The Hendersonville Film Society will show Francis of Assisi on Sunday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.
Francis of Assisi
Movie Information
In Brief: Director Michael Curtiz has 178 titles to his credit (according to IMDb), so he can be forgiven if some of them are less impressive than others. While 1961's Francis of Assisi certainly falls into the category of lesser Curtiz, it's not exactly bad so much as it is uninspired. This biopic covering the life of Francis Bernardone, the privileged son of a 13th-century merchant who would abandon a life of secular pleasures to devote his life to monastic pursuits, frequently feels phoned in to a degree that will surprise no one familiar with Curtiz's late-career works. It's an overwrought melodrama that fails to capture the emotional core of its subject amid its excessive pomp and self-importance. Primarily of interest to hardcore Catholics or Curtiz completists.
| Score: | |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Michael Curtiz |
| Starring: | Bradford Dillman, Dolores Hart, Stuart Whitman, Pedro Armendáriz, Finlay Currie |
| Rated: | NR |
FRANCIS OF ASSISI is a lovely understated film, respectful to its subject and theme. The cinematography is top drawer Curtiz. I urge those who can to view this Curtiz rarity. A thoroughly inspirational film especially for this time of year.
I agree with Ms Strobel. I find FRANCIS to be definitely understated and hardly uninspired. The cinematography is beautiful and the director’s use of color matches his work in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD although here the interior colors are muted as befits the subject material. Not a great movie but a very good one that sticks with you after it is over.