The World's Greatest Sinner

Recommended to me by a complete and utter "World's Greatest Sinner" fanboy, I decided I should check it out. He said something like, "If you're a fan of insane acting performances you will not be let down." Hell, I love insane acting performances! Probably more than the next guy. F that, way more than the next guy! So, the WGS Fanboy, or he may be a Timothy Carey fanboy....anyways, WGS/Tim Carey fanboy called me out pretty much. So, the next chance I had, I popped on The World's Greatest Sinner. And I'll tell you what, it was most definitely an insane acting performance. One so great, that it made the movie. It is the movie.

The film is simply about a tired Insurance Salesman who just doesn't want to do what he does anymore. He wants to be a somebody. And does he ever. He strives for power, and before he knows it, he has it. Watching Carey's character evolve from an everyday joe shmoe to uber-personality is basically the premise here.

The film itself is a smart flick. Some other comment said it was ahead of it's time, but it's not really that, but it's more of a timeless film. People don't change in the way Carey's character did in just one period. Carey's strive for power and attention is a trait humans have had and probably will have until we expire as a species.

I had no clue who Timothy Carey was prior to watching TWS. I heard he was a regular as a supporting character in a few Kubrick films. So, heading into this film, I didn't know what the dude even looked like. And boy oye oye, after seeing this film, I'll never forget. Timothy Carey is a tall, foreboding and masculine figure that delivers a style of acting which is just 100% unique. His tedious and realistic approach at acting is kinda bizarre to watch. But like I just said, it's unique. At times, with those sullen looking eyes and his relaxed way of talking, I almost thought he played his character drunk the entire film. But, when he has a scene where he needs to show emotion and energy, he's all over it. Simply put, if Carey didn't cast himself as the lead in his film (wrote, directed, acted etc.) this movie would have been in no way on Earth as entertaining.

The World's Greatest Sinner is only a fantastic movie, because at that time, The World's Greatest Under-appreciated Actor was in it. It's a film that's different, realistic and true to the bone. Definitely a flick I'll be recommending to my more accomplished movie-going friends.

This film is famous among Frank Zappa fans for being his first published creative effort. Apparently he had no doubts about his talent even at the age of 22, as he began writing the score using 52 musicians. Frank himself later described the film as 'rancid'. The title song appeared under the name of Baby Ray and The Ferns.

If only because Tim Carey made this film nearly single-handedly on and off over three years, it would merit study. But The World's Greatest Sinner has so much more than that to recommend it! How can you fault a film about an insurance salesman who quits his job to become a rock star, changes his first name to "God", and run for President?

You may not remember his name, but actor Timothy Carey has one of those lugubrious faces that once seen, you're not likely ever to forget. No actor in Hollywood had a visage like Timothy Carey. His career as an actor spanned nearly half a century. His first acting part was in 1951 his last role was in 1990. In all, he appeared in a mixture of shorts, feature films and television shows: 87 titles in all. In the late fifties, Timothy Carey decided to make his own film. He would write the screenplay, play the lead character and direct it himself. That film was "The World's Greatest Sinner" In it, Carey plays a disgruntled insurance salesman named Clarence Hilliard, who quits his job to go into politics. First he forms a rock band, which in turn becomes a religious cult; where everybody has to address him as God Hilliard. Eventually he manages to form a new Political Party. Considering "The World's Greatest Sinner" was made in 1962, it was quite daring for its time, especially when it came to the scenes of older women being seduced by the Clarence Hilliard character to get them to hand over their savings. (Six years later, Mel Brooks treads a similar path in his film "The Producers" by having one of his characters romance older women for cash).

"The World's Greatest Sinner" reminded me of another, similar film, Elia Kazan's "A Face In The Crowd." which came out in 1957. The Kazan film is about an itinerant drifter named Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, who is plucked from an Arkansas jail, and ultimately rises to great fame and influence on national television. He soon discovers that fame has a price, and eventually his world come crashing around his ears. If Timothy Carey didn't go and see this film, he would have most certainly known about it. After all, both films explore the same theme, namely megalomania. "A Face In The Crowd" was distributed a major Hollywood studio. On the other hand, Timothy Carey distributed "The World's Greatest Sinner". He also funded the film entirely out of his own pocket, so it's no wonder the film took three years to finish. And, as the film never had an official release it quickly disappeared from sight. That said I found "The World's Greatest Sinner" extremely tiresome. The main problem being that Timothy Carey the director was at a loss on how to control Timothy Carey the actor who has a penchant for over acting. So we are subjected to Carey bellowing out his lines in scene after scene, or throwing back his head and laughing maniacally: "The World's Greatest Sinner" runs for just eighty-two minutes. The camera work is appalling, many of the shots are too dark, or poorly lit the film so it seems to run for twice that length. Additionally, the editing is so erratic it is hard to follow the plot. It's just a shame that a director of the calibre of, say, an Elia Kazan wasn't given the opportunity to direct "The World's Greatest Sinner" and turn what to me is at best a curiosity, into a film of some substance.

"The World's Greatest Sinner" is a failure, but a glorious failure. Tim Carey had a huge idea. A fantastic idea. But working without a budget and outside the Hollywood mainstream doomed that idea and turned it into one of the most ambitious and frustrating B-movie projects I have ever seen.

The problems with this film are many. The editing and sound are horrendous from start to finish. Abrupt doesn't begin to cover most of the transitions. Unrelated shots pop up in the most unnerving places. The soundtrack is either loud to the point of distortion or so low and garbled as to be nearly unlistenable. Which, in most cases, should kill the movie before it starts. But in this particular case the problems almost work as high art, keeping the viewer in a state of confusion that mirrors the confusion of Clarence.

The acting is spotty. Tim Carey is totally over the top and melodramatic throughout, but oddly compelling. The supporting cast runs the gamut from horribly amateurish to passably good, and in two cases (the old woman follower and Clarence's "publicity man") very good.

The word that is most often used to describe this film is "surreal". And it's appropriate. The jump cuts, odd camera work and overall feel of the film make it a truly unique experience to watch. And the Frank Zappa soundtrack add mightily to the whole otherworldly tone of the film. The soundtrack was performed by The Pomona Valley Symphony Orchestra, who seem to be having quite the struggle to play Zappa's score. The score fits the film very well, overall. Shows that Zappa could have been a great film composer if his interest had lain in that direction.

I see similarities between "Sinner" and Elia Kazan's "A Face In The Crowd". One man's ascension to power while descending into a personal hell. While "Crowd" is, clearly, a massively better film, Carey's idea and vision for "Sinner" could have, with more talent, enough budget, and better character development made a film to equal Kazan's.

Ultimately "The World's Greatest Sinner" is certainly interesting, and well worth a watch but ultimately exists as a frustrating textbook example of the worst case scenario of indie films:A fantastic idea frustrated at every turn by the realities of filmmaking.