The World’s Greatest Sinner (The Film)
The World's Greatest Sinner is a 1962 film, directed by and starring Tim Carey. It was produced by Frenzy Productions.
The plot revolves around a frustrated atheist, who rises from an insurance salesman to a powerful figure. Yet in his increasing egomania he faces consequences from God.
Martin Scorsese and Will Oldham are famous fans of this film. Johnny Depp recommended this film to Ian McShane.
Soundtrack
Frank Zappa wrote the soundtrack for it. The recording was done at Chaffey Auditorium on 17 December 1961, conducted by Fred E. Graff. Kenny Burgen performed saxophone, Doug Rost rhythm guitar and Al Suratt drums. Zappa named this orchestra the Pomona Valley Symphony.
The B-side to How's Your Bird? (The Track) by Baby Ray & The Ferns (1963) was the song The World's Greatest Sinner.
Various instrumentals from this film later turned up on Zappa albums: Oh No, Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague, Overture To A Holiday In Berlin and Holiday In Berlin, Full Blown.
Zappa was invited on The Steve Allen Show, where he mentioned that he wrote music for this film. Years later Zappa obtained a copy of the film through Gerald Fialka, as a birthday present.
Zappa about the film
"It's the world's worst movie, and I did the music for it." - Quoted from Frank Zappa during the Steve Allen Show, 27 March 1963.
Interviewer: You also did the soundtrack for a movie called The World's Greatest Sinner at that Cucamonga Studio. What kind of movie was that?
Frank Zappa: "It was a feature film produced, directed by and starring Timothy Carey ... I did the score and the rock & roll theme song for it. The premise of the film was: a man believes he's God, doubts himself, breaks into a church, steals the communion bread, sticks a pin in it to find out whether or not it will in fact bleed, it bleeds, and he realizes he's not God. How's that for a great plot?"
- Quoted from Rolling Stone Interview, 1988
See also
- Ontario Man Writes Score For New Film, Pomona Progress-Bulletin, Friday March 9, 1962.
- Ontario Composer, Steve Allen, To Play Wacky Duet
