Quand la terre brûle

Those who are hard-bitten, unsentimental, hate religious epics, or laugh easily at ultra-romantic plots laced with mysticism, religious omens, and ominous signs (such as a wind that mysteriously comes up, droughts that devastate a land when someone leaves, and thunderstorms that spring up just at the right moment) had better either avoid this film or be prepared for a real howl. Add to this some hammy overacting from the miscast Carroll Baker, who is supposed to be Spanish, of all things.(Natalie Wood, who turned down the role, would have been a far better choice, and Sophia Loren might have been even better). And the young,unwrinkled Roger Moore DID look too pretty for a male actor.

But the basic plot, of the Virgin's statue taking a young nun's place is an old and time-honored legend used before on stage and film, and those who really get into this kind of thing will love it, although the disturbing idea of a heavenly curse which apparently causes death is certainly not in keeping with the Catholic idea of a merciful God. The movie is NOT cheesy, by the way; it is quite elaborately produced, with good photography and a throbbing musical score by "Ten Commandments" and "Magnificent Seven" composer Elmer Bernstein.

Where can I watch from. Loved the movie many years ago and would like my family to watch it.

During Napoleon's war with Spain, a young postulate at a convent near Madrid experiences her first stirrings of romantic love for a passing British Captain; she breaks her vows and runs off to be with him, but instead falls in league with traveling gypsies after her beloved is presumed dead in a rampage by the French. Unbelievable concoction, scripted by Frank Butler from Karl Vollmöller's play, given uncertain treatment by director Irving Rapper. Is this material high camp or serious-minded? At times, it manages to be both, with the addition of some unintentional humor to lighten the load. Stars Carroll Baker and Roger Moore occasionally look bewildered or lost--and they get no help from Rapper, nor from their dialogue. The appropriately large-scaled production includes several set-pieces which are exciting and well-accomplished, though the plot is episodic, and each new chapter is more outlandish than the last. ** from ****

My sister recently asked me if I knew where to find this picture, and coincidentally I had it in my film library, purchased about a year back from Movies Unlimited, a mail-order VHS/DVD house. I decided to revisit it, and to my delight it was everything I remembered it to be when it first came out in my pre-pubescence. This is a saga which begs to be re-made today, but NOT for the big screen, rather for the The Met. It has everything one could possibly ask for in Grand Opera. The beautiful young postulant nun, the dashing British officer, the regiment passing through with little children dancing around them waving flags. The backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Gypsies, bullfighters, Flamenco dancing and religious spectacle. What more could you ask for? With a plot as thin as a scrim, the libretto would be a cake walk, which I would LOVE to write. Would any composer care to collaborate? One thing eludes me, in the film, and IMDb has failed to enlighten me: Who is the singing voice of Theresa in the Spanish nightclub scenes? Could it be Victoria de Los Angeles? A fabulous voice. I highly recommend this movie to young and old, mostly female audiences (after all, it is cornier than even "An Affair to Remember"). Enjoy the sheer prettiness of it.

During the war of 1812, a young nun leaves the convent to search for a series of romantic adventures, and during her journey the statue of the virgin Mary descends from the pedestal and takes the young nun's place until her return.

Adapted from a fairly deadening and lunatic play, and tricked out with the old-fashioned Max Reinhardt pageantry; this immensely long and heavy-going amalgam of would-be religious parable and decorative period romance soon becomes numbingly risible and never lets up. A very curious choice for an emergent leading lady obviously, and unsuccessfully, fighting against her freshly established image, while the star supporting players - apparently intended as a balance - suffer from being tediously typecast. None of the actors have much opportunity to display their skills and the direction is below average. Quite a stupefying enterprise, but a sometimes engagingly silly one.