On the way to a slave auction, Marcellus Gallio, a Roman military tribune and senator's son, helps recapture Demetrius, a defiant Greek slave. At the auction site, Marcellus is reunited with Diana, his childhood love, who is now a ward of Emperor Tiberius and has been pledged in marriage to the regent Caligula. Marcellus has a longstanding feud with Caligula, and he outbids Caligula for Demetrius, who does not attempt to escape again, as he feels honor-bound to Marcellus. Demetrius becomes Marcellus' personal servant.
That evening, Caligula vengefully transfers Marcellus to far-flung Jerusalem. Diana goes to the port to say she will appeal to Tiberius on Marcellus' behalf, and the pair pledge their love and reaffirm their youthful promise to marry one day.
Accompanied by Demetrius and the centurion Paulus, Marcellus arrives in Jerusalem on the same day that Jesus, who is being hailed as the Messiah, enters the city. Demetrius feels compelled to follow Jesus and later attempts to warn him of a plot against him, but a distraught man tells Demetrius that Jesus has already been arrested.
Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judaea, informs Marcellus that he has been recalled by order of Tiberius, and gives Marcellus his last task, which is to handle the execution of three criminals—one of whom is Jesus. Marcellus wins Jesus' robe from Paulus in a dice game on Calvary, but when he uses it to shield himself from rain, he feels a sudden, intense pain. Grabbing the robe, Demetrius denounces Marcellus and the Roman Empire and frees himself, leaving a mentally unstable Marcellus, who is haunted by nightmares of the crucifixion, to report to Tiberius at Capri alone. The emperor's soothsayer says the robe must be cursed, so Tiberius gives Marcellus an imperial commission to find and destroy the robe, as well as identify the followers of Jesus. At Diana's request, Tiberius leaves her free to marry Marcellus once he has successfully completed his mission.
Marcellus eventually makes his way to Cana, whose inhabitants experienced Jesus' miracles and believe he rose from the dead. Learning from Justus, a kind weaver, that Demetrius is in the town, Marcellus confronts his former slave at an inn. Demetrius says the robe has no real power, and it is Marcellus' guilt over killing Jesus that is causing his illness. When Marcellus tries to destroy the robe anyway, he is overcome, and finds himself healed.
Pilate having ordered the arrest of all of the Christian "fanatics", Paulus sneaks into Cana with his troops. After Justus is killed by a surprise arrow, Marcellus manages to halt the attack, but Paulus informs him that Caligula has succeeded Tiberius as emperor, so Marcellus' commission is no longer valid. Paulus initially refuses Marcellus' order to leave the town, but he complies after Marcellus beats him in a duel. Jesus' apostlePeter invites Marcellus to join Demetrius and him as missionaries, and, after confessing his role in Jesus' death, Marcellus pledges his life to Jesus.
When Peter's missionary group comes to Rome, Demetrius is captured and tortured for information. Caligula asks Diana if she has heard from Marcellus, and, as she has not, tells her of Marcellus' involvement with the Christians. The Gallios' slave Marcipor, who is secretly a Christian, shows Diana where Marcellus is hiding, shortly before Marcellus leads a raid to rescue Demetrius. Demetrius is brought to the house of Senator Gallio, where Peter miraculously heals his grievous wounds. Marcellus and Demetrius attempt to flee the city, but horsemen dispatched by Caligula pick up their trail, and Marcellus gives himself up so Demetrius can escape.
At his trial, Marcellus admits to being a follower of Jesus, but denies that the Christians are plotting against Rome. He is condemned to death, unless he renews his tribune's oath of loyalty to the emperor and renounces his allegiance to Jesus; while he does the former, he refuses to do the latter. Diana stands with Marcellus and denounces Caligula, who declares that the couple will die together. As they depart the courtroom, Diana hands Jesus' robe to Marcipor, telling him to give it to Peter. Marcellus and Diana are led away to begin eternal life together in the kingdom of their true king.
Despite the careful attention to Roman history and culture displayed in the film, there are some inaccuracies. For example, in reality, Emperor Tiberius' wife, Julia, who had been banished from Rome by her father Augustus years before Tiberius acceded to the imperial throne, was already dead at the time of Jesus' crucifixion.
