Editing George Stevens (section)

====''The Greatest Story Ever Told''====
{{Main|The Greatest Story Ever Told}} 
In 1958, while filming ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', Stevens became aware that that Fox held the screen rights to [[Fulton Oursler]]'s 1949 novel ''The Greatest Story Ever Told''. Oursler had novelized a half-hour radio series by [[Henry Denker]], which told of the life of [[Jesus]] from the four [[Biblical canon|canonical]] [[Gospels]] of the [[New Testament]]. Stevens founded an independent company, named after the novel, to film the novel.<ref>{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/11/19/archives/stevens-to-film-a-life-of-christ-plans-the-greatest-story-ever-told.html |title=Stevens To Film the Story of Christ |work=The New York Times |page=45 |date=November 19, 1958 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250117064041/https://www.nytimes.com/1958/11/19/archives/stevens-to-film-a-life-of-christ-plans-the-greatest-story-ever-told.html |archive-date=January 17, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> Stevens affirmed his vision for the film would be stripped of pageantry and spectacle, opposite of [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s Biblical epics.<ref>{{harvnb|Moss|2004|p=270}}, {{harvnb|Harris|2008|p=151}}</ref> In 1960, Stevens collaborated with Ivan Moffat and James Lee Barrett on the script, and then hired [[Carl Sandburg]] to revise the script. For the next two years, Fox continually delayed the film's release date until 1963.{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=270–273}} However, in September 1961, [[Spyros Skouras]], president of Fox, announced the studio had "indefinitely postponed" the project due to concerns about the project's commercial prospects.<ref>{{cite news |last=Archer |first=Eugene |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/09/01/archives/film-about-jesus-postponed-by-fox-multimillion-dollar-greatest.html |title=Film About Jesus Postponed by Fox |work=The New York Times |page=11 |date=September 1, 1961 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205060429/https://www.nytimes.com/1961/09/01/archives/film-about-jesus-postponed-by-fox-multimillion-dollar-greatest.html |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, Stevens moved the project to [[United Artists]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Schumach |first=Murry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/11/07/archives/ua-to-sponsor-film-by-stevens-will-finance-and-distribute-greatest.html |title=U.A. To Sponsor Film By Stevens |work=The New York Times |page=38 |date=November 7, 1961 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205060425/https://www.nytimes.com/1961/11/07/archives/ua-to-sponsor-film-by-stevens-will-finance-and-distribute-greatest.html |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Stevens, George Jr., and researcher Tony van Renterghem embarked on a research trip to the Middle East to scout potential filming locations. However, Stevens decided to film near [[Page, Arizona]] and around the [[Glen Canyon]] upwards to [[Utah]]. Stevens explained to ''The New York Times'' in 1965: "Unfortunately some of the landscapes around Jerusalem were exciting, but many had been worn down through the years by erosion and man, invaders and wars, to places of less spectacular aspects."<ref>{{cite news |last=Stang |first=JoAnne |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/02/14/archives/-the-greatest-story-in-one-mans-view.html |title='The Greatest Story' in One Man's View |work=The New York Times |page=X7 |date=February 14, 1965 |access-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250304100650/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/02/14/archives/-the-greatest-story-in-one-mans-view.html |archive-date=March 4, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Max von Sydow]], the first actor cast in the film, was selected as Jesus, while the hiring of an ensemble cast was borne from conversations Stevens held with Skouras.{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=280–281}} 

Principal photography began in late October 1962, but months into production, filming was paused by a severe blizzard near the [[Colorado River]]. Refusing to delay shooting until the spring, Stevens grabbed a shovel and ordered the cast and crew to do the same to clear the snow off the sets.{{sfn|Moss|2004|p=283}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Renterghem |first=Tony van |url=https://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/oldzephyr/feb-march2004/greateststory.htm |title=The Last Days of Glen Canyon: ''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' |website=Canyon Country Zephyr |date=2004 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250421215018/https://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/oldzephyr/feb-march2004/greateststory.htm |archive-date=April 21, 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> Concerned that production had fell behind schedule, Stevens allowed [[David Lean]] and [[Jean Negulesco]] to shoot interior scenes representing [[Jerusalem]] at the [[RKO Forty Acres|Desilu Culver Studios]]. On August 1, 1963, the production had wrapped. Seventeen months were spent on editing and post-production, and the film's total production budget skyrocketed to $20 million ({{Inflation|US|20000000|1963|fmt=eq}}), becoming the most expensive film shot in the United States at the time.{{sfn|Moss|2004|p=285}} 

''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' was released in February 1965 in select [[Cinerama]] theaters, with the film's runtime reduced to 141 minutes for the general release.{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=285–286}} Columnist [[Hedda Hopper]] called the film "a magnificent spectacle photographed gloriously. No one could have played Christ as well as Max Von Sydow. You believe. But it was an hour too long."<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune/102550918/ |title= 'Greatest Story' Called Magnificent Spectacle |work=Chicago Tribune |at=Section 2, p. 12 |date=February 12, 1965 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250224042814/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune/102550918/ |archive-date=February 24, 2025 |url-status=live |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Shana Alexander]], reviewing for ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine, criticized the film's glacial pacing, the "cameo" appearances, and cited a "lack of risk, lack of daring, lack of invention, [and] even lack of inspiration" on Stevens's part.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Alexander |first=Shana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25 |title=Christ Never Tried to Please Everyone |magazine=Life |page=25 |date=February 26, 1965 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422104230/https://books.google.com/books?id=KEEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25 |archive-date=April 22, 2023 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Later that same year, Stevens filed a $2 million lawsuit against [[NBC]] and Paramount, charging them of "mutilation and dismemberment" when they had aired ''A Place in the Sun'' with television commercials. Stevens had made a contractual provision with Liberty Films (and then upheld with Paramount), which allowed him to control the film's editing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bart |first=Peter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/27/archives/nbctv-is-sued-by-film-director-stevens-seeks-2-million-if-place-in.html |title=N.B.C.-TV Is Sued by Film Director |work=The New York Times |page=39 |date=October 27, 1965 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250505185842/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/27/archives/nbctv-is-sued-by-film-director-stevens-seeks-2-million-if-place-in.html |archive-date=May 5, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> In February 1966, William Wyler voiced his support for Stevens at a [[Directors Guild of America]] (DGA) dinner gala. That same month, a federal judge sided with Stevens, barring NBC from televising the film.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bart |first=Peter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/02/14/archives/place-in-the-sun-is-spared-scissors-judge-bars-showing-on-tv-if-ads.html |title='Place in the Sun' Is Sparred from Scissors |work=The New York Times |page=33 |date=February 14, 1966 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250505190700/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/02/14/archives/place-in-the-sun-is-spared-scissors-judge-bars-showing-on-tv-if-ads.html |archive-date=May 5, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> However, the [[Los Angeles County Superior Court]] reversed the ruling and upheld the defendants, in which it was held the commercials did not "substantially damage" the film.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/05/24/archives/stevens-loses-suit-over-his-film-on-tv.html |title=Stevens Loses Suit over His Film on TV |work=The New York Times |page=95 |date=May 24, 1967 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250505191041/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/05/24/archives/stevens-loses-suit-over-his-film-on-tv.html |archive-date=May 5, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref>