Franz von Assisi

This is the film that introduced me to St. Francis of Assisi (alongside marvel comics' 1982 adaptation of his life). While several historical inaccuracies are present (Francis is referred to as "Father Francis" once, yet St. Francis was never ordained priest in real life, for example), this is a good film to show to people if your purpose is to introduce them to the saint.

Unfortunately, the film does come out like a Disney film, with all the colors and dialogue. Hardly present at all is the tension between Francis and his father Pietro. Omitted is the very important event when St. Francis returns ALL his property and clothes to his father and declares, "no longer shall i call you my father, but I shall only say, our Father who art in heaven." - a beautifully done scene in Brother Sun, Sister Moon ten years later. On the good side, it focuses on the supernatural - miracles, God speaking to Francis. This is good because other films tend to make us forget that this is the life of a SAINT, after all.

All in all, a great movie. There should be more films like this to change others' lives.

Having seen Brother Sun Sister Moon, and Francisco, this 1961 version of the story of St. Francis pales next to the other two.

It looked like something from Disney: all primary colored costumes, healthy looking, rosy-cheeked Middle Ages citizens of Assisi, smiling as if they hadn't a care in the world. What were the producers thinking?! There was a little more history in this version though, including Francis' visit to Jerusalem, and his meeting with the Sulton. While the story was certainly comprehensive than Brother Sun Sister Moon, I prefer the latter even with Donovan's soundtrack, which I'm getting used to since I bought the video! Bradford Dillman did a fair job, but Dolores Hart with her teased, helmet-head sprayed hair looked very out of place, sad to say. A lean Stuart Whitman as Paolo played a major part and helped carry the film. I was tempted to not watch the whole thing, but I gave in. If you are a St. Francis admirer you'll watch it and learn a few more things about this remarkable man.

This film becomes interesting towards the end when Francis goes to Egypt to meet the sultan, and while he is away his order is completely adjusted to worldly demands. None of the other St. Francis films have dared to bring up this problem. Francis is depicted as the incorrigible idealist who is betrayed by the necessity of pragmatism and political realists.

Stuart Whitman is perfect as always, he is always an interesting ornament to any film he acts in, while Bradford Dillman makes more of a type than a character. Old Finlay Currie is excellent as the pope, and so is Dolores Hart as Sister Clare, but none of these can match any of the Italian actors in the Italian films, since this film completely misses the Italian mentality and is all Hollywood. This was Michael Curtiz' last film but one, (his last became "Comancheros", better although more muddled,) and his professionalism gives standard polish to the whole film, but it hardly becomes more than a filmed legend, like glossy sugared saintly illustrations spiced with typical Hollywood sentimentality on top of it. Sorry, the true St. Francis is nowhere to be found in this film.

The only convincing character of some Franciscan credibility is brother Juniper played by Mervyn Johns. He has understood something of the Franciscan mentality, while all the rest is Hollywood, not at its worst but definitely at its most conventional.

In his seventies and suffering from cancer, Michael Curtiz still had the stamina to spend three months scouting locations in Italy before finally deciding upon - Assisi itself! Handsomely mounted in Cinemascope & DeLuxe Color, it's compositions occasionally resemble Curtiz's silent spectaculars like 'Sodom and Gomorrah' with occasional startling intrusions of colour like the brightly coloured latticed windows in several interiors, and the shocking pink Cardinal's outfit worn by Cecil Kellaway.

Most of the supporting cast (which inevitably includes Finlay Currie) are British, against which the American accents of the leads are incongruous both geographically as well as too modern. But making this may have inspired pretty young Dolores Hart to not long afterwards quit Hollywood and take orders as a Benedictine nun, answering to the name for the past five decades of 'Mother Dolores'.

The production values for this movie are very high. The period costumes are some of the best ever and the filming is beautiful. Even the horses are elegantly clad and the battle scene with the horses on the bridge is impressive.

However, all of this effort does not cover up problems. Many biographies of Francis are captivating, but the story, as presented here, is quite unbelievable and never involving. After Francis' conversion we see him pulling a cart through the streets asking for stones to rebuild a church (it just so happens that everyone along the way happens to have a few spare stones readily available). With a few followers we see Francis working with some crude structures at the church site and then, magically, we see Francis and his followers in an elaborate cathedral with large pillars and intricate stone work that would have taken sophisticated engineering to build. And Francis never encounters anything but beautiful sunny days.

Francis goes on a mission to the Holy Land and we see him wandering alone in the desert with a small pouch of water. Two Arabs are seen in this arid place who unleash vicious leopards upon Francis, but he tames them and gives them water. There is a "my God is bigger than your God" scene between Francis and the sultan that is quite depressing - how little progress we have make in 800 years.

Bradford Dillman does his best with the script he is given and has a couple of good scenes toward the end, but the acting by Dolores Hart and Stuart Whitman is pretty amateurish.

The main problem I have with this movie is that it did not show me what it was about this man that accounted for his accomplishments. He must have been inspiring and charismatic, but what we get here is a very passive reader of scripture. I understand the appeal of a Martin Luther King, but I do not understand the appeal of St. Francis from what I see in this movie.

The most enjoyable part of the movie for me were the photos of the Frescoes of Giotto in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi that played under the opening credits.