The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Epic Story of Jesus
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a film of grand and epic proportions. Released in 1965, the movie was shot in Ultra-Panavision 70 and Technicolor and cost $20 million dollars to make. This makes The Greatest Story Ever Told the most expensive Jesus film ever created. The film was produced, directed, and co-written by George Stevens. The film is based on the book "The Greatest Story Ever Told" written in 1949 by Fulton Oursler. Even though the film is not based on the Bible, it never strays very far from the Biblical text in regards to content.
Max Von Sydow (a Swedish actor known for his roles in Ingmar Bergman films) stars as Jesus. His acting is convincing and he gives a fine performance, even if the Jesus being depicted is rather narrow. In this respect the portrayal of Jesus is much like the previous Jesus film of the time The King of Kings. The Greatest Story Ever Told emphasizes a Jesus that is clearly divine. The very orthodox and “divine preference” depiction of Jesus is what will be challenged in later Jesus films.
When reading material on The Greatest Story Ever Told there are two things that are almost always mentioned as a handicap or distraction to the film’s potential. The first is Stevens’ obsession with perfection as a director. This combined with Stevens' complete control over the film create a recipe for disaster. Stevens was known for shooting scenes until almost all of the life was sucked out of them, this certainly appears to be the case in The Greatest Story Ever Told. The pacing is often slow and tedious. The film was originally released with a running time of 4 hours 20 minutes and after being edited several times was finally cut down to 3 hours 10 minutes.
The second crippling effect is the obscene amount of celebrities cast in small roles throughout the film. Some of these stars include Charlton Heston, Angela Lansbury, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poitier, and John Wayne to name a few. These actors were already stars at the time of this film and therefore it could be argued that this was a decision made to ensure box-office success.It could also be possible that Stevens was trying to provide support for this truly being the greatest story ever told. A story this great requires not only epic shots and a grand scale, but the best of the best in terms of actors. Whether or not this was Stevens intention is beside the point, because it truly is distracting to the story. The most obvious point of distraction is John Wayne’s role as the centurion, in his Western drawl belting out the phrase, “Truly this was the Son of God.” Charlton Heston’s performance as John the Baptist doesn't help either.
Although these flaws make it hard for the viewer to take this film seriously, there are still some remarkable moments. The Greatest Story Ever Told is an epic in every sense of the word. Some of the wide landscape shots are spectacular, despite being inaccurate. Much of the film was shot in the deserts of Utah and Arizona and provides some magnificent shots. The film contains all the elements of the epic genre. In the spirit of Lawrence of Arabia, it begins with almost ten minutes of musical score before the film even begins. There is an intermission filled with music, interestingly right after the raising of Lazarus and the end of the film is colored with Handel’s Messiah.
Critics would say that this film was a failure. Time magazine reviewed the movie by saying, “Stevens has outdone himself by producing an austere Christian epic, that offers few excitements of any kind.” Variety wrote, “The sum of its merits is impressive. The residue of its defects is unimportant.” The problem with "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is not necessarily in its scale. The problem lies in its degree of tame sentimentalism. The film walks the line between art and kitsch. There are exceptions, but on the whole there is not a whole lot for the viewer to wrestle with or think about. The Greatest Story Ever Told serves perhaps as an acceptable piece of devotional material for the Christian, but is hard to view as any sort of insightful art.
Films
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965 Directed by George Stevens
(Starring Max Von Sydow)
The Gospel According To Matthew
1964 Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
(Starring Enrique Irazoqui)
Monty Python's Life of Brian
1979 Directed by Terry Jones
(Starring Graham Chapman)
The Last Temptation of Christ
1988 Directed by Martin Scorsese
(Starring Willem Dafoe)