Yikes, this was a bad movie! The color cinematography was hideous, the dialog laughable, music was overbearing, sets were cheesy. Oh, and every "B" list actor was in it, except for Howard Keel who only made musicals at the time.I was certain that this was one of those movies shot in Italy cheaply, then re-dubbed in English. To my shock, it was not only made here in the U.S., but by the Walt Disney Company....with a larger budget than the far superior "Nun's Story." Did Disney really make this to actually compete with "Ben Hur?" Unbelievable.The fact that it made it to the nomination stage is actually because no other good movies were set to compete against "Ben Hur" and "Nun's Story." They knew they would lose hands down.When did Walt Disney pass away? Anyway, we usually have Turkey for Christmas day. Turner Classic Movies served this up to our family on Christmas Eve. We had a good laugh.

Please, when you want to make a biblical movie, kindly consult Cecil B. DeMille or William Wyler. This picture, though not very good, had the misfortune to come out the same year as "Ben-Hur" did. All the biblical names are merely cast about haphazardly-Judean, Arab, etc.Howard Keel shed his beautiful singing voice to take the star role in this inferior production.Susan Kohner must have thought she was Sarah Jane, the great part she had the same year in "Imitation of Life," where she was rewarded with an Oscar nomination.The picture is one big mess with all the characters being thrown at you at once, with the exception of the usual diabolical Herbert Lom and Martha Hyer, his second wife, and the embodiment of evil. In her carriage scene, Hyer romps around with her nose in the air, while casting an evil-type look that reminded me of Agnes Moorehead.This is supposedly a film of belief, redemption, punishment and anything else we can think of. It's a failure on all accounts.

Despite what is written in "Did you know?" section, this movie is not connected to "The Robe" or "Demetrius and the Gladiators". It just has one character (the leading role, "the big fisherman", i.e. Saint Peter, the Apostle) in common, nothing else. At most, it could be considered a prequel of "The Robe", since the action precedes the events told in "The Robe". More, "the Big Fisherman" is a different kind of movie than "The Robe" and "Demetrius..."; it is built differently, it is shot differently, and so on. Yet, if you have enjoyed "The Robe" and "Demetrius...", you should enjoy this one, too. It has not the grandeur of the other two, but it is more alert.

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.