphas David McCallum Judas Iscariot Donald Pleasence The Dark Hermit - Satan Michael Anderson Jr. James the Less Roddy McDowall Matthew Joanna Dunham Mary Magdalene Joseph Schildkraut Nicodemus Ed Wynn Old Aram Pat Boone Angel at the Tomb Shelley Winters Woman Who Is Healed
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1965
Directed by George Stevens.
Labels: bible-movies1, charlton-heston, claude-rains, drama8, jesus-dvds, max-von-sydow, mom-favorite1, period4, spectacle2, van-heflin
