Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Slow but Interesting, 20 Jul 2005
"King of Kings" is somewhat tame compared to many other films on the life of Jesus, but is still nevertheless well worth watching. It does not have the grandeur and visual beauty of the George Stevens "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965), or the intensity of the silent Cecil B. DeMille "King of Kings" (1927) that it is supposed to be based on, but it is always reverential towards its subject matter, even if at a rather slow pace. Many of the events told in the Gospels are simply read, rather than depicted, and this job goes to a Roman named Lucius (well played by Ron Randell), and the magnificent voice of Orson Welles as narrator. There is also a fair amount of extraneous material in trying to describe the political climate of the time, and to expand on the life of Jesus.Jeffrey Hunter, an underrated actor during his short lifetime and handful of films, is a handsome Jesus, with crystal blue eyes, and is very effective in the temptation in the desert, and the Sermon on the Mount. His youthful good looks made some people nickname this film "I Was a Teenage Jesus," even though Hunter was in his mid 30s at the time. Others in the cast are Siobhan McKenna as Mary, Harry Guardino as Barrabas, Rip Torn as Judas, and Hurd Hatfield as Pontius Pilate. Robert Ryan makes a good, grizzled John the Baptist, and of all the film Salomes, Brigid Bazlen is the best. Her voluptuous seduction of a drunken, lascivious Herod (Frank Thring) is terrific storytelling and quite believable. Directed by Nicholas Ray, the film has a grand score by Miklos Rozsa, and the cinematography, shot on location in Spain, is by Manuel Berenguer. In my extensive "Jesus" film collection, this is the one I play the least, but it has value in many of its performances, and as a comparison to other films of this theme. Total running time is 170 minutes.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
"I am fire, he is water! How can we ever meet?", 24 Jul 2006
For all its low reputation, Samuel Bronston's much-mocked King of Kings is easily the best and most intelligent of the `devotional' versions of the life of Christ, largely because it sets Jesus as a historical figure and, to a degree, a victim of history and politics in troubled times. More importantly, it manages to do it without being as relentlessly dreary and one-note as George Stevens' The Greatest Story Ever Told, which becomes more of an endurance test with each passing year. Even the vigorously-staged battle scenes serve a real dramatic purpose, pitting Barabbas' Davidic warrior would-be Messiah against Jesus' spiritual deliverer ("I am fire, he is water - how can we ever meet?") that is many ways the real conflict of the film: the fight between material pragmatism (the Romans, Herod, Barabbas) and spiritual idealism (Jesus and his followers). Even Caiphas is given a very modern reading, not as a black-hearted villain but as an unpopular Roman-appointed religious leader who genuinely cares for his flock, fearing that Jesus' popularity could be used by the Romans to start a Holocaust that will destroy his people.
There's much imagination at work too: while Jeffrey Hunter's Messiah suffers from MGM's insistence on redubbing the part in more `masterful' tones, he proactively interacts with the crowd in the Sermon on the Mount, played almost like a press conference, while the Last Supper takes its visual design not from Da Vinci but from the CND's peace symbol. The casting IS variable - Robert Ryan's John the Baptist, Hurd Hatfield's Pontius Pilate, Harry Guardino's Barabbas, Ron Randell's centurion, Guy Rolfe's Caiphas and Gregoire Aslan and the great Frank Thring as Herod Sr. and Jr. are fine, but Rip Torn is surprisingly awkward as an otherwise well-conceived Judas Iscariot doomed by compromise, Royal Dano's Simon Peter is a better idea on paper than onscreen (particularly when given dialog) and Siobhan McKenna's eminently punchable misty-eyed Mary is a tad too Oirish Catlic for my tastes. Yet despite its weaknesses and the virtual sidelining of Jesus for much of the running time - this is more a film about His times and His effect on those around Him than His life - it's never less than totally involving, and often genuinely moving.
Despite reputedly losing interest in post-production, Nicholas Ray's direction is excellent, his mastery of the wide screen making great use of the 70mm format and showing real inspiration in his handling of some of the miracles, scenes greatly enhanced by Miklos Rozsa's superlative score. Even Ray Bradbury's poetic narration, beautifully delivered by Orson Welles, originally intended as a quick fix to paper over the cracks in the narrative, genuinely adds to the film's complex political picture of an occupied territory. Not that some of the cracks aren't still visible, as in the meaningful exchange of looks on the Temple steps between Jesus and Richard Johnson (whose constantly changing part - one day a freed gladiator, the next an Arab, the next a Romanized Jew - was otherwise totally deleted). But they're minor complaints in an extraordinary epic that achieves more of its ambitions than its given credit for.
Incidentally, how on earth did they get the obscene graffiti on the barracks walls past the censors in 1961? Less obvious on the DVD copy, you can't miss it on the 70mm prints!
Warner's DVD is a beautiful transfer and, unlike MGM/UA's slightly cropped laserdisc issue, in the correct aspect ratio. Extras are thin, though - a teaser trailer and brief newsreel footage.
|
|
|
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
King of Kings, 5 Jun 2004
(jeffrey hunter)
When are you going to produce more films on DVD of this high calibre on REGION 2. I am anxious and waiting - why is America always in front of us. Please, Please start producing now. yours sincerely Mr K J Holmes
--------------
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![The Greatest Story Ever Told [1965]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511M8KYXQQL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(2)
£4.97
![The Ten Commandments [1956]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510R2BBRDCL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![The Robe [1953]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DX60RWKTL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Barabbas [1962]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RPHYT87WL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(1)
£4.97
![Solomon And Sheba [1959]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PTA541X3L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(4)
£4.98
![King of Kings [1927]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oivjswYVL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Hellfighters [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5118OFe9M5L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(1)
![Great People of the Bible: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph [2003] (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514JQF7YT5L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Quo Vadis (Franco Rossi) [1985] [1951]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51j0cLSF3PL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(
