locksley69 I saw Francis of Assisi at the age of 11, when it came out in 1961 at the old Stanley Warner Beverly Hills theatre. The film was given the red carpet treatment and a bunch of us Catholics went to see it.Unhappily this film is nowhere near as good a biopic of a saint as, say, "Song of Bernadette" is. Zefferelli certainly had a lot more fun with Francis in "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." The film is one of those "international all star casts", 2nd rate epics popular the late 1950s-early '60s made by European production companies but released Stateside by one of the name studios, Fox in this case. The American actors either unknown at the time (Dillman)or of lesser rank status (Hart, Whitman) were shipped to the Continent to make European films more acceptable to US audiences. The rest of the cast was mostly unfamiliar to US filmgoers then, unless they caught British imports at the more offbeat theatres in town.Michael Curtiz, so effective at Warners with "Captain Blood," "Adv of Robin Hood," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and "Casablanca" among so many other classics, drops the ball here. He must have been tired by this time, having directed movies for some 40 years. The actors are given by-the-book direction. A few scenes remind one of how great a film Curtiz had been able to make in the 1930s-40s.Bradford Dillman does his best with what he's given but the screenplay, closely following Louis de Wohl's novel, "The Joyful Beggar," comes across pretty unexcitingly. The film is more outline than biography, going from one episode to another, interested in the standard (fictional)romantic triangle, as s sop to attract Protestants, one surmises, and never gets down to really giving a dynamic cinematic portrait of Francis. De Wohl wrote a long series of novelized saints' biographies in the 1950s that were popular among Catholics of the era. He died rather unexpectedly in 1961. They are of a type, sometimes a touch titillating, but in the end quite inoffensive. They were deemed fine reading for Catholic youth in the 1950s; they are still good for children to introduce them to the saints. Just as an aside, it's fun to know that De Wohl was employed by the US military in WWII to write pseudo-Nostradamus quatrains denigrating Hitler, dropped by Allied planes over Germany to offset Hitler's claims that Nostradamus had predicted Der Fuhrer's success.Pedro Armendariz has a great role as the Sultan, and is the most believable actor in this show altho Dolores Hart is very affecting as Clare, especially at her leave-taking of Francis at the film's conclusion. The scene in which Francis ministers to Moslem prisoners after a Crusader victory is Dillman's most effective, Francis being exposed to the brutality of war, shuddering at the horrors committed by Christians in the name of Christ.Francis was revered even in his own time as "Father Francis" by his friars even tho he was only ordained a deacon. "Father" is a title given founders of religious orders by their spiritual "children" even today. The title has nothing to do with ordination. Indeed, Francis did not want to be ordained at all but Pope Innocent explained that, to be allowed to preach in church, a man had to be ordained at least a deacon. Only then did Francis accept the formality so he could preach in churches. On the other hand Francis was an administrative failure. This is why Brother Elias, his successor as Master General of the order is shown to be - accurately - pretty coldblooded in doing his job. Brother Juniper, always muddling up things in the "Flowers of St Francis" had a simplicity that was beloved by Francis. another reason for Juniper to be in the movie - there was a popular daily 1-panel daily newspaper cartoon at mid-20th century detailing a present-day Franciscan "Brother Juniper" getting into comic situations. This was a simpler time when few citizens gave a 2nd thought to seeing a Catholic friar as a cartoon character. Today the Leftists wd surely be crying foul. How dare Catholics be funny where they can see it! Finley Curry as a (Scottish???) Innocent III is much too old. And I doubt that popes, even then, conducted daily affairs dressed in Mass vestments and wearing the tiara, just to let everyone know who was pope. Cecil Kellaway plays Cardinal Ugolino, the sponsor and "protector" of the Franciscans. He wd later become Pope Gregory IX and spar with St Clare who fought him to a standstill, winning the right for her and the Franciscan nuns to keep Francis' demand that his followers own nothing.Sorry to say, the imposition of the Stigmata is one of the lamest special effects in film. It does nothing to convey the utter spirituality of the event, and Mario Nascimbene's score leaves a lot to be desired. He did a lot better in other foreign films but he was nowhere near Korngold or Steiner in backing up Curtiz' direction as they had at Warners 25 years earlier."Francis of Assisi" is an inoffensive 1950s wannabe epic, almost a precursor of those "sword and sandal" movies made in Italy that were to follow during the early '60s - the "Son of Hercules" films and others. This one could have been - and should have been - a lot better.

zetes Fairly uninteresting, but not particularly offensive. This is the most complete, most straightforward Francis of Assissi movie out of the four I've recently watched (including The Flowers of St. Francis (Rossellini), Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Zeffirelli) & Francesco (Cavani)). Somewhere in the middle of the film, I brought up the Wikipedia page about the saint, and it read pretty much like the script of this movie. The production is quite nice, but one would think the tale of a man who chose to live his life in poverty wouldn't concentrate so much on sets and costumes. Bradford Dillman is forgettable as Francis. Stuart Whitman plays his rival for Clare's love (of course, Clare's love for Francis is purely religious). The addition of this love triangle is perfectly representative of old Hollywood's frequent ridiculousness. The only person who really rises to the occasion is Dolores Hart as Clare. She's quite good. Two years after this film was made, she actually became a nun. She's a member of AMPAS and is the only nun who votes for the Oscars.

