Robert D. Ruplenas Spartacus and Ben-Hur this ain't. I don't understand the references to "lavish spectacle." Everything in this movie looks cheap. And director Stanley Fleisher is no Bill Kowalchuk (Ben-Hur) or Stanley Kramer (Spartacus). As far as the score, Mario Nascimbene is no Miklos Rozsa either. As far as the red/orange tint referred to I strongly suspect this is due to the aging of the print. The movie has not been restored like others of its day, which is understandable; it's not worth restoring. Anthony Quinn and his colleagues do the best they can with a ponderously leaden and clichéd script ("Work, you crazy dogs!"). The pacing is glacial, and the long passages of monologue that are more appropriate to a pulpit than a soundstage are tough to take. I was going to stop watching halfway through but I forced myself to watch the whole thing so I'd feel qualified to comment on it. Just because I suffered doesn't mean you have to.

SnoopyStyle Pontius Pilate releases the violent criminal Barabbas (Anthony Quinn) instead of Jesus. Barabbas returns to his drunken friends to find his lover Rachel (Silvana Mangano) has become one of Jesus' follower. He goes blind for awhile as Jesus is crucified. Rachel gets stoned to death for blasphemy. Barabbas is arrested again for robbing a temple caravan but Pilate tells him that he is not allowed to sentence him to death again. Instead he is sentenced to the sulfur mines in Sicily. He is chained to a Christian Sahak but he still refuses to believe in Christ. After many years, they are brought to Rome and become gladiators under the famous champion Torvald (Jack Palance).Nobody can claim that the film went cheap on the production. This is a big scale movie of Old Hollywood. The acting is very broad at times. I really didn't like the constant referencing to Jesus in the first half. It becomes too much when he meets Lazarus and the Disciples. Rachel and Sahak are much better conduits for the message. I do like the sulfur mines as a substitute for hell. I would have liked him to find salvation down in the mines. It would be poetic and make the movie shorter.

krocheav While at first you could possibly be forgiven for thinking Barabbas might look like a cheap Italian epic, it is far, far from being so. The person I saw it with described it as a sword a sandal epic with some religion thrown in to cash in on the genre. If you also thought so, then maybe you need to look again. This has to be one of the most literate screenplays given to a 'Biblical' (yet non-Biblical epic). Bristol born Sceenwriter Christopher Fry, regarded by many as the Shakespeare of the 20th Century, has crafted a perceptive adaptation of Swedish Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvists' novel of the same name. The film wreaks of stunning atmosphere. Striking images created by award nominated Cinematographer Aldo Tonti conjure up the best art of the dark age masters. Pay special attention to the Crucifiction scenes, these were filmed during an actual eclipse of the Sun, as it occurred on 15th Feb 1961! The production design by Mario Chiari was also award nominated, and deservedly so, leaving you gasping for air amid astoundingly realistic sets. The National Board of Review awarded Barabbas the Best Foreign Film of it's year.Mario Nascimbene caps the eerie moods with an innovative haunting music score. While the action scenes are violent in their recreation, they serve to force us to realize the shocking inhumanity of the Roman Arena, a severe denouncement of the repugnant, decay riddled Roman Empire. Anthony Quinn, Vitorio Gassman, Harry Andrews, Silvana Mangano, Ernest Borgnine, et-all, give convincing performances that should sweep the discerning viewer along a tour de force journey. Jack Palance is truly menacing in a larger than life performance as the arena's maniacal killer. While it's mostly impossible to fully translate a novel into a screen play, it seems Fry has worked hard to keep much of the poetic prose of Lagerkvists' 50's original intact.American Director Richard Fleischer (son of famous animator Max) demonstrates full command of this difficult project and infuses it with the same intensity he imparted to several of his other gripping works: Compulsion '59 ~ 10 Rillington Place '71 ~ The New Centurians '72 and Edward G. Robinson's impressive 'swan song' Soylent Green in '73. If you can patiently follow as a tortured soul journeys into self discovery, then you should be rewarded by the experience of Barabbas. Recommended for the viewer who can 'read' a film like a book. It seems Columbia have recently re-mastered this film on DVD, I look forward to seeing it.

Neil Welch Winner of Jerusalem's Favourite Convict (33AD season), Barabbas - who has led a worthless life - goes in search of meaning.Starting with the decision to free Barabbas rather than Jesus, this 1961 Biblical epic charts Barabbas' (fictional) life after being freed, based on the 1953 novel. Quite nicely staged (even going so far as to feature an actual eclipse at the crucifixion) and with a good central performance by Antony Quinn, Barabbas has a number of faults. Back in 1961 they may not have been fatal. 2013 is not so forgiving.It is slow, dull, and overlong.It is badly dubbed throughout.And perhaps it is just the print which was aired on TV, but it was grainy and out of focus.I do like me a good Biblical epic, but I was unimpressed.