King of Kings (1961) review

Just in case you forgot, here's some "Christian history" for you: Herod Antipas (Frank Thring) orders the killing of male babies, resourceful Mary (Siobhán McKenna) and Joseph (Gérard Tichy) arrange for their child Jesus to be born in a stable and they're visited by the Three Magi, he grows up (Jeffrey Hunter), befriends John the Baptist (Robert Ryan), gathers his apostles and offers his views on how people should live ... but eventually he's betrayed by "friend" Judas Iscariot (Rip Torn), placed on "trial" by Pontius Pilate (Hurd Hatfield), gets crucified, dies and then returns.  I watched The Ten Commandments for the first time in its entirety the other day and while this is less embellished and flamboyant, it devotes too much of its attention to the factually-questionable Barabbas (Harry Guardino) and Judas subplot (to contrast with Christ's call for non-violence), references Oscar Wilde with the segment involving Salomé (Brigid Bazlen) demanding the head of John and Hunter does not have even a portion of the charisma required to play the Messiah.  Supposedly displeased with the project, Orson Welles was not given credit for providing the voice-over narration (which was written by Ray Bradbury) ... and yet it's not a total wreck movie, simply one that fails to instill a sensation of genuine awe.