paulsp2-1 This movie has appeared from time to time on YouTube. It certainly hasn't stood the test of time as MGM's "Ben Hur" (1959) and Bronston's "El Cid" both have. Watching it again after many years I found it a total bore with its crowning glory being one of the corniest endings ever. No wonder Richard Burton preferred to forget he ever took part. The only good thing about this film is Fox's CinemaScope image and some of the interior sets. Even the studio's "The Story of Ruth",now virtually forgotten and which is a long way from perfect, is far superior as it at least keeps the viewer engaged and has a wonderful score by Franz Waxman.

vincentlynch-moonoi Somehow I had never gotten around to watching this "classic". It's always great in life when you learn something. And the preeminent thing I learned from this film was that Victor Mature was a lousy actor. Really lousy. And in later years, he himself often alluded to that. In the scene where he was being tortured, I couldn't help wondering if it was because he was a Christian, or because he was such a lousy actor.Let's see. What else did I learn? That a lot must have changed between 1953 when this film was made, and 1959 when "Ben-Hur" was made. The latter is one of the most perfect Hollywood films ever made. In this film some of the mattes used for backgrounds are so fake looking as to be laughable. Not to mention that the print being shown on TCM is none to good...although I guess it's the best available.And then we come to Richard Burton's acting. Burton was never one of my favorites, although that was more because I didn't care for the films he selected to appear in. But I always felt he was a very fine actor. Not so here. About the only time I have ever seen poorer acting was when silent screen stars tried to transition to talkies. This is probably the poorest acting I have seen in a leading role in my life.But, Burton's overacting here paled in comparison to that of Jay Robinson as Caligula. I guess audiences were different back in the 1950s. Today I imagine people would burst out laughing at this performance.Cast-wise, all is not lost, however. Jean Simmons as the female lead tends to rise above the rest of this disaster...sort of. Michael Rennie's brief appearances as Peter are quite nice. Dean Jagger is here, and he's always a welcome addition to any cast. And, Torin Thatcher as Burton's father -- and a senator -- is quite good.In terms of the story, it's very fifty-ish. I'd have to rate it inferior to many of the other religious pics of the era. In fact, it was an opportunity lost. The concept -- what would happen to a Roman tribune who gambled over Jesus' robe after the crucifixion? Unfortunately, the answer appears to be that he would appear in a exceedingly poor film.I give an average film a "7". This one earns a "6". There's just too much wrong with it.

ma-cortes This is a dignified portrayal about Ancient Rome from best-selling novel by Lloyd C Douglas adapted by Philip Dunne and Albert Matz's literate screenplay , it deals with dissolute Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton) , a tribune in the time of Christ and son of a notorious senator (Torin Thacher) , as he's sent to Palestine . There he is in charge of the group that is assigned to crucify Jesus . From his official duties , drunken Marcellus wins Jesus' homespun robe in a dice-game after the crucifixion . He is tormented by delusion and nightmares after the tragic deeds . Hoping to find out a manner to live with what he has done , and still not believing in Jesus, he goes back to Palestine to learn what he can do of the mysterious man he murdered . Later on , he returns Rome and frees the holy-robe-carrying slave named Demetrius (Beefcake Victor Mature) . After that , Caligula (Jay Robinson) takes him prisoner , but his sweetheart (Jean Simmons) takes time out to visit in a dungeon . This religious mammoth epic focuses a moving Roman pageant dealing with a sponger tribune , following his stirring career , spiritual awakening and reaches an exciting peak at the ending . It has marvelous images , spectacular scenes , enjoyable performances as well as the adequate cast of thousands . Richard Burton and Jean Simmons are both good , though Burton sometimes is a little wooden . Michael Rennie as Peter and Jeff Morrow as Paulus give sensible acting , though brief , which adds more to the reality than anything else . The best acting comes , indeed , from Jay Robinson , the best portrayal of his career , who gives a hammy acting as nasty Caligula . Colorful cinematography by Leon Shamroy and being the first film to be shot in glamorous CinemaScope . Sensitive and lyric musical score by the classic Alfred Newman . The film deservedly won 1953 Academy Award for Art Direction , Set Decoration, Color and Costume Design.The motion picture is brilliantly directed by Henry Koster , an expert on super-productions and epic biographies , such as he proved in ¨Desiree¨, ¨The Virgin Queen¨, ¨A man called Peter¨, The story of Ruth¨ , ¨The Naked Maja¨ and of course ¨The Robe¨. It's followed by a sequel (1954) titled ¨Demetrius and the gladiators¨ by Delmer Daves with Debra Paget , William Marshall, Richard Egan , Susan Hayward as the trampy empress Messalina and in which the Marcellus's slave , Victor Mature , makes again a surprisingly good acting and reprised diverse characters as Jay Robinson as Caligula and Michael Wilding as apostle Peter.

jc-osms Obviously Easter must be approaching for "The Robe" to appear on TV again, although being an atheist myself, faith and devotion won't affect my opinion of the film. It's certainly a grand spectacle, with monumental sets, large crowd scenes and faithful costumery, all helping to compensate for the more than occasional American accent which confuses the geography somewhat.I don't want to judge the movie too harshly but the story is perhaps just too fantastical to really take off. I've heard of faith moving mountains, but just couldn't believe it could affect hard-boiled Roman Tribune Marcellus (Richard Burton) the way it does here. Looking young and tousle-haired, the great man struggles to convincingly convey emotion throughout and to that end lies down with the similarly challenged Victor Mature as his Greek slave Demetrius. There are better performances from Jay Campbell as the deranged Caligula and Charlton Heston lookalike Michael Rennie as Peter but an acting showcase it isn't.A few of the scenes did resonate with me, however, especially the cleverly rendered confession by Judas Iscariot and also where Marcellus has his nightmare about Jesus being nailed to the cross, but too much of the rest is mere platitudinal talk, even as the director still throws us a love story between Burton and Jean Simmons and even a sword fight between Burton and a feisty Roman centurion to spice matters up.The final shot of the doomed lovers marching into the kingdom of heaven after they've publicly defied Emperor Caligula's will is however, pure corn (cue heavenly host of "Hallelujahs"), re-affirming my conclusion that the film, well intentioned as it is, is too sentimental and unbelievable for its own good.