Let's be realistic.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

Christian movies always gets massive down-votes by people who are biased from the beginning. So never mind the low IMDb score... it's always like that.This movie is one of the most visually perfect I have ever seen (MUST be seen in 1080p HD), and it stays close the book, something which is really not easy especially for the beginning.The pace is slow and contemplative, but I think that's how the Bible should be told. Great movie!Many of the actors are as good as they are famous, which doesn't hurt! I highly recommend it, but maybe not for young children as I believe it is not the audience intended for this film, or only if your kids have no troubles staying quiet for three hours !

The Bible: In the Beginning is a religious epic film recounting the first 22 chapters of the Book of Genesis from Creation through Noah's Ark through Abraham's near-sacrifice of son Isaac.The ensemble cast includes Stephen Boyd,Ava Gardner,Richard Harris,John Huston,Peter O'Toole,Michael Parks and George C. Scott.The 174-minute movie has consists of four main sections: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, and the story of Abraham. There are also a pair of shorter sections, one recounting the building of the Tower of Babel, and the other the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The sections vary greatly in tone.The story of Abraham is somber and reverential, while that of Noah repeatedly focuses on his love of all animals. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Tower of Babel could be called precursors to special effects spectaculars, although there are no real effects in the Tower of Babel sequence, and the special effects in the Sodom and Gomorrah sequence do not appear until the cities are actually destroyed.The major triumph of this film is that despite the insanity of the attempt and the grandiosity of the project, the technology doesn't dominate the material.Also,the greatest stories of the Old Testament are brought to the screen with astounding scope and power that will provide the viewer with genuine awe.

I'm a great admirer of Mr. Huston's body of work. From Treasure of Sierra Madre to The Prizzi's Honor, without mentioning my personal favorite, Moby Dick, this great eccentric was capable to produce authentic gems or at least very decent films. But this? Oh boy, where to start on the wrongs: first, the pacing is so slow that you would think God took 6 centuries and not 6 days for the Creation. It's slow, slower and slowest. In a word: boring. Independently of the script (whatever your religious beliefs are, you would agree with me that the Bible is not the most cinematic book you could take to the big screen, but there are plenty of elements that could give a good story). Then, about the production values, the washed out color that worked so well in Moby Dick gives this movie a look much older than its 1966 release, and it feels cheap for an epic of such proportions. The cinematography is nothing to write home about. The makeup is terrible (just watch "old Abraham" makeup for a reference), the customs are anachronistic with its impeccable cleanliness. Talking about the casting, the great George C. Scotts ruins what could have been the best part of the movie with his annoying overacting. The music is just corny and bombastic. Huston is an indifferent narrator and the voice of an even more indifferent God. I gave it 4 stars in memory of the great director John Huston was despite this abomination. And because it's fun to see him as Noah. It's very clear that Huston was an atheist. Otherwise I can't understand the total lack of enthusiasm reflected in this movie.