|
Historically important as the first CinemaScope feature film, 20th Century-Fox’s The Robe is fine dramatic entertainment in its own right. Based on the best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, the film stars Richard Burton as the wastrelly Roman tribune who is assigned by a weary Pontius Pilate (Richard Boone, who spends the whole of his single scene washing his hands) to supervise the crucifixion of Christ. After the Seven Last Words, the jaded Burton wins Christ's robe in a dice game. Gradually, the mystical influence of the holy garment transforms Burton from a roistering cynic into a True Believer--at the cost of his own life, which he willingly gives up in the service of his Lord. Also starring in The Robe are Jean Simmons as Burton's pious childhood sweetheart, Victor Mature as his Christian-convert slave Demetrius (an excellent performance--in fact, Mature is more believable than Burton!), Michael Rennie as the disciple Peter, and Jay Robinson as the raving Emperor Caligula. Mature, Rennie and Robinson would appear in the 1954 sequel to The Robe, the hurriedly assembled Demetrius and the Gladiators. Watch and listen for the unbilled contributions of Michael Ansara as Judas and Cameron Mitchell as the voice of Jesus. The film won three Academy Awards, and a special Oscar bestowed upon Fox for the development of CinemaScope. For many years, the TV prints of the Robe were struck from the "flat," standard-ratio version shot simultaneously with the widescreen version. Only recently has the CinemaScope The Robe been made available to cable TV (shown in "letterbox" format to allow home viewers the full picture). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi LESS
|
Video Length: 8024
Date Found: June 04, 2011
Date Produced:
|
|
XFINITY TV |
July 17, 2011
The son of a same-sex couple seeks out the sperm donor who made his birth possible in this comedy from writer/director Lisa Cholodenko. The committed parents of two teenage children, Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), are about to send their daughter, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), off to ...
|
XFINITY TV |
July 16, 2011
Filmmaker Tom Murray chronicles the story of his mother’s efforts to find a cure for his autistic younger brother Chris, who went on to become an accomplished artist. The film, which was written, produced and directed by Murray, also explores his family's troubled mental-health ...
|
XFINITY TV |
July 16, 2011
An in-name-only, direct-to-video sequel to 1995’s blockbuster thriller The Net, The Net 2.0 begins with a new character - a stunning computer tech named Hope Cassidy (North Shore'sNikki DeLoach) - who travels to Istanbul, where she plans to take a new job. Yet Hope soon finds herself ...
|
XFINITY TV |
July 16, 2011
An in-name-only, direct-to-video sequel to 1995’s blockbuster thriller The Net, The Net 2.0 begins with a new character - a stunning computer tech named Hope Cassidy (North Shore'sNikki DeLoach) - who travels to Istanbul, where she plans to take a new job. Yet Hope soon finds herself ...
|
XFINITY TV |
July 16, 2011
From the dawn of cinema moviegoers have been strangely seduced by stories about the criminal underworld, and from Scarface (1932) to The Sopranos the sordid stories of the mafia in all their lawless glory continue to thrive on screens large and small. In this documentary, Goodfellas star Paul ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Featured Content
Featuring websites that enhance the internet user’s experience.
|