The Robe (1953)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

The curse of being at the cross and the memory of being responsible for the death of the savior of humanity has haunted Roman soldier Richard Burton to the threat of losing his sanity. Under emperors Tiberius and Caligula, Burton has been assigned the task of exposing his followers. With the aide of the followers of that cult religion, Christianity, he finds a new moral code that outshines the love of any emperor or even his own people.It is thanks to his slave, Demetrius (the rugged Victor Mature), as well as the lovely Roman lady of good background, Diana (a gorgeous Jean Simmons) that he finds his life following a new course, aided by encounters with two men who knew the immortal Jesus very well. A brief encounter with a guilt ridden Judas and meetings with Simon Peter aide Burton on his own road to salvation, bit with the mad emperor Caligula (an over the top Jay Robinson) on his trail, the only ways out are either denial of his new found faith or crucifixion.Beautifully made version of Lloyd Douglas's best selling novel, this was the very first of the wide screen epics, and it stands the test of time. Messages within the movie are so prevalent today with anti-Christian sentiment spreading across the globe.A great musical score, impressive sets, costumes and photography, this is just as much a Roman history lesson just as it is a valentine to basic Christian values often forgotten by practicing Christians. Even though he is only briefly heard and never shown in a facial close-up, Jesus remains a vital character. My only issues are the outrageous performance by Robinson as Caligula and the historically inaccurate portrayal of Tiberius, here essayed as a basically decent man by veteran character actor Ernest Theigeser. Other than that, I highly recommend it for spreading the important message of humanity and hope.

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.

This is my favorite score of Alfred Newman.I find it very haunting and moving and the song of Miriam is very plaintive and beautiful in its simple melody and accompaniment. The love theme of Diana is also very memorable and romantic. I have a soundtrack on CD of this score but the sound quality is very bad, it sounds like they used a mono track as the source for the CD and many tracks that are in the film were not included...I suspect the original LP release did not include them because they would not fit. Is there a better version out there?I am updating my review: The Varese Saraband recording that was issued several years ago on 2 CDs is the most complete version and has great sound and many restored tracks or new tracks that were not previously released. The company only released a limited number of this set, so it is a collector's item by now.Also, I have discovered I think the reason that Mr. Newman's score did not receive an Oscar nomination. There are at least 2 sections from the The Robe (the music of the rescue of Demetrius, and the final Hallejuah chorus) were used previously (albeit in different scoring, but the same themes none the less) in Mr. Newman's score for the 1939 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame for which Mr. Newman received an Oscar nomination then. The Academy's music branch rules would have been very strict at that time in 1953, for eligibility rules for the "Original" score category, thus the score for The Robe was ruled ineligible, since he re-used some music from the 1939 in The Robe.