THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD was a passionate attempt by renowned director George Stevens (of SHANE, the DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, I REMEMBER MAMA, GUNGA DIN, and GIANT fame, among many others) to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the big screen. In his attempt to testify to his faith, Mr. Stevens worked closely with Protestant Film Office Director George Heimrich to make THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD acceptable to Protestant churches. He also spent a tremendous amount of money, $20 million, which in today’s terms would exceed the budget of TITANIC.

Regrettably, the final product did not measure up to all the effort Mr. Stevens expended, and, the movie effectively contributed to the demise of the Protestant Film Office. When it was screened for critics in New York, unusual projection problems and air-conditioning problems arose, which aggravated the script problems, and the all-powerful NEW YORK TIMES was not kind to THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. The bad NEW YORK TIMES review caused several Protestant leaders, who were based in New York City at the 475 Riverside building, to renounce the movie, and Hollywood was incensed. Entertainment industry studio heads asked, “Why should we produce expensive biblical epics if the churches are going to reject our work?”

Now, the controversial GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD is being re-released by MGM for the Millennial Easter Celebration, 2001. Looking at the movie, it’s easy to see all of its flaws. Knowing the hearts of those who made it, it’s easy to see how intimidated they were by the Gospel, and how desperately they tried to bring it to the big screen.

In this regard, it should be remembered that the early 1960s was that period where German higher criticism was having its maximum impact on churches in America, culminating with the “God is dead” movement of the late 60s, as proclaimed by major weekly news magazines like TIME and NEWSWEEK. Soon thereafter, the church seemed to clarify the split between the mainstream who embraced German higher criticism and the evangelicals who proclaimed biblical inerrancy and the fact that Jesus was fully God and fully man.

Started in the late 1800s, German higher criticism tried to divorce Christianity from its Jewish roots and re-evaluated the Gospel in light of so-called modern scientific techniques and analysis. By the time of the revisionist theologian Bultmann in the mid 20th Century, German criticism had rejected the supernatural aspects of the Gospel and limited Jesus to being just a great teacher, something that C.S. Lewis pointed out was absurd, considering that Jesus himself proclaimed that he was God. Lewis notes that considering Jesus’ claims, he either had to be God, a lunatic or worse and that he could not thus be considered as just a great teacher.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD suffers from this theological debate. The final resurrection scene is not the physical resurrection of history or Scripture, but an ephemeral Jesus appearing in the clouds that could be interpreted as a great memory. Furthermore, the innocuous words of the movie’s ephemeral Jesus do not reaffirm the fact of Scripture and history that his resurrection redeemed mankind. This is not to say that THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD is not faithful to a biblical Christology. The miracles are real miracles. Lazarus is raised from the dead, the lame walk and the blind see. However, the dialogue does not reinforce the drama of the supernatural signs of God’s presence.

Adding to its problems, the first half of the movie is extremely slow, and the movie seems to lose its way in trying to present the essence of all four Gospel accounts. At times, watching the first half is like watching paint dry on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Regrettably, Mr. Stevens did not find the sense of drama that he captured so well in his other movies. This half is theologically sound, but scripturally disorganized.

The second half is much better, and presents a real, dynamic, traumatic look at the passion of Jesus Christ. This half points to a dramatic conclusion, but, regrettably, the premised conclusion is never realized because of the ephemeral resurrection.

The movie is packed with stars from the great Max von Sydow, to our friend Pat Boone, and even includes an appearance by John Wayne. In fact, every Christian Hollywood star of the 1960s seems to be in this movie.

Interestingly enough, Charlton Heston comes across as the most powerful with his wonderful portrayal of John the Baptist. The Swedish star, von Sydow, seems to be a strange choice, but he is reminiscent of H. B. Warner, the star of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1927 KING OF KINGS.

Critics fought over THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. Some panned it, just as they were to pan CLEOPATRA as a big, unwieldy mess, and others praised it for its attempt to cram all four Gospels into 3 hours and 14 minutes. Certainly, it is not the best film made about Jesus Christ, but it is worthwhile watching. And, it must be noted that, in the final analysis, George Stevens attempted to do justice to the Gospel, not demean it, and it was perhaps his unrestrained awe of the material that prevented him from doing the movie that he wanted to direct.