Rent Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

Very much of its time - Jesus Christ Superstar review by SB

Recently shown again on BBC TV, Norman Jewison's hippyish version of Jesus Christ Superstar shows its age, with a mob of disciples and other followers spilling out of an old bus and roaming the Palestinian desert. The budget was not large, to judge by the lack of any convincing Jerusalem locations, and the very small numbers who greet Jesus on Palm Sunday. The film has a few good ideas, in particular the presentation of the priests as strangely garbed dark figures climbing over scaffolding, watching, always watching.

The film is sung-through with no spoken dialogue, and one wonders what Melvyn Bragg, credited as a 'writer', actually had to do. After all, everyone knows the story.

The best performance is by Carl Anderson as Judas; he sings well, and makes an effort to act. Some of the support roles like Pilate and Herod, are adequate. But Ted Neeley's main qualifications for the part of Christ seem to be long hair and an ability to sing/scream at a high pitch; his very demanding song 'Gethsemane' does not come off well. And the best song in the piece, 'I Don't Know How to Love Him', cruelly exposes the vocal limitations of Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene, however convincingly she soothes Christ's cares.

Worth seeing, once.