(Lisa recently discovered that she only has about 8 hours of space left on her DVR!  It turns out that she’s been recording movies from July and she just hasn’t gotten around to watching and reviewing them yet.  So, once again, Lisa is cleaning out her DVR!  She is going to try to watch and review 52 movies by Wednesday, November 30th!  Will she make it?  Keep checking the site to find out!)

As I continued to clean out my DVR, I decided to take a break from watching Lifetime films and, instead, I watched a movie that I recorded off of TCM on October 30th.

Filmed in 1962 but apparently never given an official theatrical release, The World’s Greatest Sinner is a genuine oddity and one that everyone should see at least once.  The infamously eccentric character actor Timothy Carey wrote, directed, and starred as Clarence Hilliard, a small-town insurance salesman who, one day, decides to quit his job and … well, your guess is as good as mine as to what he’s doing or why he’s doing it.  Here’s what I can tell you for sure: after stumbling across a concert and seeing how excited everyone is over rock and roll music, Clarence decides to become a street preacher.  While standing on bags of fertilizer, Clarence preaches that everyone is God and that everyone can live forever.

At first, Clarence faces persecution for his beliefs but soon, he has a loyal cult following.  He funds his new church by seducing elderly widows and he even becomes a rock star himself.  At first, he’s held back by his lack of facial hair but then he starts to wear a fake goatee.  He even changes his name to God Hilliard and, while he may have alienated his family, he is now loved by young people everywhere.  In fact, in a remarkably icky scene, we find out that the 40-something God now has a 14 year-old girlfriend.

God Hilliard is so popular that he’s approached by a shadowy figure who suggests that maybe he should run for President.  As the candidate for the Eternal Man Party, God gives ranting speeches that are listening to by his rabid fans, the majority of whom are now wearing arm bands with the letter “F” on them.  (F for Faust, perhaps?  Or F for Fake, as Orson Welles might argue.)  At first, the press ignores God but God runs as an outsider, giving speeches in which he promises to do away with the establishment and return the government to the people and … well, let’s just say that this film, which was obviously designed to be an over the top satire, now feels more than a little prophetic.

It looks like God Hilliard is about to become the most powerful man in the free world but the other God — the one who is vengeful and jealous and capable of throwing lightning bolts and all that — might have other plans….

(Incidentally, this entire story is told in 77 minutes, which should give you some clue of just how frantically paced The World’s Greatest Sinner is.)

Oh my God (not, not you Clarence), this is a weird film.  It’s shocking today so I can only imagine how it must have looked to audiences in 1962.  (Or, I should say, how it would have looked if it had actually been given a theatrical release.)  Admittedly, The World’s Greatest Sinner is a ragged film, full of haphazard editing and occasionally inconsistent sound.  Made for just $90,000, its low budget is obvious in almost every scene.  And yet, all of this works to the film’s advantage.  The World’s Greater Sinner literally feels like a cinematic dream, with its inconsistencies contributing to its otherworldly feel.  This is one of those films that you need to see at least once because you’ll probably never see another one like it.

The entire film is a Timothy Carey production.  He wrote, produced, directed, and starred, creating an indie film at a time when being independent was something more than just a trendy buzzword. If you’re into classic films — and particularly if you’re a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s early work — you might recognize Carey.  He was one of those legendary character actors who was always called upon whenever a movie needed a memorable crazy or an intimidating henchman.  From what I’ve read, Carey was reportedly as eccentric as the characters that he played.  His performance in The World’s Great Sinner swings back and forth between being histrionic and being surprisingly subtle, often in the same scene.  The same can be said of his direction.  For every uneven or poorly lit scene, there’s another that’s artfully composed and full of surprising detail.

The World’s Greatest Sinner is simply something that has to be seen to believed.