TCM Classic Movie Alert: "The Big Fisherman"(1959) 8PM E.S.T. tonight

TCM ^ | 1959 | Lloyd C. Douglas

[ReformationFan]

At 8PM E.S.T., Turner Classic Movies will air the hard to find Biblical cinema epic, "The Big Fisherman". Based upon a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas(author of "The Robe", this film has never been released on home video, Blu-ray or DVD. I remember seeing it as a child. Howard Keel plays Simon Peter but the story is as much about Arabian princess Farah, the daughter of King Herod Antipas(played by Herbert Lom of "Pink Panther"/Chief Inspector Dreyfus fame) who wishes to avenge her mother's humiliation when the tetrach divorced and left her for his half-brother Philip's wife Herodias(played by the lovely Martha Hyer, typecast in yet another of her evil woman roles) as it is about the big fisherman. It's the only religious epic produced by the Walt Disney studios and the first film shot in Panavision.

[Argus]

I’m tuning in.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I’m watching it now and I don’t see any Panavision but pan and scan.

[steve86]

We’re going to miss that — take a walk time here on the west coast — but I see that “Francis of Assisi” will be on at 8:15 PDT and we’ll catch that.

[Fiji Hill]

I missed the chance to see the movie when it played in our town in the summer of 1959, but I later saw a bootleg DVD of it. I also read the book by Lloyd Douglas, which disappointed me because it differs considerably from the biblical account.

[ReformationFan]

That is disappointing. Especially considering that TCM has been very good about airing widescreen films in letterbox. Perhaps pan-and-scan is the only version available. I’m still DVR-ing it since it’s so hard to find a copy of it.

[ReformationFan]

Hopefully, they’ll rerun it. Or even better, make it available on DVD. And in letterbox. A redheaded Martha Hyer has just made her entrance as the villainess Herodias.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I’m still DVR-ing it since it’s so hard to find a copy of it.***

Same here.

[ReformationFan]

Just finished watching it. Hadn’t seen it since I was a child. A more accurate title probably would’ve been “The Daughter of King Herod Antipas and her friend The Big Fisherman.” Still entertaining from the time period where Hollywood at least attempted to respect Christianity in its output. Herbert Lom gave the film’s best performance IMHO.