FILM · 1966 · ITALY
The Bible in the Beginning...
63 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
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More than forty animal species are seen in the dazzling 'two by two' procession in the Noah's Ark scene. Director John Huston humorously frames the grand parade around the slow progress of a pair of turtles, which passes all the other species and is finally carried aboard the ark by Noah (played by Huston).
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Dino De Laurentiis hired French director Robert Bresson in 1964. While shooting his first scene, the Flood, Bresson demanded that all the animals at the Rome city zoo be used. The producers complied, but when they saw the newspapers, Bresson had filmed only animal tracks on the beach. They were furious, Bresson was fired, and John Huston took over the project, delaying production by six months.
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John Huston initially wanted Charles Chaplin to play Noah. Chaplin did not like the idea of appearing in a film directed by someone else, and Huston began playing the role himself. Huston wanted Igor Stravinsky to compose the film's music, but this did not happen (in his liner notes for the music, Huston alludes indirectly to copyright issues).
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As with many epics of the 1950s and 1960s, Paul Francis Webster was brought in to provide promotional lyrics for the main theme. The song was called "The Bible Song," and Webster devised the following lyrics to fit Toshirō Mayuzumi's opening theme music: "Long, long ago / There was no world, no sea / In endless darkness, no stars, no trees / And then it happened / Jehovah said 'Let there be light' / And as the heavens thundered / He created day and then night."
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Franco Nero could not speak or understand English when he took the role of Abel. Although his voice was dubbed by another American actor, John Huston helped him understand English by giving him audio recordings of William Shakespeare's plays to study, particularly "Hamlet", which strongly presents a plot similar to that of Cain and Abel.
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Although the film received only one Oscar nomination (Best Original Score), it won four David di Donatello Awards (Best Production, Best Foreign Director, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design). The David di Donatello Awards are considered the Italian equivalent of the American "Oscars".
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In the scene feeding the animals on the ark, the moment when the elephant caught Noah's arm with its trunk and pulled him back twice was not intentional at all, and the tension on Noah's face as he quickly moved away was John Huston's genuine reaction. A passionate animal lover, John Huston enjoyed the moment and decided to keep it in the film.
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Like many live-action and animated depictions of Adam in the Bible, he is mostly shown clean-shaven rather than with a moustache and beard. In this film, Adam and Eve are shown with moustaches and beards when they put on clothes after God permanently banishes them from the Garden of Eden for their sin.
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The film is known for its music by the Japanese composer Toshiro Mayazumi. Reportedly, the Italian composer Ennio Morricone contributed additional music (uncredited). At the time, Morricone had come to prominence for his creative scores for "spaghetti westerns", especially those he wrote for director Sergio Leone.
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Along with Planet of the Apes (1968), this is one of the first live-action films to feature male nudity. The cinematic depictions of Adam's fictional immortal counterpart Tarzan (created by Edgar Rice Burroughs) and of Mowgli, Rudyard Kipling's character from "The Jungle Book," always wore loincloths. They were seen by viewers who at times wore normal full male clothing.
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Dino De Laurentiis first announced that this would be a portmanteau project, with each book of the Old Testament directed by a major director. Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson, Luchino Visconti and Orson Welles were approached, but in the end it proved too ambitious and expensive. Instead, this focuses only on the book of Genesis.
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Although John Huston and Peter O'Toole lived only a hundred kilometres apart in County Galway in the west of Ireland, this was the only time they worked together. Huston lived in a fine manor house in Craughwell and O'Toole had a cottage in Clifden; in the 1960s both would have been very remote. Huston also wanted O'Toole and Richard Burton for "Waterloo," which he was preparing for "The Bible" producer Dino De Laurentiis, and for the long-cherished "The Man Who Would Be King," but that did not happen.
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Toshirō Mayuzumi's film score had its premiere on CD in 2011, released by Intermezzo Media. The liner notes include information kindly provided by Ennio Morricone, explaining that before he was replaced, Mayuzumi wrote and recorded 15 or 16 minutes of music. Franco Ferrara, who conducted Morricone's music, went on to conduct the replacement score. Morricone admits that rather than waste the music he had composed, he turned it into his next three scores. The "Mountain" scene in The Bible (about 10 minutes of music) was used in both Ringo's Return (1965) and The Secret of the Sahara (1988), while the "Golden Gate" cue was used in The Secret of the Sahara (1988). In addition, three short cues were applied to the score of Il giardino delle delizie (1967).
