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Mark Bubien reviews
MGM
- Cert: G
- Cat.no: 1001584
- Running time: 199 minutes
- Year: 1965
- Chapters: 32
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish, French
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Approx.)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 1 * DVD 9, 1 *DVD 5
- Price: $26.98
- Extras: Documentary with Inteviews of Director and Cast, Making-Of Featurette, Deleted Scene, Photo Gallery, Collectible Booklet, Theatrical Trailers
Director:
- George Stevens
Cast:
- (Take a Deep Breath) Max von Sydow, Michael Anderson Jr., Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Pat Boone, Victor Buono, Richard Conte, Joanna Dunham, Jose Ferrer, Van Heflin, Charleton Heston, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Janet Margolin, David McCallum, Roddy McDowall, Dorothy McGuire, Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff, Donald Pleasence, Sidney Poitier, Claude Rains, Gary Raymond, Telly Savalas, Joseph Schildkraut, Paul Stewart, John Wayne, Shelly Winters, Ed Wynn (Phew!).
Writer:
- James Lee Barrett and George Stevens
Given the current Hollywood anti-religious – and anti-Christian in particular – bend (you don’t have to be Michael Medved to see this), I found it quite surprising that MGM decided to release The Greatest Story Ever Told as one of their few full-blown, 2-disc, Special Editions. A pleasant surprise indeed! This DVD is certainly one for the collection.
The Greatest Story Ever Told is MGM’s classic tribute to the life of Christ. It follows him from birth to death to resurrection, as told in Fulton Oursler‘s book, based on the four Biblical Gospels. And while they took a (very) few liberties – primarily in character development rather than extended storytelling – the movie remains true to the actual history.
An all-star cast if there ever was one, including – get this – Pat Boone as an ancient Israelite, and John Wayne as a Roman Centurian (at least he didn’t call anyone “pardner”). Charlton Heston also makes a great John The Baptist, playing it just to the left of madman. But wait, isn’t this the same “River Jordan” (Lake Powell) that Heston later crashed his spaceship into in Planet of the Apes? Throw in fellow cast member Roddy McDowall, and you have one of those really strange movie coincidences that make you pooh-pooh your friends’ next session of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
Even considering the tremendous acting, some wonderful dialogue, majestic cinematography, and a fair amount of Biblical accuracy, I still have one criticism. I found The Greatest Story Ever Told to be rather, well, boring!
I think the problem was twofold. First off, writer/director George Stevens wanted to tackle his subject-matter with all the reverence it deserved. This meant taking as few dramatic liberties as possible. Even the notable difference, Judas committing suicide in a fire pit, works more a symbol of hell than a statement about how Judas really bought it (besides, you see him holding the hangman’s noose that he reallyused).
The second problem follows from the first: the New Testament is not a very good story book. The authors intended to record events, rather than tell an engaging story, and the Gospels often feel rather terse, lacking in detail – and, for the most part, not too terribly dramatic. So, when you try to be accurate to something that lacks overall conflict, you end up with a dramatic film without any real drama.
But who am I? Just a lowly DVD fan, certainly – especially considering that The Greatest Story Ever Told is now viewed one of the great classics of the Biblical Epics era in Hollywood. One thing’s for sure, the guys in charge of producing this DVD certainly felt that way about this movie. They gave it great treatment!
The image quality is absolutely astounding. The shots of the American Southwest (doubling for the Holy Land) are nothing short of breathtaking. A textbook case of why widescreen is better, even on a TV set – it also made me wonder exactly where this era of filmaking has gone. Be that as it may, with the sharpness and clarity that this DVD offers, the images in this film show up in wonderous detail!
The sound mix also worked great. Because this film had a 70mm Roadshow release, it received a six-channel multi-track mix. Apparently MGM reproduced that mix here. What a treat! You can feel all the emotional impact of Jesus’ first words “Baptise me, John!” simply because the sound is so well-preserved.
While the first disc contains just the movie, on the second, we get a pair of documentaries. One is part of a “Filmmaker Series” and covers the contribution of writer/director George Stevens. While originally an advertising vehicle for the film, it still has a lot to offer in truly valuable and insightful information. This also made me wonder where the era of the good featurette has gone.
The second documentary covers the contribution of writer/director George Stevens. Hmm… That sounds mighty familiar! Well, it’s touted as a documentary on the movie-making process behind the scenes of The Greatest Story Ever Told, but it really focuses on Stevens himself. And a lot of footage comes from the “Filmmaker Series” featurette too!
While I was afraid this was stacking up to be another one of those Spinal Tap “Venue Subtitle” fiascos, fortunately, the documentary came through in the end! Ultimately, it contained enough new footage – supplemented by interviews with the survivng cast members, including Charlton Heston, Max Von Sidow and Shelley Winters – to save the day! Sure, as documentaries go it still feels a bit like an “also ran,” but I thought it an entirely worthwhile endeavor, and I’m glad MGM put it on this DVD!
Overall, if you are a fan of Biblical Epics, this two-disc set is certainly one for the collection. If anything, it represents an important part of film history, and can give us a lot of insight into how much has truly changed – and not necessarily for the better! – in Hollywood during the last the fifty years.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL Check out Mark’s homepage: www.storybytes.com.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.