The Greatest Story Ever Told

Infobox Film | name =The Greatest Story Ever Told


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = George Stevens
producer = George Stevens
Frank I. Davis
George Stevens Jr.
Antonio Vellani
writer = George Stevens
James Lee Barrett
starring =Max von Sydow
Charlton Heston
music = Alfred Newman
cinematography = Loyal Griggs
William C. Mellor
editing = Harold F. Kress
Argyle Nelson Jr.
Frank O'Neil
distributor = United Artists
released = February 15, 1965
runtime = 225 min. (premiere version)
199 min. (edited version)
141 min. (re-issue version)
language = English
budget = $20,000,000
imdb_id = 0059245

"The Greatest Story Ever Told" is a United Artists 1965 film about the life of Jesus, directed by George Stevens (with some scenes by Jean Negulesco and David Lean). Max von Sydow stars as Christ, supported by several top Hollywood stars including Charlton Heston as John the Baptist and Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate.

The movie was based on the 1949 book of the same title by Fulton Oursler. Its music was composed and conducted by Alfred Newman, and supplemented (at the request of the director) with the "Hallelujah" chorus from George Frideric Handel's "Messiah" and the Verdi "Requiem", both adapted and conducted by Newman associate Ken Darby.

The production was photographed in Ultra Panavision 70 by Loyal Griggs and William C. Mellor, and presented in 70mm Cinerama at selected first-run engagements.

The world premiere was held on February 15, 1965 at the Warner Cinerama Theatre in New York City.

Responses and legacy

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Musical Score, Best Cinematography (color), Art Direction (color), Costume Design (color), and Special Visual Effects (Joseph McMillan Johnson).

Despite the awards, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" was director George Stevens' first flop. It cost an estimated $20,000,000 but made back only $12,000,000 worldwide. It was the last of the big budget Biblical spectacular films.

Cast

The large and notable cast also includes John Abbott, Rodolfo Acosta, Michael Ansara, Richard Bakalyan, Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Pat Boone, Victor Buono, Richard Conte, Philip Coolidge, John Crawford, Frank DeKova, Cyril Delevanti, Van Heflin, Russell Johnson, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Mark Lenard, Janet Margolin, Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff, Donald Pleasence, Sidney Poitier, Joseph Schildkraut, Marian Seldes, Frank Silvera, Joseph Sirola, Abraham Sofaer, Paul Stewart, Harold J. Stone, Michael Tolan, John Wayne, Shelley Winters, and Ed Wynn. [It should be noted that most of these stars play extremely short cameos. This was a criticism leveled at the film at the time, particularly John Wayne as the Centurion who supervises Christ's execution.]

References

Notes

See also

* Dramatic portrayals of Jesus

External links

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