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Is it really that bad?
I'll agree that this isn't the best movie ever made but it's not a total disaster that some might say it is. Afterall, Paul Newman started his career in this movie despite he hated the film very much. Well everybody has to start their career somewhere. The acting is pretty good especially Jack Palance as Simon, the evil sorcerer. Virginia Mayo and the beautiful Pier Angeli. Also look for Joseph Wiseman who would play the villain in the first James Bond movie Dr. No. (1962).
This film received two Oscar nominations for William V. Skall's colorful cinematography and Franz Waxman's terrific score. Both nominations were well deserved.
Despite all of the talent involved, I do have one complaint. That's for the set designs. They looked cheaply done and very cheesy and not enough texture to make them look believable and were an eye sore at sometimes. Which is a shame because I saw that Boris Levin was the Art Director and he's done terrific work in the future. I also think there were some issues with the writing because things just seemed to happen for no reason at all. But I tried to overlook some of these things and enjoy Paul Newman's performance in what I think was a fair movie. But watch and judge for yourself.
This film received two Oscar nominations for William V. Skall's colorful cinematography and Franz Waxman's terrific score. Both nominations were well deserved.
Despite all of the talent involved, I do have one complaint. That's for the set designs. They looked cheaply done and very cheesy and not enough texture to make them look believable and were an eye sore at sometimes. Which is a shame because I saw that Boris Levin was the Art Director and he's done terrific work in the future. I also think there were some issues with the writing because things just seemed to happen for no reason at all. But I tried to overlook some of these things and enjoy Paul Newman's performance in what I think was a fair movie. But watch and judge for yourself.
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PAUL NEWMAN SHINES in his First Film of the HOLY GRAIL
In a world of screen tricks, special effects, the props and scenes are weak.
But the shining performances of Paul Newman, Virginia Mayo and Jack Palance make one forget it, the same way a stage play is dominated by the actors. Watch it, and enjoy a classic tale of good, evil, menace and magic, faith and charlatans. The story begins with Basil being adopted into wealth, but the twist begins immediately as he is lowered by treachery into slavery. A love triangle ensues when Basil's young ex-slave friend shows up after Basil has fallen into the home of Joseph of Arimethea and Basil has become the love interest of his grand daughter Deborah. Power -- art -- and faith become intertwined as Basil is hired to make the Chalice... the repository of the Holy Cup of Christ.. which Simon the Magician-- a hater of Christ, wants to destroy.... From Antioch, to Jerusalem and finally to ROME this pageantry of ancient history is worth the effort to find a copy and watch this movie. The performances of Paul and the Italian beauty Piers Angeli shine.
But the shining performances of Paul Newman, Virginia Mayo and Jack Palance make one forget it, the same way a stage play is dominated by the actors. Watch it, and enjoy a classic tale of good, evil, menace and magic, faith and charlatans. The story begins with Basil being adopted into wealth, but the twist begins immediately as he is lowered by treachery into slavery. A love triangle ensues when Basil's young ex-slave friend shows up after Basil has fallen into the home of Joseph of Arimethea and Basil has become the love interest of his grand daughter Deborah. Power -- art -- and faith become intertwined as Basil is hired to make the Chalice... the repository of the Holy Cup of Christ.. which Simon the Magician-- a hater of Christ, wants to destroy.... From Antioch, to Jerusalem and finally to ROME this pageantry of ancient history is worth the effort to find a copy and watch this movie. The performances of Paul and the Italian beauty Piers Angeli shine.
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THE SILVER CHALICE (Victor Saville, 1954)
Due to its bad reputation, I foolishly missed out on this one on local Cable TV during the late 1990s; however, when the opportunity arose recently to watch it – in tribute to its late star, Paul Newman – via a somewhat washed-out if quite serviceable 16mm print projected in a private cinema owned by an old friend of my father's (who's also a well-known film collector) – I couldn't very well decline! Incidentally, this was Newman's debut film (and one he famously later apologized for to his fans, being clearly out-of-place in a biblical epic, even going so far as to call it "the worst film made in the entirety of the 1950s" – I'd say it's definitely in the running for the title of oddest!). By the way, I hadn't intended to include it in my Halloween Challenge list, but the presence of power-mad magician Jack Palance and the weirdly avant-gardist sets which wouldn't be amiss in a sci-fi movie changed my mind about this!
