The great playwright George Bernard Shaw takes a step up to the pulpit to preach the desires of the early Christians to either worship their savior (and just one God) or be willing to be put to death in this light comedy which will touch the soul (of those it doesn't offend) as did another movie from this era with the same co-stars in search of "The Robe".
Fleeing from the Romans to the hills, milquetoast Alan Young and his harpy wife Elsa Lanchaster stop to rest when they are confronted by a male lion. The simpleton Androcles senses that the lion is in too much pain to eat them and finds a thorn in the lion's paw. He struggles to remove it (with comical overtones) and the lion is emotionally touched by this good deed. But Androcles is captured (whatever happens to his wife is never explained) and on the journey back to Rome to be fed to their own lions, he meets former sinners Jean Simmons and Robert Newton, as well as soldiers Alan Mowbray, Jim Backus and Victor Mature. He joins his fellow Christians in singing modern Christian hymns, ironically not written until centuries after this story took place.
The inclusion of "Onward Christian Soldiers" adds a satirical edge to this screen adaption of Shaw's play, as does the presence of Backus as one of the soldiers who looks extremely un-Roman. A huge cast of familiar faces pop up in a variety of smaller roles, with Maurice Evans as a very regal Cesar and Gene Reynolds as a pompous Roman longing to see at least one Christian being devoured.
Obviously painted backdrops give a theatrical feeling to the Rome setting and several encounters with lions are phony, filmed in a truly comical manner. A few gladiator battles show the violence and gore that the Christians must have had to deal with, and Newton's battle with several of them is extremely gripping as his character is torn over his past obsession with his bad temper which often lead to violence and his new devotion to Jesus.
The love match between the beautiful Simmons and the masculine Mature is a reminder of their participation in "The Robe" the following year, as well as several other films made during this time. Some viewers may be taken aback by the preachiness of the script, but it is made palatable by the passionate way it is delivered with a sense of the writer's own devotion echoing its way into both your ears and your heart, indicating that his own spirituality was mixed with his sometimes sardonic humor over the human condition.
Fleeing from the Romans to the hills, milquetoast Alan Young and his harpy wife Elsa Lanchaster stop to rest when they are confronted by a male lion. The simpleton Androcles senses that the lion is in too much pain to eat them and finds a thorn in the lion's paw. He struggles to remove it (with comical overtones) and the lion is emotionally touched by this good deed. But Androcles is captured (whatever happens to his wife is never explained) and on the journey back to Rome to be fed to their own lions, he meets former sinners Jean Simmons and Robert Newton, as well as soldiers Alan Mowbray, Jim Backus and Victor Mature. He joins his fellow Christians in singing modern Christian hymns, ironically not written until centuries after this story took place.
The inclusion of "Onward Christian Soldiers" adds a satirical edge to this screen adaption of Shaw's play, as does the presence of Backus as one of the soldiers who looks extremely un-Roman. A huge cast of familiar faces pop up in a variety of smaller roles, with Maurice Evans as a very regal Cesar and Gene Reynolds as a pompous Roman longing to see at least one Christian being devoured.
Obviously painted backdrops give a theatrical feeling to the Rome setting and several encounters with lions are phony, filmed in a truly comical manner. A few gladiator battles show the violence and gore that the Christians must have had to deal with, and Newton's battle with several of them is extremely gripping as his character is torn over his past obsession with his bad temper which often lead to violence and his new devotion to Jesus.
The love match between the beautiful Simmons and the masculine Mature is a reminder of their participation in "The Robe" the following year, as well as several other films made during this time. Some viewers may be taken aback by the preachiness of the script, but it is made palatable by the passionate way it is delivered with a sense of the writer's own devotion echoing its way into both your ears and your heart, indicating that his own spirituality was mixed with his sometimes sardonic humor over the human condition.