Francis of Assisi (film)
- July 12, 1961 (1961-07-12)
Francis of Assisi is a 1961 DeLuxe CinemaScope epic film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the 1958 novel The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl. The film starred Bradford Dillman, in one of his few sympathetic leading film roles (he usually played a villainous character onscreen), Dolores Hart and Stuart Whitman. Shot entirely in Italy, it was a box office bomb.
Two years after initial release, Hart, who played St. Clare, became a Catholic nun at the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut.[4]
Plot
Francis Bernardone (Bradford Dillman) is the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi. He joins a military expedition, but deserts when an inner voice commands it. He gives up all his worldly goods to dedicate himself to God. Clare (Dolores Hart) is a young aristocratic woman who, according to the film, is so taken with St. Francis that she leaves her family and becomes a nun. This follows a lengthy rivalry between Francis and the warrior Count Paolo for Clare's affections and values; Clare follows a monastic life instead of marrying Paolo, but Francis and Paolo are eventually reconciled.
By this time (1212 A.D.), St. Francis has a well-established reputation for his vows of poverty. The movie goes on to note miracles (such as the appearance of the stigmata on Francis's hands and feet) and other aspects of his life, such as a visit to Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt, up to and including his death on October 3, 1226.[5] The funeral befitted a man loved by man and beast alike, and ended with the birds he loved doing a "flyby".
Cast
- Bradford Dillman as Francis Bernardone of Assisi
- Dolores Hart as Clare
- Stuart Whitman as Count Paolo of Vandria
- Cecil Kellaway as Cardinal Hugolino
- Eduard Franz as Pietro Bernardone
- Athene Seyler as Aunt Buona
- Finlay Currie as the Pope
- Pedro Armendáriz as the Sultan
- Mervyn Johns as Brother Juniper
- Russell Napier as Brother Elias
- John Welsh as Canon Cattanei
- Harold Goldblatt as Bernard
- Edith Sharpe as Donna Pica
- Jack Lambert as Scefi
- Oliver Johnston as Father Livoni
- Malcolm Keen as Bishop Guido
Reception
A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote that "as a motion picture dependent on the dramatic conflict and exciting incidents that surely were synonymous with the emergence of such a towering man in such tumultuous times, it is as serene and static as ancient tapestries, limp on castle walls ... There are frictions here, of course, but these are gentle affairs that are not especially memorable."[6]
Variety wrote "The absence of sustained dramatic friction and a reluctance to grapple with conflicts and climaxes in visual terms results in an aura of absolute serenity and a characteristic of ponderous verbosity that may be true in spirit, tone and tempo to the tale of supreme devotion being told, but is unlikely to prove sufficiently palatable to modern audience tastes."[7]
Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times stated "The treatment is reverent and apparently unusually faithful to history, the color and CinemaScope production often eye-filling and the performances, while hardly exceptional, will hardly raise dissent. But the picture's appeal is limited decidedly to the devout and to those who would seek serene affirmation of their Christian faith. It is what I call a church film, pure and simple—ecclesiastical and eclectic."[8]
Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post reported that "I kept regretting the firm had three million dollars to lavish on the project. The result may please those willing to settle for a saint's biography. Apart from some individual scenes of pictorial appeal, I found the attempt unimaginative and flat. There is in it none of that sense of wonder which distinguished Pierre Fresnay's memorable Monsieur Vincent, a simple French essay in black and white."[9]
Harrison's Reports gave the film a grade of "Fair" and wrote that "Catholics and those strongly interested in religious themes will be about the only ones deriving much satisfaction from this CinemaScope-Color account of the life of St. Francis. For this superficial treatment is almost devoid of action and suspense, while being too talky."[10]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "With its lepers, its desert rendezvous with a sheik and its deep-seated bitterness between the hero and his irreligious rival, this expensive slab of hagiolatry might well be described as Ben-Hur without the chariot race. As it turns out there is precious little action or dramatic friction of any kind (Piero Portalupi's camera studiously avoids every challenging incident), only a ponderously serene screenplay and a stolidly passionless cast directed without a spark of imagination by Michael Curtiz."[11]
See also
References
- ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p253
- ^ Solomon p 228. Please note figures are rentals.
- ^ "1961 Rentals and Potential". Variety. 10 Jan 1961. p. 58.
- ^ Atik, Chiara (February 27, 2014). "Nun who kissed Elvis returns to Hollywood". TODAY.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
- ^ "Francis of Assisi (1961) - Michael Curtiz - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
- ^ Weiler, A. H. (July 29, 1961). "Screen: Religious Drama". The New York Times. 8.
- ^ "Film Reviews: Francis of Assisi". Variety. July 12, 1961. 6.
- ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (July 21, 1961). "'Francis of Assisi' Reverent in Mood". Los Angeles Times. Part II, p. 9.
- ^ Coe, Richard L. (July 27, 1961). "St. Francis By Dim Light". The Washington Post. D11.
- ^ "Francis of Assisi". Harrison's Reports. July 22, 1961. 114.
- ^ "Francis of Assissi". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 28 (332): 128. September 1961.
