Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueA wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the High Priest as well.A wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the High Priest as well.A wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the High Priest as well.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
Sandy Descher
- Yasmin
- (as Sandra Descher)
Avis à la une
Lana Turner was pure magic, emotion and sensation in her long walk through the temple of love... And "The Prodigal" will remain the best showcase ever equipped for her excellent figure... The film is M.G.M.'s entry in the CinemaScope Bible race...
Lana was cast as Samarra, the lightly-clad temptress who incited history's first juvenile delinquent to leave home
The film was based on the Biblical story of the prodigal son as told by St. Luke in Chapter XV of his gospels There, in fewer than 300 words is the bare suggestion of a youth who "wasted his substance in riotous living," later to return, repentant to farm and father
The screenplay portrayed the prodigal as Micah (Edmond Purdom), the model son of a Hebrew patriarch named Eli (Walter Hampden). As the film begins he has honored his father by becoming engaged to Ruth (Audrey Dalton), a gentle girl of his own faith
While visiting Damascus, however, the youth enters the tent of Samarra, the high priestess of Astarte, goddess of the flesh, and he is dazzled by her beauty To his father's bitter dismay, he demands his share of the family fortune, leaves his fiancée on the eve of their marriage, and goes off to the city in pursuit of the pagan woman, whose duties include presiding over human sacrificial rites
Among the fleshpots of Damascus, Micah's uncontrollable infatuation for the priestess plunges him into a variety of mishaps He is victimized by Nahreeb (Louis Calhern), the sinister high priest of Baal, who conspires to destroy him for his irreverent interest in Samarra; by Bosra (Francis L. Sullivan), an unscrupulous moneylender; and even by Samarra herself, who withholds her love until he produces a certain valuable pearl as a gift for her goddess
Lana was cast as Samarra, the lightly-clad temptress who incited history's first juvenile delinquent to leave home
The film was based on the Biblical story of the prodigal son as told by St. Luke in Chapter XV of his gospels There, in fewer than 300 words is the bare suggestion of a youth who "wasted his substance in riotous living," later to return, repentant to farm and father
The screenplay portrayed the prodigal as Micah (Edmond Purdom), the model son of a Hebrew patriarch named Eli (Walter Hampden). As the film begins he has honored his father by becoming engaged to Ruth (Audrey Dalton), a gentle girl of his own faith
While visiting Damascus, however, the youth enters the tent of Samarra, the high priestess of Astarte, goddess of the flesh, and he is dazzled by her beauty To his father's bitter dismay, he demands his share of the family fortune, leaves his fiancée on the eve of their marriage, and goes off to the city in pursuit of the pagan woman, whose duties include presiding over human sacrificial rites
Among the fleshpots of Damascus, Micah's uncontrollable infatuation for the priestess plunges him into a variety of mishaps He is victimized by Nahreeb (Louis Calhern), the sinister high priest of Baal, who conspires to destroy him for his irreverent interest in Samarra; by Bosra (Francis L. Sullivan), an unscrupulous moneylender; and even by Samarra herself, who withholds her love until he produces a certain valuable pearl as a gift for her goddess
Based on the parable that Jesus told in St. Luke, The Prodigal is one of those biblical tales that isn't a biblical tale. Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son to show how God rejoices over any of his people who stray from the fold and return. Since it was a story to make a point the writers had a free hand to make a plot with proper biblical quotations in the script.
Edmond Purdom plays the starring role as one of two sons of Walter Hampden, the other being John Dehner who are seemingly content with their life. Dehner certainly is, but Purdom has a taste for some excitement.
While in town shopping for supplies Purdom makes essentially a grandstand play, good act that it was when he frees a mute slave played by James Mitchell from Neville Brand who is an overseer for the Baal high priest Louis Calhern. Later on Purdom cavalierly humiliates Calhern who plots a bad revenge for this slight to him and his religion.
He finds Purdom's weakness fast enough. Lana Turner who is THE Baal high priestess is something special, a lot of that due to the fact that blonds are scarce in that region of the world. And that by the way is a fact duly noted in the story. One look at her and Purdom is putty in her hands.
She leads him on quite a path of degradation, but our Prodigal hero works his way back to his father and the religion of his people.
Not that this is a great story anyway, but The Prodigal suffers from the fact that Edmond Purdom is not an actor of any great warmth. Technically proficient, Purdom never made it to the top because he was not charismatic enough to be a hero. His career was a lot like Stephen Boyd's, except Boyd realized it and became a great portrayer of villains like Messala in Ben-Hur.
As for Lana Turner, sexy yes, but Turner always fought being cast in period pieces of any kind, she always felt her best roles were in modern day dress films. Blonds did not have more fun in this film in the end. MGM was getting rid of its high priced contract players at this time and Turner was not being showcased with any great care.
The Prodigal did follow the DeMille formula of high falutin' dialog about virtue sprinkled with sex. In this film with Turner, sex laid on with a steam shovel. But it wasn't as good as those fabulous DeMille Bible epics, Samson And Delilah and The Ten Commandments.
Edmond Purdom plays the starring role as one of two sons of Walter Hampden, the other being John Dehner who are seemingly content with their life. Dehner certainly is, but Purdom has a taste for some excitement.
While in town shopping for supplies Purdom makes essentially a grandstand play, good act that it was when he frees a mute slave played by James Mitchell from Neville Brand who is an overseer for the Baal high priest Louis Calhern. Later on Purdom cavalierly humiliates Calhern who plots a bad revenge for this slight to him and his religion.
He finds Purdom's weakness fast enough. Lana Turner who is THE Baal high priestess is something special, a lot of that due to the fact that blonds are scarce in that region of the world. And that by the way is a fact duly noted in the story. One look at her and Purdom is putty in her hands.
She leads him on quite a path of degradation, but our Prodigal hero works his way back to his father and the religion of his people.
Not that this is a great story anyway, but The Prodigal suffers from the fact that Edmond Purdom is not an actor of any great warmth. Technically proficient, Purdom never made it to the top because he was not charismatic enough to be a hero. His career was a lot like Stephen Boyd's, except Boyd realized it and became a great portrayer of villains like Messala in Ben-Hur.
As for Lana Turner, sexy yes, but Turner always fought being cast in period pieces of any kind, she always felt her best roles were in modern day dress films. Blonds did not have more fun in this film in the end. MGM was getting rid of its high priced contract players at this time and Turner was not being showcased with any great care.
The Prodigal did follow the DeMille formula of high falutin' dialog about virtue sprinkled with sex. In this film with Turner, sex laid on with a steam shovel. But it wasn't as good as those fabulous DeMille Bible epics, Samson And Delilah and The Ten Commandments.
Luke's New Testament Bible story of the son : Edmund Purdom of a wealthy old man : Walter Hampden . The young Hebrew called Micah is insatisfied with his dad's rural life and tries his luck in the town. There he is seduced by greed, squandering his money , and by a gorgeous woman : Lana Turner , High Priestess of Gods Baal and Astarte , being regularly transfered to the silver screen by Richard Thorpe . Two years in the making , a fortune to produce ! . The story of woman's beauty and man's temptation ! . MGM's magnificent Cinemascope and Color Spectacular !
A big budgeted but empty Hollywood rendition based on a famous Parable of the Sacred Scriptures and full of interesting Biblical issues . The main attraction results a be a colorful cast with a large number of prestigious secondaries . Stars Edmund Purdom in his second movie venture into the realms of ancient story , and it has similar virtues , drawbacks and misfortunes to the the first , Sinuhe the Egyptian directed by Michael Cutiz . While Lana Turner is really wonderful as the ambitious priestess of the Goddess Astarte . Outstanding the huge production design , settings and gowns , all of them are magnificent . The large support cast include the most notable among them , the nasty priest Louis Calhern, as well as a bald Neville Brand , the beautiful young Audrey Dalton , Joseph Wiseman , the villain fat man Francis L SullIvan, John Dehner as envious brother , Walter Hampden as the redempter father , Cecil Kallaway , Paul Cavanagh , Henry Daniell, and Taina Elg in his first Hollywood film .
It displays a brilliant and glamorous cinematography in CinemaScope and Technicolor by Joseph Ruttenberg , though a perfect remastering is extremely necessary . As well as a rousing musical score by Bronislau Kaper , including religious sounds and musical choirs . The picture was middlingly directed by Richard Thorpe, packing some flaws , shortcomings , and gaps . Richard was a prolific director who made slickly a lot of films of all kinds of genres . As he directed the following ones : "Thin Man goes home" , "Three little words" , "Knights of the Round Table" , "The Black Hand" , "Great Caruso" , "Prisoner of Zenda" , "King of the Kongo" , "Fun in Acapulco" , "Jailhouse Rock" , "Vengeance Valley" , among others . Rating : 5.5/10 . Average , though passable and acceptable . The picture will appeal to Lana Turner fans .
A big budgeted but empty Hollywood rendition based on a famous Parable of the Sacred Scriptures and full of interesting Biblical issues . The main attraction results a be a colorful cast with a large number of prestigious secondaries . Stars Edmund Purdom in his second movie venture into the realms of ancient story , and it has similar virtues , drawbacks and misfortunes to the the first , Sinuhe the Egyptian directed by Michael Cutiz . While Lana Turner is really wonderful as the ambitious priestess of the Goddess Astarte . Outstanding the huge production design , settings and gowns , all of them are magnificent . The large support cast include the most notable among them , the nasty priest Louis Calhern, as well as a bald Neville Brand , the beautiful young Audrey Dalton , Joseph Wiseman , the villain fat man Francis L SullIvan, John Dehner as envious brother , Walter Hampden as the redempter father , Cecil Kallaway , Paul Cavanagh , Henry Daniell, and Taina Elg in his first Hollywood film .