Also, Caligula did not systematically persecute Christians, as depicted in the film. The first persecution of Christians organized by the Roman government was under the emperor Nero in 64 AD after the Great Fire of Rome and took place entirely within the city of Rome.
Background and production
In 1942, producer Frank Ross acquired the rights to Douglas' novel—before it was completed—for $100,000.[7][8] Development of the film began at RKO in the 1940s, with Mervyn LeRoy set to direct,[9] but the rights were eventually sold to Twentieth Century-Fox for $300,000, plus $650,000 from future profits;[8] Ross received $40,000, plus 20% of the profits.[8]
Jeff Chandler was originally announced for the role of Demetrius.[10]Victor Mature signed in December 1952[11] to make both The Robe and a sequel about Demetrius.[12]John Buckmaster tested for the role of Caligula.[13]Jean Peters was originally cast as Diana, but she became pregnant, and was replaced by Jean Simmons. Interestingly, the film's poster, which had already been designed, was not changed, and, therefore, shows the wrong "Jean" between the likenesses of Burton and Mature.[14]
Filming finished on April 30, 1953, two weeks ahead of schedule.[15] Since many theaters were not equipped to screen films shot in the new CinemaScope process, each scene of The Robe was shot both with and without CinemaScope's anamorphic lenses, resulting in there being two versions of the film: a "scope" version, and a "flat" version. Setups and some dialogue differ between the versions, as the takes for each process were filmed back-to-back, rather than simultaneously.[16][17] For decades, the flat version of the film was the one typically shown on television, as its 1.33:1 aspect ratio would fill the then-standard television screens. American Movie Classics may have been the first channel to broadcast the scope version of the film. Recent DVDs and Blu-ray discs of the film present it in the 2.55:1 widescreen format, and also feature the original multitrack stereophonic soundtrack.
The film was advertised as "The modern miracle you see without glasses!", a dig at the 3D films of the day.
The Robe was due to open at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, but the Hall would not drop its stage show for the film's planned run, so the film premiered, instead, at the Roxy Theatre in New York City on September 16, 1953.[19] It opened to the public at the Roxy the following day.
First telecast
ABC paid a record $2 million to screen the film on television in the United States four times.[20] Sponsored by Ford, The Robe was first telecast on Sunday, March 26, 1967 (Easter), at the relatively early hour of 7:00 P.M., EST, to allow for family viewing. It was shown with only one commercial break, a luxury not even granted to the then-annual telecasts of The Wizard of Oz (1939),[21] and received a Nielsen rating of 31.0 and an audience share of 53%,[22] which translated to 60 million viewers, the second largest TV audience for a film, behind The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).[20]
Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on October 16, 2001.[23] It was released on Blu-ray on March 17, 2009.[24]
Soundtrack
When the film's original soundtrack album was issued on LP by Decca Records, it featured a monaural remix of the score, rather than the stereo sound that was originally recorded.[citation needed]MCA, which acquired the rights to the American Decca recordings, later issued an electronic stereo version of the mono tape.[citation needed] In 2003, Varèse Sarabande released a two-CD set of the film's original stereophonic score on its club label.
