Le Cardinal

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.

I don't care if anyone believes this but I was actually "attracted" to this film via its incredible, grandiose and very emotional soundtrack which I heard on a Frank Chacksfield Cd ! I thought, with an incredible score like that, the film just cannot be bad ! Might sound stupid, but there it is ! So I found this on a DVD from the USA - very nicely presented in colorful red packaging together with a bonus DVD about the life of O Preminger !

In fact, I did enjoy the film quite a lot ! Excellent picture quality and reasonable sound. Being a Roman Catholic, and always educated in catholic schools, jesuits and De La Salle Brothers, having often attended Holy Mass, I felt, on watching this film to be on familiar ground, so to speak. I thought the film illustrated well certain contradictions within the church, notably of course with regards to "racism" and the "Nazis" in the World War II where its rôle seemed to have been ambiguous to say the least.

I am one of those people who believed that the doctrines of religion have been fixed by God for eternity - you must either accept them as they are or reject them - no one said it would be easy, for this reason I believe that you can not and must not modify religious doctrine to suit the fashion at a given moment in time. If you cannot accept the church's position on one or other point, then you are perfectly free to refuse the Church, the time of the Inquisition is long past, but you certainly should not try to change the doctrine of the Church to suit your own particular views. Only God can do that ! For this reason I agree with the reaction of Fermoyle confronted with various "crucial" situations .... abortion, inter-faith marriage, racism, Nazism etc etc. Sometimes unpopular stances have to be taken and it is good to see Fermoyle have the courage of his convictions even if we do see at times that he is no more than a human being who has doubts about what he is doing and his own weaknesses.

The film is a series of very intense episodes, each one being good to watch but the linking together of them not very smooth, just as you're getting involved in one of these, begorrah ! You're whisked onto the next one without knowing really how the one before resolved itself.

I had never heard of the actor Tom Tryon ! He was not bad but I think the part could have been played better by certain other more well known actors. Tryon had a good, powerful and imposing physique but in some scenes he appears rather emotionless or should I say not emotional enough.

The film is pretty long, there's an intermission which allows the spectator to take a breather,and I found the second part a bit more interesting and intense than the first. That said, the film doubtlessly needs several viewings to be fully appreciated. There are other intense moments, where Fermoyle has to choose between permitting the life of his sister or that of her child-to-be but not both of them, an extremely painful decision for anyone to have to make, also his priest friend who is dying of multiple sclerosis. I was reading the other comments about this film and one of them was limited to the episode of ROmy Schneider's husband who had been sitting at table one minute, hears the Gestapo comes, and in one-and-a-half shakes of a duck's tail, has precipitated himself out of the window to his death on the street below ! It's true that you don't see it coming and remain flabbergasted because it all takes place so quickly. Funny, though that that particular episode should have marked the commentator to such a point that it was the only detail of the film that he/she wrote about !

Another extremely emotional scene is when Fermoyle journeys to Georgia USA at the request of a black priest whose church has been burned down by KKK extremists. He takes a very strong stand against this and pays for it by being whipped by the KKK. A few hours later, one of those who has participated in the whipping ( the harmonica player ) comes back and helps him up ! Although Fermoyle realizes that he was one of the evil-doers, he just gives him a pat on the back and walks off with him. It's a difficult and very uncomfortable scene to bear. I could not forgive a man who had done that to me !

The scene in Vienna where the church singers are bothered by a band of marauding Nazis is extremely intense violent and uncomfortable for the spectator ... the way those Nazis just smash their way into the church building ...... Fermoyle manages to escape via a secret passage to the church crypt .

suddenly it just fades away and we jump forward in time. It was a little frustrating as that was the end of the film. I was surprised to see Romy Schneider in this film, I have seen her often in French and German films but did not know she had starred in American ones. She was very beautiful but her rôle was pretty limited. Perhaps a little more passion between her and Fermoyle would have added some spice to the story ......... never mind !

To conclude then, a fairly long film with intense moments. I'm absolutely not sure whether today many people would like it as unfortunately religion seems to be declining in Western society. But to those people who are religious or have an association with religion or concerned about its development, it is sure to have a certain interest and relevance.

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!

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.

Tom Tryon is one of the better but less appreciated actors of the '50s and '60s when mature top stars were the likes of Rock Hudson. Tryon, however, is not only an excellent actor but a good writer as well with a number of books to his name just like Sterling Hayden, another almost forgotten actor of the period.

This movie should be required viewing in Moral Theology as it provides guidance on how a serious practicing Catholic should act when faced with moral dilemmas. With the current moral divide on the question of abortion, I am reminded of that crucial scene in the movie when the character portrayed by Tryon had to decide on what medical procedure to choose in the case of an emergency arising out of a childbirth gone awry. He was the nearest of kin of the woman involved and the doctors advised him that there was a choice as to whether to abort the baby (by crushing its head with forceps) or let the childbirth proceed in which case the mother's life would be compromised. In such cases, Catholic morality requires that the best effort should be made to save both infant and mother but in no case may an intervention be made to kill either one of them.