King of Kings (1961)

Directed by Nicholas Ray. Starring Jeffrey Hunter, Hurd Hatfield, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, Frank Thring, Siobhán McKenna, Robert Ryan, Ron Randell, Carmen Sevilla, Viveca Lindfors, Brigid Bazien, Guy Rolfe, Gérard Tichy, Grégoire Aslan, Royal Dano, Antonio Mayans, (voice) Orson Welles. [PG-13]

Busy New Testament saga from the fall of Jerusalem to the resurrection of Christ almost a century later. The narrative is as broad as the average big studio sword-and-sandal epic, but this is a sorry spectacle in physical stature and shape of direction, giving us a bloodless Christ whose personality is as opaque as Jeffrey Hunter’s portrayal; indeed, most the acting ranges from wooden to embarrassing. Not as dull or static as some of the more anxiously inoffensive efforts to bring Jesus’ life and message to the big screen, but still too conventional in its visuals and didacticism to really come alive for more discriminating crowds. Majestic score by Miklós Rózsa. An uncredited Orson Welles provides the narration, which was penned by Ray Bradbury; Ray Milland, also unbilled, voices Lucifer.

42/100