The road to movie dullness is paved with good intentions. The captivating story of a 12th century man who embraced Jesus' teachings of poverty and aid to the poor and the sick is given a reverent, but sometimes tiresome treatment here. It also manages to either skip or gloss over several of the more striking facts of the real story! Dillman is the wealthy son of a successful merchant who begins to hear a voice in his head, urging him to forsake his worldly possessions and rebuild the church. When he also forsakes his commission in the military, he is placed under arrest in a dungeon! Eventually, through the intervention of his female friend Hart, he is released by his former comrade in arms Whitman. He then begs in the street for stones and begins to build a church, eventually amassing 10 followers who help him with his work. They travel on foot to Rome where eventually they receive the Pope's blessing and before long, Dillman has hundreds and hundreds of devotees following his practices. Hart even becomes a nun as a result of his example. One of his travels takes him to the desert where he comes face-to-face with Sultan Armendariz who almost causes him to undergo a trial by fire. As he ages, he loses most of his vision and begins to deteriorate, but not before founding an order that lived on and lives on today. Dillman does pretty well as the title character, offering up the type of beatific arrogance that not everyone can master. It's a role not completely dissimilar from that of Tom Tryon's in "The Cardinal" and one could see the men switching roles with relative ease. Hart, who later became a devoted and successful nun in real life, gives a solid performance. She is to be credited, especially in 1961, for completely eliminating any beautifying makeup during her scenes in a habit. Whitman, who was dabbling in cloak and sword films during this era, is handsome, but out of place. His accent is so contemporary (along with his hair) and his character (fictional) is too coincidentally tied to Dillman's in several ways for him to be all that believable. He does, however, have one decent scene near the end. An impressive assortment of esteemed veterans round out the cast. Kellaway plays a cardinal interested in Dillman's work, Franz is Dillman's difficult-to-please father, Currie plays a downright ancient Pope (as can be the case!) and Armendariz has a decent cameo as the Sultan. The film is luxurious in many respects, with striking costumes, splendid scenery, detailed settings and so on, but too many things keep it from realizing epic status. For one thing, the story is trotted out in an almost comic book or Disney fashion. It's very episodic and some of the episodes are a tad too cutesy, such as when Dillman blesses all the neighborhood animals. Then there's the uproarious moment when Dillman enters a leper colony and listens to this howler of a piece of dialogue: "I don't want your peace. I wanna get rid of my stink!" Dillman should have gotten a nomination just for keeping a straight face through that one. Oh, and don't miss the unfortunately staged scene in which Johns, as a sweet, simple-minded follower of Dillman, comes to fetch him and as he's in profile, an extra in the background is flexing his arm right at John's crotch level, providing an hysterical, unintentional sight gag! The film opens with shots of frescoes while the impressive ooh and ahh music soars. Unfortunately, almost every single scene opens with a variation on the same nine-note melody until it becomes not only predictable, but almost laughable. All Hollywood films change the details to make a film more entertaining or to broaden it's appeal, but the introduction of a standard (and predictable) love triangle between Dillman, Hart and Whitman was a mistake (not to mention possibly in poor taste!) Fascinating tidbits from the Saint's real life don't make the cut, such as when he was shipwrecked on the Dalmatian coast or when the Crusaders in Damietta wanted to slay him as a heretic and the Sultan saved his life. The stigmata is barely suggested. Also, oddly, the man was known to avoid walking sticks and sandals, yet the film shows him with both and even has Hart gifting (!) him a new pair of sandals! It's not a bad film, it's just a bit hampered by too many concessions and conventions, possibly by a director who was too set in his ways.
Review of Francis of Assisi
