borromeot John Huston directed it and played Noah, yep. John Huston you know, the director of The Treasure Of Sierra Madre and The Maltese Falcon and his atheism shouldn't be an excuse for the embarrassment of The Bible...In the Beginning. Pier Paolo Pasolini was a Marxist, atheist, homosexual who made one of the greatest religious films of all time with The Gospel According To St Matthew. No, here, I suspect, the mastermind behind this super production is Dino De Laurentiis, the producer, the first name in the opening titles. Huge. Famous for very expensive movies with dubious results and intentions. Fortunately this - Highlights from Genesis and beyond - have a narration trying to explain the inexplicable. De Laurentiis believed in a cast of big names - like Harvey Weinstein - yes that's the laziest way to put together a production. Michael Parks is a beautiful 1960's Adam and so is Ulla Bergryd, his Eve. Richard Harris is Cain and Franco Nero Abel, George C Scott is Abraham, Ava Gardner, Sarah. and the film is now nearly forgotten. Pasolini used an unknown in the lead of his Gospel According to St Matthew, Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus and it became a classic. Commercial operations are one thing, great movies quite another.

utgard14 John Huston takes us to Sunday school in this overlong biblical epic that covers the first 22 chapters of Genesis. Huston directs and narrates as the voice of Sominex...I mean, God. Opening creation/Adam & Eve segment is boring and not the best way to start the movie. The next part is Cain and Abel's story, which is okay but short. Richard Harris' overacting as Cain would have been interesting to see for a little longer. Then we have the story of Noah, played by John Huston. This is the most light-hearted part of the movie and also the best. The Tower of Babel part that follows is interesting but too brief. The final, and longest, story is that of Abraham. This includes Sodom & Gomorrah and Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. This segment is worth watching solely for the hilarious love scene between George C. Scott and Ava Gardner.Huston seems more in love with the language of the Bible than the content. His presentation is lacking in artistry, save for snippets such as the scene where God first speaks to Abraham. It's overlong and dull to the point of putting you to sleep. They really should have cut a lot out. Read the book instead.

ajheinrich59 Just finished watching the first installment of the History Channel's "The Bible". Having seen Huston's "The Bible: In The Beginning" as a kid, I was sorely disappointed with History Channels effort and amazed that nearly fifty years later, Huston's effort still outshines modern attempts. Huston's film is not only better story-telling, more biblically accurate and richer, it's special effects are even better. Huston took great pains not to imply too much onto the Scriptural narrative and added only what they knew at the time to be biblically, historically and archaeologically accurate. The result is both believable and inspiring. Sadly, I doubt anyone at History Channel reviews Huston's film before they started filming. Too bad, they might have been inspired to do one better. For my money, Huston's version remains the superior telling of the Genesis account.

les6969 Well made considering the time it was done, even the special effects are quite believable and the sequence with the Animals entering the Arc were quite amazing considering. Of course there are inaccuracies but that's to be expected. The animals went in by twos and others in sevens depending if they were clean or unclean, the Arc was more likely box shaped and not shaped like a boat. ( Read Secrets of the Lost Races ) Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden scenes were a bit dark with too much in the shadows and the garden didn't really seem like a paradise to me. Noah and ALL his family, including his daughters in law were all white which seems a little odd considering they populated the whole earth afterwards. Noah's daughters sleeping with him to have children wasn't covered but then this was a few decades ago and Isaac was most likely in his early 20s not the teenager portrayed in this film. Having said all that it is a very watchable for all the family.