External links
- Francis of Assisi at IMDb
- Francis of Assisi at the TCM Movie Database
- Francis of Assisi at AllMovie
- v
- t
- e
- The Last Bohemian (1912)
- Today and Tomorrow (1912)
- Captive Souls (1913)
- My Husband's Getting Married (1913)
- The Exile (1914)
- The Borrowed Babies (1914)
- The Princess in a Nightrobe (1914)
- Prisoner of the Night (1914)
- Bánk Bán (1914)
- Golddigger (1914)
- Seven of Spades (1916)
- The Strength of the Fatherland (1916)
- The Karthauzer (1916)
- The Black Rainbow (1916)
- The Wolf (1916)
- The Medic (1916)
- Mr. Doctor (1916)
- Master Zoard (1917)
- The Red Samson (1917)
- The Last Dawn (1917)
- Spring in Winter (1917)
- Tartar Invasion (1917)
- Secret of St. Job Forest (1917)
- Nobody's Son (1917)
- The Charlatan (1917)
- A Penny's History (1917)
- The Fishing Bell (1917)
- Peace's Road (1917)
- Jean the Tenant (1917)
- Earth's Man (1917)
- The Colonel (1918)
- The Merry Widow (1918)
- Magic Waltz (1918)
- A skorpió I. (1918)
- The Devil (1918)
- Lulu (1918)
- Lu, the Coquette (1918)
- Júdás (1918)
- The Ugly Boy (1918)
- Alraune (1918)
- 99-es számú bérkocsi (1918)
- The Sunflower Woman (1918)
- Liliom (1919)
- The Lady with the Black Gloves (1919)
- Boccaccio (1920)
- The Star of Damascus (1920)
- The Scourge of God (1920)
- Mrs. Tutti Frutti (1921)
- Good and Evil (1921)
- Mrs. Dane's Confession (1921)
- Labyrinth of Horror (1921)
- Sodom and Gomorrah (1922)
- Young Medardus (1923)
- Avalanche (1923)
- Nameless (1923)
- A Deadly Game (1924)
- General Babka (1924)
- Harun al Raschid (1924)
- The Moon of Israel (1924)
- Red Heels (1925)
- Cab No. 13 (1926)
- The Golden Butterfly (1926)
- The Third Degree (1926)
- A Million Bid (1927)
- The Desired Woman (1927)
- Good Time Charley (1927)
- Tenderloin (1928)
- Noah's Ark (1928)
- Glad Rag Doll (1929)
- Madonna of Avenue A (1929)
- The Gamblers (1929)
- Hearts in Exile (1929)
- Mammy (1930)
- Under a Texas Moon (1930)
- The Matrimonial Bed (1930)
- Bright Lights (1930)
- A Soldier's Plaything (1930)
- River's End (1930)
- Demon of the Sea (1931)
- God's Gift to Women (1931)
- The Mad Genius (1931)
- The Woman from Monte Carlo (1932)
- Alias the Doctor (1932)
- The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932)
- Doctor X (1932)
- The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
- 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
- Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
- The Keyhole (1933)
- Private Detective 62 (1933)
- Goodbye Again (1933)
- The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
- Female (1933)
- Mandalay (1934)
- Jimmy the Gent (1934)
- The Key (1934)
- British Agent (1934)
- The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)
- Black Fury (1935)
- Front Page Woman (1935)
- Little Big Shot (1935)
- Captain Blood (1935)
- The Walking Dead (1936)
- The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
- Stolen Holiday (1937)
- Mountain Justice (1937)
- Kid Galahad (1937)
- The Perfect Specimen (1937)
- Gold Is Where You Find It (1938)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Four's a Crowd (1938)
- Four Daughters (1938)
- Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
- Dodge City (1939)
- Daughters Courageous (1939)
- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
- Four Wives (1939)
- Virginia City (1940)
- The Sea Hawk (1940)
- Santa Fe Trail (1940)
- The Sea Wolf (1941)
- Dive Bomber (1941)
- Captains of the Clouds (1942)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- Casablanca (1942)
- Mission to Moscow (1943)
- This Is the Army (1943)
- Passage to Marseille (1944)
- Janie (1944)
- Roughly Speaking (1945)
- Mildred Pierce (1945)
- Night and Day (1946)
- Life with Father (1946)
- The Unsuspected (1947)
- Romance on the High Seas (1948)
- My Dream Is Yours (1949)
- Flamingo Road (1949)
- The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949)
- Young Man with a Horn (1950)
- Bright Leaf (1950)
- The Breaking Point (1950)
- Force of Arms (1951)
- Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951)
- I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)
- The Story of Will Rogers (1952)
- The Jazz Singer (1952)
- Trouble Along the Way (1953)
- The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)
- The Egyptian (1954)
- White Christmas (1954)
- We're No Angels (1955)
- The Scarlet Hour (1956)
- The Vagabond King (1956)
- The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)
- The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
- The Proud Rebel (1958)
- King Creole (1958)
- The Hangman (1959)
- The Man in the Net (1959)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
- A Breath of Scandal (1960)
- Francis of Assisi (1961)
- The Comancheros (1961)
- Jön az öcsém (1919)
- Sons of Liberty (1939)
- Bright Lights (1935)