RCA Victor included a suite from the film—recorded in Dolby surround sound—on its 1973 album Captain from Castile, which honored the film's composer, longtime Fox musical director Alfred Newman. Charles Gerhardt conducted London's National Philharmonic Chorus for the recording.[citation needed]
Reception
Box office
The Robe set a record one-day gross (for a single theatre) of $36,000 at the Roxy,[25] on its way to a record one-week gross (for a single theatre)[26] of $264,427.[27] In its second week of release, it expanded to Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia and grossed $490,000, placing it at number one at the US box office, setting box office records at each location; it more than doubled the previous record at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in LA, with a gross of $80,000.[28][29] The film gradually expanded to 44 locations by the end of October, and it remained number one at the box office for nine straight weeks.[30][31] Its fourth week of release, Variety reported that the film had a weekly gross of $1,026,000 from 16 cities that it sampled, a record gross for a week.[32]
The film earned an estimated $17.5 million in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada during its initial theatrical release.[33] Its worldwide rentals were estimated at $32 million.[34][35]
Critical reception
Critical reaction of the film and CinemaScope following the premiere in New York was generally favorable.[36] In his review of the film, Frank Quinn of the New York Daily Mirror called CinemaScope "a new realistic and phenomenal concept of the art of motion picture production."[36] Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News claimed, in an eight-star review (four stars for the film and four for CinemaScope), that "any picture projected on a flat screen...is going to seem dull" after The Robe.[36]Variety wrote: "It is a 'big' picture in every sense of the word. One magnificent scene after another, under the anamorphic technique, unveils the splendor that was Rome and the turbulence that was Jerusalem at the time of Christ on Calvary."[37]Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was more critical, writing: "The human drama of this story of Christian conversion occurs amid sumptuous and scenic surroundings and are mighty impressive to see. But the mightiness of surroundings—the spectacle of settings and costumes—is meaningful only in relation to the story that is being told. And the story in this instance is not spectacular, so that the amplitude of its surroundings does not enhance its scope."[38]
Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times stated that the film was in "a class that is unique, deeply spiritual and even awe-inspiring,"[39] though Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post wrote that, "Partly through the writing, partly through the variety of acting styles, this reverence does not stir the emotions. It is very hard to take seriously a film which presents so petulantly obvious a performance as Jay Robinson's sophomoric Caligula or a script which early observes: 'You have made me the laughing stock of Rome.' These and matters like them are not aspects of fine motion picture making."[40]Harrison's Reports called the film "Excellent!" It continues: "Even if it had been produced in the conventional 2-D form, Lloyd C. Douglas' powerful novel of the birth of Christianity in the days of ancient Rome would have made a great picture, but having been produced in the revolutionary CinemaScope process, it emerges as not only a superior dramatic achievement but also as a spectacle that will electrify audiences with its overpowering scope and magnitude."[41]The Monthly Film Bulletin called the film "a routine addition to the numerous Hollywood Biblical films," which presents "a characteristically distorted and simplified view of Imperial Rome, with a ranting Caligula, a doddering Tiberius, and the customary scenes of 'spectacle' in the palace, the marketplace and the torture chamber. The performances lack enthusiasm, and Richard Burton in particular seems ill at ease as the morose Marcellus."[42]Basil Wright wrote in Sight & Sound: "As a film on a religious subject, Henry Koster's The Robe has rather fewer lapses in taste than most of its predecessors. If the actual speaking of Christ's cry from the Cross is a major error, it is not multiplied. In general, the subject is treated with reasonable reverence and is a deal better than Quo Vadis, which was a perfect illustration of Aristotle's remark about the ludicrous being merely a sub-division of the ugly."[43]
The film's successful and highly praised sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), featured Victor Mature in the title role; Michael Rennie, Jay Robinson, and David Leonard also reprise their roles from The Robe. Filming of the sequel was completed before The Robe was released, and it begins with Caligula's challenge to Marcellus and Diana as they climb the stairs to their execution at the end of this film.[5]
Popular culture references
In the first episode of the 2020 miniseries The Queen's Gambit, The Robe is playing for the staff and wards of the Mathuen orphanage, and the film's final chorus of "Alleluia" provides a diegetic source of music while Beth breaks into the dispensary and overdoses.[46]
The Robe is a 1942 historical novel about the Crucifixion of Jesus, written by Lloyd C. Douglas. The book was one of the best-selling titles of the 1940s. It entered the New York Times Best Seller list in October 1942, four weeks later rose to No. 1, and held the position for nearly a year. The Robe remained on the list for another two years, returning several other times over the next several years including when the film adaptation was released in 1953.
Lust for Life is a 1956 American biographical film about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, based on the 1934 novel of the same title by Irving Stone which was adapted for the screen by Norman Corwin.
I, Claudius is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula's assassination in AD 41. Though the narrative is largely fictionalized, most of the events depicted are drawn from historical accounts of the same time period by the Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus.
The Moon Is Blue is a 1953 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring William Holden, David Niven, and Maggie McNamara. Written by F. Hugh Herbert and based on his 1951 play of the same title, the film is about a young woman who meets an architect on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and quickly turns his life upside down. Herbert's play had also been a huge success in Germany, and Preminger decided to simultaneously film in English and German, using the same sets but different casts. The German-language film version is Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach.