Poseidon-3 The road to movie dullness is paved with good intentions. The captivating story of a 12th century man who embraced Jesus' teachings of poverty and aid to the poor and the sick is given a reverent, but sometimes tiresome treatment here. It also manages to either skip or gloss over several of the more striking facts of the real story! Dillman is the wealthy son of a successful merchant who begins to hear a voice in his head, urging him to forsake his worldly possessions and rebuild the church. When he also forsakes his commission in the military, he is placed under arrest in a dungeon! Eventually, through the intervention of his female friend Hart, he is released by his former comrade in arms Whitman. He then begs in the street for stones and begins to build a church, eventually amassing 10 followers who help him with his work. They travel on foot to Rome where eventually they receive the Pope's blessing and before long, Dillman has hundreds and hundreds of devotees following his practices. Hart even becomes a nun as a result of his example. One of his travels takes him to the desert where he comes face-to-face with Sultan Armendariz who almost causes him to undergo a trial by fire. As he ages, he loses most of his vision and begins to deteriorate, but not before founding an order that lived on and lives on today. Dillman does pretty well as the title character, offering up the type of beatific arrogance that not everyone can master. It's a role not completely dissimilar from that of Tom Tryon's in "The Cardinal" and one could see the men switching roles with relative ease. Hart, who later became a devoted and successful nun in real life, gives a solid performance. She is to be credited, especially in 1961, for completely eliminating any beautifying makeup during her scenes in a habit. Whitman, who was dabbling in cloak and sword films during this era, is handsome, but out of place. His accent is so contemporary (along with his hair) and his character (fictional) is too coincidentally tied to Dillman's in several ways for him to be all that believable. He does, however, have one decent scene near the end. An impressive assortment of esteemed veterans round out the cast. Kellaway plays a cardinal interested in Dillman's work, Franz is Dillman's difficult-to-please father, Currie plays a downright ancient Pope (as can be the case!) and Armendariz has a decent cameo as the Sultan. The film is luxurious in many respects, with striking costumes, splendid scenery, detailed settings and so on, but too many things keep it from realizing epic status. For one thing, the story is trotted out in an almost comic book or Disney fashion. It's very episodic and some of the episodes are a tad too cutesy, such as when Dillman blesses all the neighborhood animals. Then there's the uproarious moment when Dillman enters a leper colony and listens to this howler of a piece of dialogue: "I don't want your peace. I wanna get rid of my stink!" Dillman should have gotten a nomination just for keeping a straight face through that one. Oh, and don't miss the unfortunately staged scene in which Johns, as a sweet, simple-minded follower of Dillman, comes to fetch him and as he's in profile, an extra in the background is flexing his arm right at John's crotch level, providing an hysterical, unintentional sight gag! The film opens with shots of frescoes while the impressive ooh and ahh music soars. Unfortunately, almost every single scene opens with a variation on the same nine-note melody until it becomes not only predictable, but almost laughable. All Hollywood films change the details to make a film more entertaining or to broaden it's appeal, but the introduction of a standard (and predictable) love triangle between Dillman, Hart and Whitman was a mistake (not to mention possibly in poor taste!) Fascinating tidbits from the Saint's real life don't make the cut, such as when he was shipwrecked on the Dalmatian coast or when the Crusaders in Damietta wanted to slay him as a heretic and the Sultan saved his life. The stigmata is barely suggested. Also, oddly, the man was known to avoid walking sticks and sandals, yet the film shows him with both and even has Hart gifting (!) him a new pair of sandals! It's not a bad film, it's just a bit hampered by too many concessions and conventions, possibly by a director who was too set in his ways.

wjmcpeak Contrary to scant reviews of this movie as rather mediocre, several interesting aspects make it worth a viewing. Perhaps aside, there is the amazing parallel of movie-to-reality of lovely Dolores Hart, who plays the noble woman Clare. Clare forsook marriage to an earnest noble (Stuart Whitman) and followed Francis (Bradford Dillman), founding the Poor Clares order of nuns. Hart was on the verge of marriage in 1963, when she decided to become a nun. The acting is good enough to keep one interested. And seeing some of the last appearances of old guard like Finlay Currie, Cecil Kellaway, and irascible director Michael Curtiz (who directed many of Errol Flynn's swashbuckler movies and other Warner Bros. fare in Hollywood hey days) sufficiently tempts the serious movie buff. The movie itself has the look—lots of color but also the lingering epic Hollywood scale--of historical yarns of the late 40s on through the 50s. Like the better efforts of this genre, the life of Francis progresses with a competent script—particularly in Francis's struggles against the establishment church. Thus it is historically preferable to Zeffirelli's minimalist Brother Sun, Sister Moon which frames Francis and Clare as more akin to 60s hippies than inhabitants of the 13th century—with a plot that meanders like a music video—and Donovan's music to prove it (Zeffirelli also wanted the Beatles to appear in the movie!). This reviewer is perhaps tainted with some nostalgic bias, since as a small boy I saw the Southern California premiere of Francis of Assisi (in Downey—southeast LA county suburb--of all places!) that included a live appearance and short commentary on stage by Stuart Whitman, who in his rough out style played Francis's friend-turned-antagonist (having been jilted by Clare) Count Paolo of Vandria. Years later at Universal I worked with Whitman, who, crusty as ever, recalled memories of the movie shoot as a tolerably pleasant experience.