Opulently filmed on location in Italy and Spain, this movie proves once again that even the most interesting religious stories can become dull if placed in the wrong hands. Dillman is the hedonistic son of an Assisi textile man. He becomes aware that there must be more to life than wine,
women, and song, so he joins the army of Pope Innocent III (Currie) to fight for Sicily's liberation. Whitman is a poor nobleman and Dillman's best friend. While in the thick of the fray, Dillman responds to an inner voice telling him to return home. For this, he is marked as a coward and a
deserter and tossed into the slammer. Upon his release, he hears the voice once more. This time it tells him to rebuild the ruins of a church in Assisi. He gathers a bunch of locals and establishes a new religious order, and together they reconstruct the church. Whitman falls in love with Hart, a
wealthy young woman. She turns from Whitman and answers Dillman's religious call, forsaking worldly goods to become a nun. (Two years after this film, she entered the convent in real life and is now known as Mother Dolores.) Whitman is enraged and rides off to join the Crusades. The Franciscan
order grows rapidly, and Dillman is then requested to journey to the Holy Land to help the Crusaders fight the sultan's army. He walks through fire to prove his faith, which mightily impresses the sultan, Armendariz. Dillman is appalled by the Crusaders' plundering and turns from their leader,
Whitman. Upon returning to Assisi, he discovers that some of his flock have ignored their vows of poverty. He leaves, takes up residence in a cave, and becomes progressively blinder until he is about to die, then Hart and Whitman visit and say their farewells.
Much of St. Francis' work with animals is not shown here; if it had been, it might have made the film work. Irish actor Harold Goldblatt is seen briefly as Bernard. A small bit is done by Renzo Cesana, who used to be a sensation as "The Continental" in TV's early years. This is one of director
Curtiz's dullest pictures--very lavish but essentially tedious. leave a comment
