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EGO In his memoir An Open Book, John Huston elucidates on the making of The Bible and most fondly about the animals used during the dud’s only good chapter—Noah and the Ark. While Huston wanted Charlie Chaplin to play Noah, and then Alec Guinness, he came to realize only someone affectionately familiar with the animals, on petting and feeding terms, would do, so he chose himself. He’s also the voice of God. (The mugging perhaps audience-pleasing, I much prefer his wink in The Cardinal.) No one who sees this movie on the big screen will forget the animals-by-two departure from the Ark to a water-soaked paradise—the most primordial moments witnessed in a Huston picture. The Adam & Eve portion is not only enough to set feminists’ hair on fire but also evidence God censors the full Monty even at conception; the Cain exile mind-boggles about his future biological reproduction prospects; the Sodom & Gomorrah segment is Max Factor gone gay camp saturnalia at which fems outnumber the butches; the Tower of Babel sequence visually impressive but halted too suddenly for the chaos to have intended impact; and the Abraham & Sarah episode sedated barbaric soap with a climax likely still angering those who see sadism being used to prove allegiance. (Sadism off the set too: Hot head George C. Scott, who plays Abraham, was having an affair with hot head Ava Gardner, who plays Sarah, and in a drunken rage he slugged her.) Huston writes he doesn’t “profess any beliefs in an orthodox sense...the mystery of life is too great, too wide, too deep, to do more than wonder at. Anything further would be an impertinence.” As an artist he gives respect to material conceived as story-telling myth; as moviemaker he’s done in by inherent irrationality. Released in America at 175 minutes; in Germany at 216 minutes, making us wonder what we missed. Oscar-nominated for best original musical score (Toshiro Mayuzumi). Filmed in Dimension 150, a glorified TODD-AO, The Bible was not presented in the format in the Chicago metropolitan area as the U.A. Cinema 150 in Oakbrook wouldn’t be ready until the summer of 1968. Opened 12/23/1966 using 70mm at the Michael Todd, running 42 weeks, the epic’s third longest booking, after NY and LA runs of 56 weeks in D-150. The latest info from in70mm.com says only seven theatres reeled The Bible in D-150 during initial roadshow engagements, and two more venues in subsequent releases. ROLL OVER IMAGES
Text COPYRIGHT © 2001 RALPH BENNER (Revised 12/2024) All Rights Reserved.
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