The Bible in the Beginning...

1966

Action / Drama / Family

27
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 6802 6.8K

sodom and gomorrah epic tower of babel genesis bible anthology

Plot summary

Covering only the first 22 chapters of the Book of Genesis, vignettes include: Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden until their indulgence in the forbidden fruit sees them driven out; Cain murdering his brother Abel; Noah building an ark to preserve the animals of the world from the coming flood; and Abraham making a covenant with God.

Director

John Huston Photo
John Huston

Top cast

Anna Orso Photo
Anna Orso as Shem's Wife
Richard Harris Photo
Richard Harris as Cain
Peter O'Toole Photo
Peter O'Toole as The Three Angels
Franco Nero Photo
Franco Nero as Abel
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.46 GB
1280*576
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 54 min
Seeds 4
2.8 GB
1920*864
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 54 min
Seeds 20

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Expensively made production dealing with relevant biblical deeds in the Old Testament

Spectacular as well as extravagant production of the first part of the book of Genesis and dealing with five of the early stories in the Old Testament .The title is a bit of a misnomer as the film only covers the first 22 chapters of the first book of Genesis . It covers various Biblical episodes and and open with the Creation of the World and arrive at the Garden of Eden with Adam (Michael Parks) and Eve, Cain and Abel (Richard Harris and Franco Nero play brothers-turned-enemies) Noah (John Huston , though Charles Chaplin and Alec Guinness was also offered the role ) and the Flood and the story of Nimrod (Stephen Boyd) , King of Babel and the emergence of man's vanity . Furthermore , Lot (Gabriele Ferzetti) , Lot's Wife (Eleonora Rossi Drago), Sodomah and Gomorra destruction , and three such Heavenly Messengers (Peter O'Toole) appeared in the course of events along with Abraham (George C Scott) , Sarah (Ava Gardner) , his slave Hagar and sons Isaac and Ismael.This overblown all-star cast Biblical treatment contains emotion , religious feeling , human touch and grandeur events . The best episode results to be Noah tale in which John Huston gives an intelligent as well as sympathetic acting ; when God talks to Noah, that's actually the voice of John Huston speaking to the actor John Huston . Filming of The Tower of Babel sequence was disrupted when Egyptian extras staged a rock-throwing riot . One of the first mainstream American films to feature male and female nudity -albeit artfully filmed in a light-and-shadow style- in the Garden of Eden sequences . Reportedly , neither Michael Parks nor Ulla Bergryd used body doubles for these scenes . Lavishly produced by Dino De Laurentiis , he originally announced that this would be the first in a series of feature films based on the books of the bible ; however it didn't take place . Rousing and extraordinary musical score by Toshirô Mayuzumi and uncredited Ennio Morricone ; though Huston wanted Igor Stravinsky to score the film . As with many epics of the 1950s and 1960s Paul Francis Webster was called in to supply promotional lyrics to the main theme. The song was entitled "Song of the Bible" and Webster devised the following lyrics to fit Mayuzumi's opening theme music . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno , Fellini's ordinary ; this was the first film shot in the Dimension 150 process. This process was credited as simply "D-150" .This luxuriously mounted production was well directed by John Huston who gives the feel of a Cecil B De Mille spectacle . However , French director Robert Bresson was firstly hired in 1964 and wen he shot the deluge, he requested the use of all the animals in Rome city zoo , but the only thing Bresson filmed was the tracks of the animals upon a sandy beach , then Bresson was fired, John Huston took over the project, delaying production a further six month. Rating : 6,5/10 . Well worth watching . Better than average . The movie will appeal to religious and epic films buffs .-
Reviewed by mark.waltz 8 / 10

If you aren't a believer, then watch for the story. If you are, don't analyze too much.

John Houston's three hour epic about the book of Genesis in the Old Testament was to be the start of a series of movies covering the so- called "Good Book" but only covered the first 3/4 of that first part of the bible. Expensively made, it failed to earn back its cost and other entries were canceled. It is a pity because Huston gives a valiant effort to tell the story of creation according to the bible and the first thousand years afterwords.Huston narrates, does the voice of God and even plays Noah. Opulent photography and an excellent musical score add to the multi-part story which covers Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, who begat whom, the great flood and ultimately the creation of the Hebrew nation with Abraham's story.The story of creation is very touching and Adam's introduction to Eve is profound. Curious Eve didn't quite know her apples, and this leads to their banishment from paradise. Jealousy turns brother against brother, Noah deals with human ridicule and the unpredictability of nature in a humorous sequence surrounding a natural disaster. Then there is the story of Abraham, lead by an excellent George C. Scott with Ava Gardner as his barren wife. The will of God makes the story almost tragic as Abraham must risk heartbreak to please the Lord. If there is one continuous theme, that is the lesson that mankind is not to understand the motives of our creator and to try and make it as good as we can with the gifts he has handed over to us.The lessons here are told without finger wagging morality lessons so the audience can watch this without feeling like they have been admonished or judged. The special effects ate outstanding, especially in the flood and Tower of Babel sequences which are just as good and less headache inducing as today's overwrought films.As for the Sodom and Gomorrah sequence, as this came out as the production code was changing, I found it to show a city of perversion that deserved at least a good cleansing, if not total annihilation. There are all sorts of sexual innuendos presented, including homosexuality and bestiality. I have never seen a gay community as perverse as this one, and the confrontation with the angels is definitely an implication of rape, not consensual relations. I can only guess that the lack of morality in these wicked cities had less to do with the types of sex going on rather than the fact that it was without any sense of moral decency behind it and the lawlessness needed to be dealt with. Audiences will see things in the way their own mind perceived it to be, so this sequence and biblical story will always create controversy. For the most part, this film is extremely well acted and sincere with Huston and Scott particularly excellent. The episodic structure makes this seem a lot shorter than it actually is. For religious people, this may not be a proper replacement for its source material, but it is certainly an excellent visual aid.
Read more IMDb reviews

17 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment