John Steven Lasher I am a film producer and director. I have always had a soft spot for this underrated Biblical epic, which I saw in 70mm at the time of its release.This was the first film shot in Super Panavision 70, the spherical (non-anamorphic) 70mm format. In the film's titles it is called Panavision 70. There are many production values which deserve mention. The acting is uniformly good, but the particular stand-outs include the cinematography and Albert Hay Malotte's fine music score.My contacts in the motion picture industry inform me that Disney has no plans whatsoever to re-release the film in any commercial format. The studio does not consider the film to have sufficient marketing potential.

jughead1 They (The Disney Productions) really should put this awesome movie on DVD!! It may never happen unless we, the audience, does something! The movie has an all star cast, including Howard Keel from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and the famous character actor on movies and TV John Saxon. It is based on the book by Lloyd C. Douglass. Douglass is the same author who wrote the great inspiring book, "The Robe" which was the first movie done in Cinemascope. It starred Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature. Victor Mature starred in the sequel to "The Robe" which was entitled "Demetrius and the Gladiators" which was a screenplay based on the characters from "The Robe" and the movie, which was shown in theaters one year after its predecessor, did very well in its own right. So, hopefully all the spiritual works of Lloyd C. Douglass, especially "The Big Fisherman", that were made into theatrical performances will eventually go into DVD!!!

d-braine This was a great film, and it ought to be put on DVD. I remember seeing it and thinking that it was far better than 'Quo Vadis' and many other of the religiously connected biopics, and much better than things like 'Jesus of Nazareth' which I have seen more recently. It is terrible that things like this should become unavailable for people to see, and I for one would very much like to see it again. There is less sloppiness and sentimentality than in some of the early biopics, and lots of good actors acting well. I do really think that this one should be pushed hard and someone persuaded to put it on DVD. I think it was influenced by the novel by Sholem Asch, who was a great novelist about various Jewish and Christian religious figures.

Greg Couture I saw this one during its initial release at a theater in Palm Springs, California (now used only for stage shows and live presentations...one has to go a few miles out of the downtown area to find a multiplex, at least during my last visit there a year or so ago.) The 70mm cinematography (using the same units, borrowed presumably from M-G-M, that had been shipped to Rome to lens "Ben-Hur" - in "M-G-M Camera 65" - a "Window of the World" as the studio had touted it for the first production in that process, 1957's "Raintree County" starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift) is stunning, making great use of the Salton Sea area, a few miles from Palm Springs itself. I don't remember this film all that well, but I do recall that Herbert Lom and Martha Hyer, as Herod Antipas and his evil consort, Herodias, achieved chillingly corrupt portrayals, under the steady hand of old Hollywood veteran, Frank Borzage.One wonders who now holds the rights to this film, for it would certainly be a title that might do well given a good transfer to DVD.