Barabbas (Columbia Pictures) (1961)

Anthony Quinn It may have something to do with the fact that he was born in Chihuagua, Mexico, but it is interesting to know that Anthony Quinn, a cultured man who is a talented painter, writer and architect as well as an actor, has virtually built his screen reputation portraying men with primitive instincts and attitudes. Quinn recently completed what he believes to be the greatest “primitive” of all, in the title role of the film version of Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist’s powerful novel, “Barabbas,” which was produced by Dino De Laurentiis for Columbia Pictures release. “Barabbas” is now at the Theatre in Technicolor and Technirama. A drunken brawler, killer and thief, Barabbas was the man pardoned and given his freedom; Christ was crucified in his place. A two-time Academy Award winner, Quinn won his first Oscar portraying the unlettered Mexican revolutionary in “Viva Zapata,” and his second for his interpretation of Gauguin (a _ primitive among painters) in “Lust For Life.” These were followed with still more “primitives,” the circus strong man in the Federico Fellini picture, “La Strada,” which won the Venice Film Festival Award, and the Greek guerilla fighter in “The Guns of Navarone,” among others. Added to these are Quinn’s portrayals as a (EE i RY bdbded ilvana Mangano Glamorous Silvana Mangano is a most unusual film star. Unlike her more flamboyant sister actresses in Italy, Miss Mangano dislikes the ballyhoo that has become an integral part of a star’s life, both private and professional. She did all she could to avoid publicity during production of “Barabbas,” in which she stars with Anthony Quinn at the Miss Mangano won international fame when she appeared in “Bitter Rice,” but, ironically, the publicity photos issued before that film was released made her famous. One striking shot of her standing in a rice paddy, with her long legs in black stockings and her dress tucked into her belt, was published in virtually every magazine in the world. This film revolutionized Miss Mangano’s life. Among other things, she fell in love with, and married, the young production manager on “Bitter Rice.” His name is Dino De Laurentiis, now one of the most important film producers in the world, and producer of “Barabbas,” the spectacular Columbia Pictures release in Technicolor and Technirama. Motherhood twice forced Miss Mangano to retire from the screen, and she was anxious to make her retirement permanent. Convinced that she was a great actress, her husband persuaded her to return: she won the Silver Ribbon, Italy’s equivalent of the Oscar, for “Gold Of Naples.” Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, RXIPSIb Ed Advance Notice “Barabbas,” the Dino De Laurentiis production for Columbia Pictures release, opens ....... at theless regs Theatre with Anthony Quinn in the title role, Co-starring in order of appearance are Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist, ‘““Barabbas” was directed by Richard Fleischer from the Christopher Fry screenplay. Dino De Laurentiis produced the film, in Technicolor and Technirama. (Mat 1B; Still No. Spec. 22) Anthony Quinn as he appears in the title role of “Barabbas,” Dino De Laurentiis’ Technicolor-Technirama production for Columbia Pictures release. Also starred are Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. former title contender in Columbia’s “Requiem For A Heavyweight,” and as the one-eyed Arab chief in the upcoming “Lawrence Of Arabia.’ Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine also star with Quinn in “Barabbas.” Richard Fleischer directed. SEapsdbsabedbxieixibabcd xUbcabebedb (Mat 1A; Still No. NY704) Silvana Mangano as she appears in “Barabbas,” Dino De Laurentiis’ TechnicolorTechnirama production for Columbia Pictures release. Also starred are Anthony Quinn, in the title role, and Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine also star with Anthony Quinn and Miss Mangano in “Barabbas.” Richard Fleischer directed the Dino De Laurentiis production, which is based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist. Christopher Fry wrote the screenplay. a ibrsbsibedbstbedbsdbsdesdbsdbsibdbd) Versatile Actor One of Europe’s favorite Ameriean actors, Anthony Quinn currently stars at the ...... Theatre in the title role of Dino De Laurentiis’ production of “Barabbas,” Columbia release in Technicolor and Technirama. Quinn’s popularity is not due alone to the energy and ability he brings to his roles; it is due as well to his fluency with languages. Quinn speaks Spanish, Italian and French, as well as English, and he gladly gives interviews to newsmen or TV and radio personalities in their own tongues. Review One of the most beautiful and deeply moving screen epics ever produced, Dino De Laurentiis’ production “Barabbas” opened yesterday at the ........ Theatre in Technicolor and Technirama, and we are in complete agreement with the enthusiastic acclaim this Columbia Picture release has received both abroad and at home. “Barabbas” is indeed a fabulous spectacle which throbs with passion and echoes with conflict and the clash of steel. The film version of Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist’s powerful novel about the man who lived only because Christ died in his place, is a picture that will be talked about for a long time to come. In one of the most memorable performances of a long and distinguished career, Anthony Quinn stars as “Barabbas.” Perfectly complementing Quinn’s superb performance in the new Columbia Pictures release are the portrayals of Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. In his screenplay, novelist and playwright Christopher Fry has both dramatized and deepened the meaning in the novel by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist, with the result that “Barabbas” is an intense and illuminating motion picture, a truly memorable experience in entertainment. The film is continuously alive, and what keeps it alive is the burning sincerity and excitement of its search for the meaning in Barabbas’ singular and revealing life. All this is vividly and unforgettably told against the tremendous backgrounds of Roman glory, the awesome horrors of the arena and the solemnity of the Crucifixion. “Barabbas” truly begins where the other big ones leave off. Richard Fleischer’s direction has considerable stature and all his set pieces—the Crucifixion, actually filmed against the total eclipse of the sun; the scenes in the Sicilian sulphur mines; the gladiatorial fights — come off splendidly. “Barabbas” is indeed a ‘big’ picture in every sense of that word, with a theme that befits its spectacular and dramatic nature of the production, and with performances —hboth cast and staff—that lend new luster to the screen. Dino De Laurentiis An Italian film producer with a world-wide reputation for screen achievement, Dino De Laurentiis currently is betting some $30,000,000 that motion pictures are here to stay. De Laurentiis, who produced the new Columbia Pictures release, “Barabbas,” starring Anthony Quinn in the title role at the Theatre in Technicolor and Technirama, is using the 30 million to build the world’s most modern motion picture studio on a 750-acre site just 13 miles from downtown Rome; he expects its films to rival the best the world has to offer. In fact, De Laurentiis’ past films have been ranked among the world’s best, and they have attracted to him some of the world’s greatest movie-makers. “Barabbas,” for example, stars not only two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Quinn, but Silvana Mangane, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine — Americans, Italians, Mexicans and an English Shakespearean actor. For “Barabbas,” the screenplay was written by Christopher Fry, British poetplaywright, based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist of Sweden. Among other De Laurentiis films, in recent years, have been “The Best of Enemies,” starring David Niven and Sordi; “Ulysses,” starring Kirk Douglas; “La Strada,” “Bitter Rice,” “War and Peace,” and “Nights of Cabiria.” General Advance A film acclaimed as a motion picture masterpiece throughout the world, Dino De Laurentiis’ spectacular new production, “Barabbas” opens ...... atithe sy... Theatre in Technicolor and Technirama. The Columbia Pictures release has eight world-famous _ stars heading the multi-thousand cast: Anthony Quinn in the title role, Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. Nor are the actors alone among the world’s finest movie-makers. The director of “Barabbas” is Hollywood’s Richard Fleischer. De Laurentiis himself is Italian. Chief cinematographer is Aldo Tonti, Italy’s great cameraman, a winner of two Silver Ribbons, the Italian equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscar. The author of the novel is Swedish, and the script writer, English. Perfect physical specimans were a ‘must’ for the film’s spectacular gladiatorial contests staged in the 2,000 year-old arena in the ancient city of Verona, and the search for these gladiators covered every country on the European continent. Nobel Prize-winner Par Lagerkvist’s original story of Barabbas, the assassin and thief whose life was spared when Christ was condemned to take his place on the Cross, was fashioned into a screenplay by English poet-playwright Christopher Fry. “Barabbas” combines the magnificent color and excitement of a brawling early Roman Empire with the intimate, dramatic struggle of a man’s inner spirit. Two years of preparation went into the making of “Barabbas,” and few pictures have been more carefully researched. Experts spent many weeks in the museums of Rome, and especially of the Vatican. History was to be written and filmed with entertainment in mind, but fiction and guesswork was out of the question. From the world acclaim, the inspired labor and imagination that preceded production is truly reflected in what is now “Barabbas.” Par Lagerkvist Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951, Par Lagerkvist is the author of more than 35 books, including “Barabbas,” on which is based the Dino De Laurentiis production now at the Beaten Soins Theatre with Anthony Quinn in the title role. “Barabbas,” a Columbia Pictures release in Technicolor and Technirama, also stars Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. Lagerkvist is one of the eighteen “Tmmortals” of the Swedish Academy; he was elected in 1940. Best known in his native Sweden as a dramatist, he also is a poet, essayist and novelist. His most recent book, “Death of Ahaseuras,” was published here in April 1962. Christopher Fry, himself a distinguished world figure as a poet and playwright, penned the “Barabbas“ screen play. Richard Fleischer directed the Columbia release. Thousands of Extras A record total of 66,175 extras were used by director Richard Fleischer and producer Dino De Laurentiis during the filming of “Barabbas,” new Columbia Pictures release in Technicolor and Technirama at the tre. The film, with Anthony Quinn in the title role, also set a one-day mark during work on the spectacle sequence in the Verona arena, when 9,115 extras were employed. Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine also star in “Barabbas.” (Mat 1C; Still No. NY703) Anthony Quinn, in the title role of “Barabbas,” and Silvana Mangano in Dino De Laurentiis’ Technicolor-Technirama production for Columbia Pictures release. Also starred are Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. baal bsdlb5d)b=d bsdlbsalbsd bxdbsdibsd)bsdlbsd bd bsdbe4 bsdibsd bs Mt. Etna Helps Mount Etna, the historic volcano on Sicily which has been erupting on and off for the past 2,000 years or more, played an unscheduled role in a scene for the film version of Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist’s powerful novel, “Barabbas,” starring Anthony Quinn at the Theatre, and panicked several thousand extra players, sending them running wildly down the slopes of the mountain in one of the best unrehearsed sequences ever filmed. Director Richard Fleischer had taken the huge “Barabbas” troupe to Sicily to film on the slopes of Mt. Etna the exteriors of sulphur mines in which Quinn as Barabbas and co-star Vittorio Gassman work as slaves of the Romans. The sequence was to show the mines collapsing from an earthquake caused by the volcanic eruption; thousands of slaves were supposed to pour out of the various ravines and canyons which had been fitted up with the mine equipment used by Romans 2,000 years ago. Mt. Etna beat the director to his “panic” cue. Suddenly the whole mountainside trembled and Mt. Etna exploded with one of its mightiest eruptions in many months. Smoke and fumes spumed upwards and great rocks and boulders were shot high into the air. Of course, the “Barabbas” company was too far down the hillside to be in imminent danger of lava-flow or rocks, but the extras did not wait to find this out. They just ran blindly and wildly down the mountainside to safety, they hoped. Fortunately, in the noise and confusion the director’s “cut” could not be heard and the two Technirama camera crews kept turning. Seeing Red! Anthony Quinn had to undergo unusual color film tests for the title role in Dino De Laurentiis’ production of “Barabbas,” now at the Theatre in Technicolor and Technirama. The Columbia Pictures release required Quinn to play a slave in the sulphur mines of Sicily. Never allowed above ground, Quinn’s eyes would naturally be bloodshot and director Richard Fleischer, a stickler for detail, insisted the actor wear contact lenses which would give this appearance. Quinn had the lenses made and fitted in New York, but had them done in three shades of red so Fleischer could test him in Technicolor and pick that pair which looked the most natural. Eclipse in Film Instinct born of 30 years of cinematography helped veteran Italian cameraman Aldo Tonti solve the most difficult lighting problem ever to confront a cameraman: shooting a scene in Technicolor-Technirama against the eclipse of the sun. Because of this instinct, which caused Tonti to change his entire camera setup even as the total eclipse had begun, the Dino De Laurentiis production, ‘“Barabbas,” Columbia release starring Anthony Quinn at the Theatre, has the most dramatically beautiful and moving crucifixion scene ever filmed. De Laurentiis and director Richard Fleischer decided only 48 hours before the eclipse to make use of the natural lighting phenomenon in an effort to duplicate naturally what reportedly occurred on the fateful day, 2,000 years ago, when “darkness came over the world.” A cast and crew of 80 were rushed to Roccastrada, 120 miles north of Rome and there, on a hilltop, the crosses were erected and Tonti set up his three Technirama cameras, one, with a telescopic lens, to photograph the eclipse itself; a second to shoot a closeup of the cross on which the Christ figure hung, and the third for a master shot of all three crosses and the eclipse. “Tt was now 7:30 in the morning,” says Tonti, “and I had already placed cameras and lamps in position. But I found it impossible to measure intensity as the sun was shining directly into the cameras. I could not even make a guess as to what would happen at the moment of the total eclipse. “I became worried,” admits Tonti. “The eclipse was just beginning and I was unhappy with the master camera placement. The blinding sun was causing optical refractions, which created extensive halos, fogging the entire picture. Instinct paid off,” continued Tonti. “I moved the camera so that the sun shone directly into the very center of the lens. This immediately eliminated reflections. But then the heavy filters, I realized, would greatly diminish the intensity of the image. I ripped off the filters, opened up the lens to stop f4, and hoped.” Two days later, Tonti saw the results: the most dramatic crucifixion scene ever filmed. “Barabbas,” in Technirama and Technicolor, stars Anthony Quinn in the title role with Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gass nan, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. The film is based on the book by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist. Stunt Man Wanted! There was a time, during the filming of Dino De Laurentiis’ production of “Barabbas,” Columbia Pictures’ release at the ........ Theatre in Technirama and Technicolor, when no stuntmen in all of Europe were available to other movie-makers. De Laurentiis also scoured France, Germany and Italy for top athletes and acrobats, in addition to signing up the stuntmen listed with the film studios of Europe. He used 200 of these daredevils in the big spectacle scenes of “Barabbas,” which stars Anthony Quinn in the title role, as well as in such sequences as the burning of Rome, the slaughter of the Christians and the collapse of the sulphur mines. “Barabbas,” in Technirama and Technicolor, stars Anthony Quinn in the title role, with Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine. The film is based on the book by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist. Christopher Fry wrote the screen play. Page 13