Understanding 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'

I saw the four hour version (3 hours and 45 minutes plus intermission) in 1965 when it first came out in its Cinerama roadshow engagement. First, this version has a tremendous emotional power that the shortened 3 hours and 17 minutes version does not. The shorter version appeared one month after the opening. The two dramatic highlights of the raisng of Lazarus and Christ's death were heavily edited. The Lazarus sequence was a bit longer, extended by showing the reaction of the bystanders to what Jesus was doing. The scenic shots reducing the entrance to the tomb to a small square at the bottom of the screen, emphasized the reversal of nature's laws. This actually made the scene increasingly creepy. Lazarus did not appear immediately at the opening of the tomb. Jesus stood there for awhile as Alfred Newman's incredible score increased in volume. Then, you saw something vaguely move in the interior. Then, he slowly inched closer to the entrance. Even, though you knew the story, your mind did not believe what was occurring, just like the onlookers. Now, the crucifixion sequence was absolutely butchered. Jesus does not just drop his head onto his chest. He dies slowly, in close-up, looking at the audience directly, his eyes slowly closing, opening, closing again, opening. Finally, incredibly weak, his eyes close a final time and then his head drops onto his chest. There were people openly weeping in the theatre. This was a powerful crucifixion that has never been seen. Therefore, the restoration of this longer version will restore this emotional impact. Second, the film is obviously challenging to the viewer. It does not create subplots to provide additional interest to a well-known story. It just presents the life of Christ, period. It moves slowly, very slowly, deliberately. I have always wondered about this slow movement and after so many years, a simple thought occurred to me: the film cannot play well outside of the environment for which it was designed. That environment is Cinerama. Cinerama was a special widescreen process which presented a massive 180 degree curved screen to the audience. Its objective was to give the "you are there" experience to the viewer. "The Greatest Story Ever Told" seemed to be a rather strange subject for such a process since Cinerama was usually confined to travelogues (like the majority of today's IMAX films) or stories with special action sequences to take advantage of the 3-D effect. But the program (books that were sold in the lobby before, during and after the performance)for the film boldly states the film's intentions. Instead of presenting cast/crew bios and production notes, the narrative was a statement of philosophy in what the film was trying to achieve...to let the audience gain a sense of what it was like to be there when He walked the earth. There it is: the "you are there" sense, the Cinerama experience. And how best to draw the audience into Christ's life? There are no race car sequences, no trips down whitewater rapids. Move slowly and be drawn in. This is quite risky. The timing of sequences has to be just right. Another hint of this intention remains with the beginning credit sequence. This is virtually unreadable on video because the letters are so tiny. But on the massive, curved Cinerama screen, it was elegant and quite readable. George Stevens kept experimenting with different photographic techniques for his life of Christ. Originally, it was Cinemascope 55. Rumours abound that the beginning of photography started with the original, authentic 3-camera Cinerama. But as he began, the ability to use the Ultra Panavision 70 process projected on the curved Cinerama screen was developed and he switched to it. He wanted the audience to experience the life of Christ, not just watch it, so he selected the most sophisticated method of photography available. Now, his photographic design had to keep the actors away from the camera so that they would appear normally on the large Cinerama screen. The idea of the Cinerama curve had to be in the back of the mind of any director who was going to use the process. This explains the setup. The photography is an incredible achievement just from an artistic sense. I will always remember the immense Cinerama screen mostly filled with incredible darkness but illuminated with small patches of light as Salome dances for Herod, creating an immense feeling of dread. Now, does it have faults? Certainly. John Wayne's speech after Christ's death should have been cut. It was sufficient for him to just stand there and not speak. The crucifixion should have been filmed outside. Some of the dialogue is rather inane. But, I did not find the star cameos that bothersome, since many films of that time followed the same format: a relatively unknown star playing the central role surrounded by famous stars. It would be great to find the four hour version, even the four and a half hour version, and show it on the Arclight Cinemas' Cinerama screen in Hollywood. Those who have only seen the abbreviated version have really not seen the power of "The Greatest Story Ever Told."