Le Cardinal

TOM TRYON has the central role in Otto Preminger's majestic looking film version of THE CARDINAL, but he's one of those handsome actors with an impassive face whose emotions never come to the surface. Instead, we get a hint of what he might be thinking without any real clue. And since the film is all about the moral and personal issues facing him as he enters the College of Cardinals, an actor with more emotional capabilities would have been more impressive.

The other flaw is the three hour length for a film in which the story is simply not that compelling. Furthermore, director Preminger has chosen to direct whole scenes at medium length lensing (no close-ups inserted) which gives a flat affect to the dynamics involved.

Aside from these weaknesses, the film has a lot about it to commend. All the interiors of church activities are impressively staged and photographed in beautiful WideScreen photography. The performances around Tryon range from good to excellent, including John Huston, Carol Lynley, Bill Hayes, John Saxon and Burgess Meredith. Huston is particularly commanding as the brusque Cardinal Glennon, who confronts Tryon with: "You're not afraid of me, are you?" when the young man speaks his mind.

All of the technical aspects of the film are professional, giving the story more credibility than it deserves from a rather lumbering script. The icing on the cake is the rich musical score by Jerome Moross.

Holds the interest despite the length as it deals with a young man confronting bigotry, Naziism, and his own personal beliefs as he ascends the ladder of success in the Catholic Church.

Based on an early 1950's bestseller, producer/director Otto Preminger's lush religious spectacle pits a Catholic priest from Boston against many of the controversies that dogged the Church during the first half of the 20th century. As the young priest rises in rank to Monsignor, Bishop, and eventually Cardinal, he must tackle abortion, inter-faith marriage, racial discrimination, Nazism, and self-doubts about his own religious calling before the nearly three-hour film reaches the closing credits. Despite its episodic nature, "The Cardinal" is an entertaining film, generally well acted, and filmed by master cinematographer Leon Shamroy against some of the most beautiful landscapes and interiors that Rome and Vienna can offer. The Jerome Moross score enhances the beauty of the visuals and provides an appropriate mood that is haunting and liturgical in tone. While Tom Tryon as the Cardinal, Stephen Fermoyle, does his best, a stronger actor with greater screen presence might have anchored the film and given it greater stability. Tryon at times appears colorless and unconvincing as a man who could rise so quickly and to such heights in the Italian-dominated Church bureaucracy. The film's acting honors instead go expectedly to such veterans as John Huston, Raf Vallone, and Burgess Meredith. Also, the film has dated somewhat as the conflicts depicted between events and Church dogma have been for the most part left in the past, abortion excepted. Perhaps a sequel is in order with Cardinal, or maybe Pope by now, Stephen Fermoyle faced with pedophile priests, gay marriage, and a Church that has lost many of its followers over the decades. But, despite the diminished relevance, "The Cardinal" remains a comforting old fashioned view of the Roman Catholic Church during a period when the mass was said in Latin, the celibacy of a priest was unquestioned, fish was eaten on Fridays, the sacraments were taken seriously, and a poor son of Irish immigrants could rise from Boston curate to Cardinal without showing any more signs of aging than a light dusting of powder on his full head of thick hair.

The Cardinal tracks the life of a young priest through an upwardly-mobile career to the point just prior to his being elevated to Cardinal. The historical time frame falls between the beginning of WWI and the beginning of WWII, and this volatile time in our country's history is reflected by the career of Father (later Monsignor, then Bishop) Fermoyle. Fr. Fermoyle encounters many people who touch his life and have an impact on his career which shakes his faith, and even threatens to end it at one point. You don't have to be Catholic to enjoy this film, but it would certainly help!

The location scenes in Rome, Vienna and Boston give this film a feel which helps the viewer really get involved in the plot. The moral values truly reflect the era depicted; I only wish that a return to those values were possible today.

If you like a good, dramatic story that develops characters you really get to know and care about, please see this film!

This one holds up extremely well. It's a real shame it seems to have fallen into public domaine, judging the poor quality tapes around. Some are at SLP and look terrible! In addition, Premminger used the wide screen Panavision lensing to greatly enhance the look, and much of this is lost in watching it pan&scan. There was a Laser Disc release on this one, which included the oveture, intermission, and E'trac music before part two. I originally saw this at the (now gone) Woods Theatre in downtown Chicago first run in 70mm. But I believe they ran it without an intermission. A number of 16mm IB Technicolor prints exist on THE CARDINAL, both in the Scope and masked (letterbox) format to preserve the full picture image. It's a matter of who HAS a print! The only theatrical trailer released was a GREAT 10 minute featurette in IB Technicolor & Scope with many behind the scenes shots of camera set-ups shootingin various locations. And there are several deleted from the final release scenes as well. Romy Schneider is one of my all time favorite actresses. She looks so BEAUTIFUL in this movie! One can only hope and pray that this one day winds up on DVD!! OR... how about someone coming up with the money to restore it for theatres?? I'll do the restoration if you come up with the money.

The Cardinal is a historically significant film because of what was happening in the Roman Catholic Church at the time it premiered -- the Second Vatican Council. Called by Pope John XXVIII to bring about reforms in the Church, many of the issues touched upon in the film -- the liturgy, the role of lay persons and women in the Church, rights of the mother vs. the child, mixed marriage, ecumenism -- were being hotly debated by the bishops in Rome. The film added to that debate among ordinary Catholics.

I was a student at a Catholic high school in 1963. To many of us who hoped to see significant and even radical changes toward a more modern Church, the Cardinal dramatized many of the problems that we believed needed correcting. The Second Vatican Council didn't go as far as some of us would like, and the Church hasn't seen much reform since, but when I see the Cardinal today, I'm reminded how much more confining Church doctrine was before the Council did its work.

By the way, in response to the comment that no one could have done all the things that the Cardinal was portrayed as doing in the film, my understanding is that the story is based on the life of Cardinal Spellman of New York. The details are changed, but in fact Cardinal Spellman was from Boston and did undertake many of the same roles in his career, including working as a Vatican diplomat from 1925-1932.