The Big Fisherman

CinemaSerf

So the Arab Princess "Hara"(Susan Kohner) is a favourite of King "Zendi" (Mark Dana) because the king has a fondness for her mother. It turns out that both were betrayed by the Tetrarch of Galilee (Herbert Lom) many years earlier, and that all have sworn vengeance of this man. When her badly wronged mother dies, the Princess decides to cut her black locks and don the guise of a lad so as to fulfil her newly taken murderous vow. Her travels find her encountering Simon Peter (Howard Keel) who soon realising that she is a woman - thanks to his mother-in-law, takes her into his home. This is all happening whilst her admirer from the desert "Prince Voldi" (John Saxon) is determined to fetch her back to her own people; and to try his own hand at carrying out their long held hope of assassinating their nemesis. The film is all over the place. Part Arabian adventure (the good part) and part birth of Christianity stuff (the not so good part). I kept waiting for Keel to burst into song and but for the efficient effort from Lom as the baddie Herod Antipas, this whole thing would be a poorly produced amalgam of a love story and a bible one. The production itself is colourful enough, the costumes and sets look fine but the story lacks a cohesive direction; it meanders and wanders and I did wonder what a man of Keel's stature was ever doing here.