"The Bible" was pretty much the swan song of the big Hollywood religious epic (with a few exceptions over the years), and you can sort of see why. The story is a complete fairy tale, of course, but the director, John Huston, brings off some spectacular effects, and they, along with his tongue-in-cheek approach in the Noah's Ark segment in which he also stars, help dilute the proselytizing. The film has some extraordinary moments (like King Nimrod shooting an arrow into heaven from the top of the Tower of Babel, or Peter O'Toole's (dis)appearance(s)), but it's too episodic and frequently tedious. Also, Huston should have chosen someone with a more imposing voice than his own to provide the voice of God - George C. Scott maybe? **1/2 out of 4.
Review of The Bible in the Beginning...
