Poseidon-3 Review of Joseph and His Brethren

Joseph and His Brethren (1961)

Not bad, but you may want to watch the ALW musical instead!

[26 April 2005]

Following "The Bridge on the River Kwai", young Horne seemed poised for a strong career in feature films. Though he appeared in one or two more significant movies, he wasn't able to carve out a major career in film. Here, he plays the Biblical role of Joseph, favored son of Jacob (played by Currie), who is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and eventually becomes right-hand man to the Pharaoh of Egypt. This Anglo-Italian epic has some surprising opulence in the settings and costumes. It also suffers from a weak and fairly trite script and some clumsy use of stock footage (some of this is unnecessarily graphic in the depiction of elephant hunting! It's pure exploitation as there is no call for it in the story.) Horne is attractive and appealing, but lacks the magnetism to really conquer a role this big in a movie this expansive. Also, he wavers between charming expressiveness (at the beginning) and near woodenness (much of the rest of the time) and lacks the strong voice which might have carried him further in the cinema. Morley turns up as Potiphar, one of Horne's owners, and is mercilessly hammy and comedic (both intentionally and unintentionally!) He does, however, add some verve to the sometimes staid film. As his seductive, sensuous wife, Lee is attractive and striking, though she does get one piece of wacky headgear during a chariot ride. Silenti, as Horne's wife, looks way too old for him, though she was only two years his senior in real life. Her role is quite peripheral and unclearly defined. Currie brings a certain amount of class to the table in his role. One visual treat is the appearance of Hill, near the end of the film as Horne's brother Benjamin. Easily one of the most beautiful men ever to be shown on screen, he is a likable and jaw-droppingly handsome presence. The film has some stirring music and some eye-filling production values, but falls short in the editing. The film sometimes seems longer than it is due to a dullness in direction and story thrust, but it's still worth seeing for fans of the genre. The same basic material has been covered in the sprightly and energetic stage musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sadly, Lee would be dead within a year due to a car accident. Horne eventually became an acting teacher.