It displays a brilliant and glamorous cinematography in CinemaScope and Technicolor by Joseph Ruttenberg , though a perfect remastering is extremely necessary . As well as a rousing musical score by Bronislau Kaper , including religious sounds and musical choirs . The picture was middlingly directed by Richard Thorpe, packing some flaws , shortcomings , and gaps . Richard was a prolific director who made slickly a lot of films of all kinds of genres . As he directed the following ones : "Thin Man goes home" , "Three little words" , "Knights of the Round Table" , "The Black Hand" , "Great Caruso" , "Prisoner of Zenda" , "King of the Kongo" , "Fun in Acapulco" , "Jailhouse Rock" , "Vengeance Valley" , among others . Rating : 5.5/10 . Average , though passable and acceptable . The picture will appeal to Lana Turner fans .
Lana Turner always shown in strong contemporary dramas but for some reason was cast in this silly bible epic. She hated the whole thing and snipped pieces of her costumes off to be more revealing. Posters and publicity pictures had to paint on veils. After his brief shot at stardom in The Eqyptian,replacing Marlon Brando,Edmund Purdom was given another chance to see if he had star quality. He didn't, A competent enough player but obviously no Brando. It's OK if u watch epics for the sets and costumes but beware the overripe dialogue and tedious but efficient direction of Richard Thorpe. Thorpe's main claim to fame was he was replaced as director on the Wizard of Oz for lack of originality. He also helmed a lot of Esther Williams' swim pics. She dismissed him as a studio hack and tried unsuccessfully to have him replaced. Still,Lana looks great,manages to infuse what life she could into the proceedings,
In 70 BC, the middle eastern seaport city of Joppa is bustling with business. A major disruption occurs when handsome Edmund Purdom (as Micah) saves runaway slave James Mitchell (as Asham) from nasty Neville Brand (as Rhakim). A mute, Mr. Mitchell is wounded and taken home to live with Mr. Purdom's family. They worship one God (Jehovah), according to the opening narration; they are Hebrew. Going against his religion, Purdom is smitten with high priestess Lana Turner (as Samarra). An uncommon blonde, she worships the pagan Baal, male God of the flesh...
Our protagonist and star decides to leave home and "have" (sex with) Ms. Turner. Purdom takes Mitchell and relocates to Damascus. Turner's likewise aroused, but requires a payment of pearls, as is customary for Baal. Meanwhile, high priest Louis Calhern (as Nahreeb), the previous owner of Mitchell, desires revenge. Turner does little to justify her star billing. This is an adaptation of "The Prodigal Son" story from The New Testament, Luke 15: 11-32, which is mentioned in the introduction. It's only an average story, but competently produced and expensive looking.
***** The Prodigal (2/27/55) Richard Thorpe ~ Edmund Purdom, Lana Turner, James Mitchell, Louis Calhern
Our protagonist and star decides to leave home and "have" (sex with) Ms. Turner. Purdom takes Mitchell and relocates to Damascus. Turner's likewise aroused, but requires a payment of pearls, as is customary for Baal. Meanwhile, high priest Louis Calhern (as Nahreeb), the previous owner of Mitchell, desires revenge. Turner does little to justify her star billing. This is an adaptation of "The Prodigal Son" story from The New Testament, Luke 15: 11-32, which is mentioned in the introduction. It's only an average story, but competently produced and expensive looking.
***** The Prodigal (2/27/55) Richard Thorpe ~ Edmund Purdom, Lana Turner, James Mitchell, Louis Calhern
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesLana Turner in her autobiography: [on "The Prodigal"] "The Prodigal Son they named Micah, and to play him, chose Edmund Purdom, a young man with a remarkably high opinion of himself. His pomposity was hard enough to bear; worse yet was the garlic breath he brought back from lunch. My lines were so stupid I hated to go to work in the morning. Even the costumes were atrocious. They were ornate concoctions dripping with heavy beads, and the material was so stiff that I felt I was wearing armor." "Well," I thought, "I may be trapped in this picture, but I'm going to make myself as sensuous, sexy, and gorgeous as possible."
- GaffesIn one scene, Edmund Purdom's character, Micah, writes a message on a wall, "Samarra, 1 piece of silver, Micah," but it's written in English, a language no one used in Damascus in 70 B.C. and wouldn't exist in written form for another few centuries.
- ConnexionsFeatured in 1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration (1955)
Meilleurs choix
Connectez-vous pour évaluer et suivre la liste de favoris afin de recevoir des recommandations personnalisées
- How long is The Prodigal?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
Box-office
- Budget
- 2 783 000 $US (estimé)
- Durée
- 1h 52min(112 min)
- Rapport de forme
- 2.55 : 1
Contribuer à cette page
Suggérer une modification ou ajouter du contenu manquant