The plot starts off with a young Greek boy, a promising sculptor, being given away for adoption by his poor father (Ian Wolfe) to a merchant (E.G. Marshall); the latter intends making him his heir, sealed by a pact witnessed by a number of servants (including Albert Dekker). All of this, however, doesn't sit well with Marshall's brother (the face of the actor portraying him seemed very familiar to me, but I had to search the IMDb for his name – it turned out to be Herbert Rudley, whom I'd recently watched in two low-budget but quite impressive films, THE MASTER RACE [1944] and DECOY [1946]!); consequently, after Marshall's death, the boy is sold into slavery (but not before he has befriended one of his adoptive father's own slave girls, played by a blonde Natalie Wood).
Some years later, we find that Newman has continued to develop his craft and has made quite a name for himself – so much so that the apostle Luke (Alexander Scourby) has sought him out to fashion a silver chalice that would hold the cup Christ drank from during the Last Supper; as a result of accepting this assignment, Newman befriends Joseph of Arimatea (Walter Hampden) and his lovely daughter (Pier Angeli) – incidentally, Newman and Angeli would be much more happily reteamed in his breakthrough film SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (1956). In the interim, Wood has turned into the most lusted-after Antioch-based courtesan (Virginia Mayo); into the story now enter two other important figures – Joseph Wiseman is the member of a sect who wants the people to rise up against the Romans (he's eventually involved in a scuffle in the desert with Newman) – an event which he deems possible with the arrival of Palance, who's building himself up as an alternative Messiah (and who seems to bear a grudge towards Simon Peter, played by a debuting Lorne Greene!).
The film was one of a slew of Biblical epics to emerge in the wake of the colossal QUO VADIS (1951); in fact, its plot line isn't dissimilar from that of (the much more successful) THE ROBE (1953) – which also revolved around a coveted relic of Christ epitomizing the struggle between Christianity and Paganism. As I said, the film is highlighted by unusual-looking sets (by Rolf Gerard); even so, it's nowhere near as bad as Newman (or contemporary critics) claimed – though the star is undeniably wooden; besides, there's a definite (and not disagreeable) camp factor to the film with respect to Mayo's make-up, some of the dialogue (especially Greene's closing straight-to-camera monologue, not to mention his taking on the persona of hunchbacked tavern-keeper to escape Roman detection!) and Palance's inspired contribution (performing magic tricks involving snakes, wearing a beehive-shaped cap and, later, a Riddler-like costume equipped with Wile E. Coyote bat-like wings – by which he seeks to astound the Roman crowds, Emperor Nero among them, by pretending to fly)!
Victor Saville (whose last effort as a director this proved to be) was a distinguished film personality best noted as a producer, but he had previously tread similar period/epic trappings in GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (1947) and KIM (1950). For all its faults and instant notoriety, the film still notched up two Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography (by William V. Skall) and Franz Waxman's rousing score! Despite the film's considerable length (142 minutes) which necessitated two intermissions for reel-changing purposes, the fact that I watched it under those conditions mentioned above made it seem decidedly shorter and I look forward to future visits to that same venue (in fact, I spent a good deal of time before and after the screening looking over – and simply admiring – his vast collection!).
