Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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243 of 246 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MUST HAVE for Fans of Bible Stories on DVD! SAVE $$$ While Building Your Library!, December 5, 2005
I bought all of these 6 DVDs separately because I did not know that they came as a set, at a better price! I paid about $15 each, about $90 total, and I do not regret owning them all, but I would have jumped on this set if I had known about it!
Most of these DVDs are very interesting and faithful to Scripture. SAMSON & DELILAH is the weakest of these 6 DVDs, as it spends too much time on non-scriptural characters. ABRAHAM covers many scenes of the 40 year wandering rarely seen on DVD. JACOB is pretty close to Scripture. JOSEPH is great, but it spends a bit too much time rewriting the narration to allow for Ben Kingsley's Potiphar role to expand. I have not yet watched DAVID, but I look forward to Leonard Nimoy's appearance in the film.
Most of these films are 3 hours long, presumably they were mostly all short mini-series when they originally ran on TV. I think only JACOB is about 90 minutes, of the 6 DVDs in this set. You can read about each DVD as they are all sold separately on amazon.com.
All of these 6 DVDs have major TV network, made-for-TV quality, and I am quite surprised and pleased that these movies are so good. I do not know of any better series of Bible stories on DVD.
There is another Box Set available, THE BIBLE SERIES BOX SET, which has 3 other DVDs of this series of movies. JEREMIAH is my favorite of all 9 movies. ESTHER is great, and perhaps the most faithful to Scriptural accuracy and chronology of all 9 movies. SOLOMON is the only 3 hour DVD in this smaller Box Set. There is a GENESIS in this Box Set, but it is not a dramatized movie, just a narration of the book of Genesis, while modern day nomads are shown going about their daily routine. GENESIS is a disappointment and very UNLIKE the other 9 movies, so much so that it doesn't even seem to be part of the same production series.
Bottom Line: I highly recommend that anybody buy both of these box sets, and they will save about 50% over buying each DVD separately! Praise the LORD!
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56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the great psalmist and king, November 22, 2003
This is a marvelous production, filmed in Morocco, with wonderful costumes, textiles, and rustic sets, making this telling of King David's life visually believable. It has some standout performances, and Nathaniel Parker, always a favorite of mine, fares well as Israel's second king. As Saul, the casting of Jonathan Pryce is an odd choice (Saul was "a head taller than his people" and there was "not a man more handsome than he") but it works, and he is exceptional as the tormented and demented king.Gideon Turner is very good as the young David, Dominic Rowan is a great bit of casting as Absalom, and as Joab, Maurice Roeves is terrific. Other notables play the two prophets, Leonard Nimoy, in an appealing and powerful portrayal of Samuel, and Franco Nero as a handsome Nathan.
Due to this being made for TV, some of the editing does not move smoothly (one assumes these are cuts for ads) but that aside, the photography is lovely (by Raffaele Mertes) and the melodic score by Carlo Siliotto enhances the mood (the final title music is by Ennio Morricone). The story line picks up at 1 Samuel, Chapter 9, with Saul looking for his father's mules, and proceeds through much of both books of Samuel, often being quite faithful to them. It is interspersed with the occasional Psalm, and writer Larry Gross has blended scripture and dialogue quite effectively. It is interesting to watch this with Bible in hand, to see just how cleverly this has been done. There are some moving scenes, like David's annointing, and his proposal to Abigail (played by the beautiful Lina Sastri). The only part that does not work for me is the story of Amnon; it is pieced together in an awkward and sluggish way, but fortunately does not last long, and the rest of the intricate story moves along at a quick pace, making this is a way above-average film for television.
There are a few gory battle scenes that would be too violent for the very young, but otherwise this is an excellent family film for older children, with the complexity of King David making it a fascinating story for discussion and repeated viewings.
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57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine version of the David story, March 19, 2002
Although not quite a masterpiece like "Abraham" or "Jesus of Nazareth", this video is well worth getting as a good version of the story of King David - the ambiguous Israelite ruler who survived Goliath and King Saul but couldn't control his own sons, who is exalted for his famed friendship with Saul's son Jonathan but murders his innocent, loyal follower Uriah because he can't keep his hands off the poor man's wife Bathsheba.It is, in a way, almost two stories - the first part dealing with David's glory days as God's golden child and the heartbreakingly tragic tale of Saul and Jonathan (an extremely well done subplot). The second part deals with David's fall and the beginning of his rise from the ashes through his successor Solomon. It's part two that makes this a bit different than most biblical stories because it is, quite frankly, a sordid, seedy mess. Which is, of course, why it's so popular. Admit it - it's the same kind of guilty fun you get when you read the front page of the tabloids while you're on the supermarket line. It's more than that though. Because the message here is that if David can be redeemed - and he was worse than alot of us in many ways - we can be too. Some people complained about accuracy, but I didn't catch any major discrepancies myself. With a note that this is not for children (remember any of part 2 from Sunday School except maybe an edited version of Absalom's revolt?) this is recommended.
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