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Although Huston's film has drawn criticism for its slow pace and lack of dialogue, it does not shy away from visually representing some of the fantastic aspects of Genesis, particularly the torrential rains of the Noah's Ark segment and Nimrod shooting his arrow into the clouds from a long distance, which sets in motion the breathtaking Tower of Babel scene, arguably the best scene in the film.
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In this film, Eve is referred to by the name she had before the Fall. In the Bible, Adam had named her "Woman" before God expelled them from the Garden. He later named her "Eve," meaning "Mother of All Living" or "Mother of All Life," because she would give birth to all future generations.
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The film introduces nineteen-year-old Swedish beauty Ulla Bergryd, who won the role of Eve after an outcry arose over a brunette being cast in the part. Every famous representation of Eve in art had depicted her as blonde, and this image was so firmly established that a cry of protest went up against the idea of a brunette Eve. As a result, the young anthropology student won the coveted role after being discovered by John Huston's assistant Vana Caruso while visiting an art exhibition in Gothenberg, Sweden.
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The Noah's Ark scene required hundreds of animals and a thousand birds. More than 200 species are represented in pairs. Directing their entry into the ark two by two was perhaps the hardest achievement of Huston's long and impressive directing career, a task made more complicated by Huston appearing in the film as Noah. Fortunately, Huston proved to have a way with animals that few share. They responded to his voice and his fearlessness. When Huston decided to shoot the scene of the animals entering the ark, the head trainer objected, stating that the animals needed weeks more training and that the handlers were walking them on leashes. But Huston felt the animals were ready. He put on his Noah costume and walked among the animals, speaking softly to each of them. When he reached the head of the line, he signalled for the cameras to turn, took the pair of ram's horns and walked toward the ark. To the amazement of all his trainers, the animals, led by the cantankerous zebras, followed Huston as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Noah himself could not have done better.
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When Christopher Fry's screenplay was completed, producer Dino DeLaurentiis considered using more than one director, but none of them envisioned the film the way the producer did. He then sent a copy of the screenplay to John Huston, who was shooting The Night of the Iguana in Mexico. When Huston expressed interest, Dino flew to Mexico to meet him. The two talked for about an hour, and as a result Huston became the film's sole director.
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While writing the screenplay, the renowned poet and playwright Christopher Fry received theological advice from leading representatives of the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faiths. Producer Dino DeLaurentiis believed from the outset that Fry was the perfect choice to bring the poetic beauty of the biblical text to the screen while avoiding everything dull and clichéd.
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Initially the producers wanted to use music by Igor Stravinsky for the film, including some of his previously composed works and some new pieces he would write. Despite Stravinsky's willingness, they ran into copyright problems and could not proceed. Another composer therefore had to be found.
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Director John Huston, who was closely familiar with the work of the famous photographer Ernst Haas, heard that Haas had designed a book of photographs of natural phenomena illustrating his theory that the world is in an ongoing stage of creation. Since this perspective reflected the beliefs of DeLaurentiis and Huston, they agreed that it held the key to depicting Creation in their film. Ernst Haas was invited to bring his brilliant talents to the production. At the head of a team of ten, he embarked on an unusual eighteen-month adventure, traveling the world and filming erupting volcanoes in Iceland, the strange animal, bird and fish life of the Galapagos Islands, the mountains of Ecuador and other remote places. This undertaking resulted in some of the most astonishing photographic images recorded at the time, showing the six days of Creation as recorded in Genesis in fascinating and vivid terms.
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The recreation of Noah's Ark was one of the enormous construction tasks facing art director and architect Mario Chiari. He decided to base his design on the earliest boats depicted in friezes and tombs in the Middle East. A total of five ships were built for the production: one for large exterior scenes, one for large interior scenes, and the other three to facilitate close-ups and also to show the ship's construction as it progressed. Because Noah needed a forest from which to gather the timber required for his mighty vessel, a forest of more than a thousand trees was created for the film.