The plot starts off with a young Greek boy, a promising sculptor, being given away for adoption by his poor father (Ian Wolfe) to a merchant (E.G. Marshall); the latter intends making him his heir, sealed by a pact witnessed by a number of servants (including Albert Dekker). All of this, however, doesn't sit well with Marshall's brother (the face of the actor portraying him seemed very familiar to me, but I had to search the IMDb for his name – it turned out to be Herbert Rudley, whom I'd recently watched in two low-budget but quite impressive films, THE MASTER RACE [1944] and DECOY [1946]!); consequently, after Marshall's death, the boy is sold into slavery (but not before he has befriended one of his adoptive father's own slave girls, played by a blonde Natalie Wood).
Some years later, we find that Newman has continued to develop his craft and has made quite a name for himself – so much so that the apostle Luke (Alexander Scourby) has sought him out to fashion a silver chalice that would hold the cup Christ drank from during the Last Supper; as a result of accepting this assignment, Newman befriends Joseph of Arimatea (Walter Hampden) and his lovely daughter (Pier Angeli) – incidentally, Newman and Angeli would be much more happily reteamed in his breakthrough film SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (1956). In the interim, Wood has turned into the most lusted-after Antioch-based courtesan (Virginia Mayo); into the story now enter two other important figures – Joseph Wiseman is the member of a sect who wants the people to rise up against the Romans (he's eventually involved in a scuffle in the desert with Newman) – an event which he deems possible with the arrival of Palance, who's building himself up as an alternative Messiah (and who seems to bear a grudge towards Simon Peter, played by a debuting Lorne Greene!).
The film was one of a slew of Biblical epics to emerge in the wake of the colossal QUO VADIS (1951); in fact, its plot line isn't dissimilar from that of (the much more successful) THE ROBE (1953) – which also revolved around a coveted relic of Christ epitomizing the struggle between Christianity and Paganism. As I said, the film is highlighted by unusual-looking sets (by Rolf Gerard); even so, it's nowhere near as bad as Newman (or contemporary critics) claimed – though the star is undeniably wooden; besides, there's a definite (and not disagreeable) camp factor to the film with respect to Mayo's make-up, some of the dialogue (especially Greene's closing straight-to-camera monologue, not to mention his taking on the persona of hunchbacked tavern-keeper to escape Roman detection!) and Palance's inspired contribution (performing magic tricks involving snakes, wearing a beehive-shaped cap and, later, a Riddler-like costume equipped with Wile E. Coyote bat-like wings – by which he seeks to astound the Roman crowds, Emperor Nero among them, by pretending to fly)!
Victor Saville (whose last effort as a director this proved to be) was a distinguished film personality best noted as a producer, but he had previously tread similar period/epic trappings in GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (1947) and KIM (1950). For all its faults and instant notoriety, the film still notched up two Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography (by William V. Skall) and Franz Waxman's rousing score! Despite the film's considerable length (142 minutes) which necessitated two intermissions for reel-changing purposes, the fact that I watched it under those conditions mentioned above made it seem decidedly shorter and I look forward to future visits to that same venue (in fact, I spent a good deal of time before and after the screening looking over – and simply admiring – his vast collection!).
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Not a bad movie
This movie avoids a flaw found in several other movies from the 1950s with a religious overtone, such as The Robe, Quo Vadis, and Samson and Delilah. Those movies unfortunately depicted all pagans or anybody who isn't a Jew or Christian as morally depraved and decadent.
The Silver Chalice focuses well on the struggle and life of Basil. Meanwhile, it gives good attention to the movement that Simon the Magician is trying to build.
There was actually a person named Simon Magus who challenged the "miracles" of Jesus. Not surprisingly, he was demonized by early Christian historians.
The main flaw with the Silver Chalice is the movie set. Many other movies of the 1950s set in ancient times made a decent effort in designing their movie sets to duplicate dwellings as they might have existed in ancient times. The Silver Chalice movie set is very plain and shows that little effort was made in that regard, especially on the roof scene set in Jerusalem where Basil and Deborra are trying to escape from the mob and the Romans.
The Silver Chalice focuses well on the struggle and life of Basil. Meanwhile, it gives good attention to the movement that Simon the Magician is trying to build.
There was actually a person named Simon Magus who challenged the "miracles" of Jesus. Not surprisingly, he was demonized by early Christian historians.
The main flaw with the Silver Chalice is the movie set. Many other movies of the 1950s set in ancient times made a decent effort in designing their movie sets to duplicate dwellings as they might have existed in ancient times. The Silver Chalice movie set is very plain and shows that little effort was made in that regard, especially on the roof scene set in Jerusalem where Basil and Deborra are trying to escape from the mob and the Romans.
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Pier Angeli was terrific in this film! She shows range! Without her in it the movie would have been a complete failure!
The best part of filming this movie for Pier Angeli is the fact that she met, dated, and fell in love with James Dean who was filming the movie East of Eden at the same studio. So it was destiny for this lovely actress to film this forgivable movie.
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Better than Newman thinks ...
Okay, it's not great but it's no worse than numerous other Biblical epics - so I'm puzzled as to why Newman was so scornful of it. Maybe he was just dissatisfied with his performance; as well he might be because he is pretty wooden.
If you can get past the jarring American accents delivering some, at times, solemnly stilted dialogue there is much to enjoy. For starters, Palance is terrific as Simon Magus - by turns cynical, insolent, proud and ultimately messianic. Then there are the remarkable sets; in many Biblical epics everything looks ancient, as if cities two thousand years ago never looked modern, clean or impressive. Not here, the sets and structures are often quite mesmerising in their modernity - very unusual for a film of this type and era. There is also fun to be had in spotting the faces in the supporting cast: Joseph Wiseman, Lorne Greene, E. G. Marshall, Michael Pate, plus Sam Peckinpah-alumni Albert Dekker and Strother Martin. Not to mention the beautiful young Natalie Wood.
So give it a try - the widescreen DVD looks great. Why not have a 'Pier Angeli Night' and do a double-bill with SODOM AND GOMORRAH?
If you can get past the jarring American accents delivering some, at times, solemnly stilted dialogue there is much to enjoy. For starters, Palance is terrific as Simon Magus - by turns cynical, insolent, proud and ultimately messianic. Then there are the remarkable sets; in many Biblical epics everything looks ancient, as if cities two thousand years ago never looked modern, clean or impressive. Not here, the sets and structures are often quite mesmerising in their modernity - very unusual for a film of this type and era. There is also fun to be had in spotting the faces in the supporting cast: Joseph Wiseman, Lorne Greene, E. G. Marshall, Michael Pate, plus Sam Peckinpah-alumni Albert Dekker and Strother Martin. Not to mention the beautiful young Natalie Wood.
So give it a try - the widescreen DVD looks great. Why not have a 'Pier Angeli Night' and do a double-bill with SODOM AND GOMORRAH?
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Golden Anniversary comments for The Silver Chalice
Paul Newman, as Basil the sculptor, makes his movie debut and is not all that bad considering the dialogue he had to work with. Jack Palance, as Simon, is simply superb. Insane and madly ambitious he portrays a magician who thinks he can become a "new and improved" version of Jesus. It's hard to accept the character of Helena first played by Natalie Wood as a young slave and then later by Virginia Mayo as a treacherous vixen. There are a host of familiar actors in supporting and minor roles. Notice Lorne Greene as St. Peter before he strapped on his gun and married three wives to found the Ponderosa. Also, in a quick moment, you'll notice Strother("What we have here is a failure to communicate")Martin as the father of the crippled child. See if you can find the rest. The sets are more prone for stage than screen. Huge columns, statues and archways with stairs and domed buildings and more stairs. Everything is incorrectly sterile and spotless. There is one light point when, at Nero's feast, a particular dish is described as "aged grasshoppers in honey fried to a golden brown". Not bad for 1st century AD. Maybe the "colonel" was a lot older then we thought. All in all it's a fun movie to watch. This film might have its drawbacks but Palance is worth it. See Jack fly.
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MY WEB PAGE TO NATALIE WOOD
