King of Kings (1961)

One of my all time favorites.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Before other movies depicting the life of Christ, this was always my favorite. In my opinion, the best depiction of Christ's life was and still is the made for TV series, "Jesus of Nazareth". Robert Powell was a little "soap opera-ish" but overall he did a good job. There are many biblical errors in this version--mostly stressing the Protestant version of the Bible, but again, those were easily ignored. I thought the Magi were the BEST ever--especially Donald Pleasance. James Earl Jones wasn't bad either. Fernando Ray (Rey?) was also great! Today, my favorite religious movie is "The Passion of the Christ". There is no other biblical movie to date that can outdo this perfect depiction of the last three days of Jesus' life. Mel Gibson has his problems, but this movie is his shining accomplishment. (Apocalyto was awesome, too!)

Despite the running time coming in at almost three hours, KING OF KINGS is a surprisingly fast-paced biopic of the life of Jesus Christ, from cradle to grave (and out of it again). As you'd expect, events surrounding the Crucifixion take up a good third of the running time, so the first two thirds basically rush from event to event, with little room to breathe in between.I'm not entirely sure what I think about the production. I don't particularly like Jeffrey Hunter's Christ, who I found difficult to take seriously with that broad American accent, but overall the production values are impressive and the film certainly brings to life the times and settings of the Bible. The cast is also well chosen, and it was great to see the likes of old timer Robert Ryan in the role of John the Baptist.Overall, this is a slick production but one that doesn't really connect to the heart. Hunter spends his time spouting homilies and reciting the Lord's Prayer instead of bringing the emotion and conflict of his character across. Robert Powell is still my definitive Christ and Mel Gibson's PASSION OF THE Christ still the definitive version of the Crucifixion.

There is a lot of great talent here in King of Kings and on the most part it is well-used. King of Kings does have some unevenness, with the Barabbas and Herod subplots taking too much time and there should have been more of Jesus. There are a few performances that didn't quite do it for me, Frank Thring and Harry Guardino go overboard in the hammy camp department as Herod Antipas and Barabbas and Royal Dano has some very awkward, emotionless dialogue delivery that was suggestive of him not knowing what to do with it. A lot of King of Kings is very good though, Robert Ryan is subdued at times but is a charismatic John the Baptist, Rip Torn is a moving Judas, Hurd Hatfield plays Pontious Pilate with authority and Brigid Bazlen's Salome is sexy and wicked. The film is intelligently scripted and directed with skill by Nicholas Ray who knows how to do majestic spectacle and character relationships, there's proof of knowing how to balance the two as well. The story sustains its running time very well, and while not completely successful with the aforementioned distracting subplots but the Dance of the Seven Veils, the Last Supper and Gethsemane scenes are very well done. Jesus' relationships with the apostles and his mother are believably portrayed too. Jeffrey Hunter is surprisingly excellent, the quiet dignity he brings is perfect for Jesus and his eyes communicate so much. There are several fantastic things too, the best asset being Miklos Rozsa's score which is just marvellous and essentially IS the film. Rozsa was a truly great film composer with some equally great scores under his belt, and he provides some majestic and beautiful moments, the hauntingly beautiful yet uplifting scoring in the ending scene in my mind is some of the best he ever did. The ending honestly left me floored, it should be emotional and it was, devastating even and the score has a lot to do with it. Orson Welles' narration, which added a lot to the story actually, is distinctive and understatedly powerful, and the film is very lavishly mounted in detail and scope with the cinematography just as sumptuous. Overall, King of Kings is far from perfect with the story needing more balance and a few performances underwhelmed but there are a lot of good things, with Hunter, the ending, the production values, Welles' narration and the music especially working. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

This is an awful movie. The acting is wooden, the sets are unhistorical and the central drama of the gospels is missing. It is as if the movie makers set out to make a tableaux set meant to inspire piety rather than understanding. This is a Sunday School story of Christ. Hunter simply doesn't know what to do with the role so he does nothing. Robert Ryan turns John the Baptist into a boring figure, which is quite an accomplishment. Why is Barabbas so important in this rendering? What liberties did the film makers take to get some good old action scenes into the film. Why is the set for Joseph and Mary's house about ten times larger than a real house would have been at the time. And why does no one look Jewish in the movie?Rip Torn as Judas Iscariot and Brigid Bazlen as Salome give a good effort in a lost cause. The score is superb but how much more interesting it might have been if they had used music contemporary to the time of the gospel instead of the lush Hollywood epic style of the late fifties?