Quintus Naevius Cordus Sutorius Macro was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard, from 31 until 38, serving under the Roman Emperors Tiberius and Caligula. Upon falling out of favour, he killed himself.
Caligula is a 1979 erotic historical drama film about the rise and fall of controversial Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner, and John Gielgud.
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include One Million B.C. (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), Kiss of Death (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1953). He also appeared in many musicals opposite such stars as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable.
Green Fire is a 1954 American CinemaScope and Eastmancolor adventure drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Andrew Marton and produced by Armand Deutsch, with original music by Miklós Rózsa. The picture stars Grace Kelly, Stewart Granger, Paul Douglas and John Ericson.
Stories from the Bible have frequently been used in films. There are various reasons for motion picture producers to turn to the Bible as source material. The stories, in the public domain, are already familiar to potential audiences. They contain sweeping, but relatively straightforward, narratives of good versus evil, and feature crowd-pleasing battles, sword fights, natural disasters, and miracles.
Alexander the Great is a CinemaScope and Technicolor 1956 epic historical drama film about the life of Macedonian general and king Alexander the Great written, produced and directed by Robert Rossen. Filmed in Spain, it was released by United Artists and stars Richard Burton as Alexander along with a large ensemble cast. Italian composer Mario Nascimbene contributed the film score.
Demetrius and the Gladiators is a 1954 American biblical drama film and a sequel to The Robe. The picture was made by 20th Century-Fox, directed by Delmer Daves and produced by Frank Ross. The screenplay was written by Philip Dunne based on characters created by Lloyd C. Douglas in The Robe.
Julia the Elder, known to her contemporaries as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia, was the daughter and only biological child of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and his second wife, Scribonia. Julia was also stepsister and second wife of the Emperor Tiberius; maternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and the Empress Agrippina the Younger; grandmother-in-law of the Emperor Claudius; and maternal great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero. Her epithet "the Elder" distinguishes her from her daughter, Julia the Younger.
Helen of Troy is a 1956 American-Italian-French epic historical drama film, based on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It was directed by Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash. The music score was composed by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr, who shot the film in CinemaScope.
Zarak is a 1956 CinemaScope adventure film based on the 1949 book The Story of Zarak Khan by A.J. Bevan. It was directed by Terence Young with assistance from John Gilling and Yakima Canutt. Set in the Northwest Frontier, the film stars Victor Mature, Michael Wilding and Anita Ekberg and features Patrick McGoohan in a supporting role.
Salome is a 1953 American drama Biblical film directed by William Dieterle and produced by Buddy Adler from a screenplay by Harry Kleiner and Jesse Lasky Jr. The music score was by George Duning, the dance music by Daniele Amfitheatrof and the cinematography by Charles Lang. Rita Hayworth's costumes were designed by Jean Louis. Hayworth's dances for this film were choreographed by Valerie Bettis. This film was the last produced by Hayworth's production company, the Beckworth Corporation.
Jay Robinson was an American actor specializing in character roles. He achieved his greatest fame playing Emperor Caligula in the film The Robe (1953) and its sequel Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), and years later portraying the boss of the character played by Warren Beatty in Shampoo (1975).
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a 1953 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner, Terry Moore and Gilbert Roland. The screenplay was by A.I. Bezzerides. The film was the third motion picture made in CinemaScope, coming after The Robe and How to Marry a Millionaire. The supporting cast features J. Carrol Naish, Richard Boone, Peter Graves, Jay Novello, Harry Carey Jr. and Jacques Aubuchon.
Warwick Films was a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in New York City where Broccoli and his wife were staying at the time of the final negotiations for the company's creation. Their films were released by Columbia Pictures.
Chief Crazy Horse is a 1955 American CinemaScope Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Victor Mature, Suzan Ball and John Lund. The film is a fictionalized biography of the Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse. It was also known as Valley of Fury.
Sangaree is a 1953 American 3-D color period costume drama film by director Edward Ludwig. It was adapted from the 1948 novel of the same name by Frank G. Slaughter.
References
↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p248
↑ THOMAS M. PRYOR (May 1, 1953). "Film Group to Aid State Department: Industry Council Pledges Its Cooperation to De Mille for Overseas Information Work". The New York Times. p.17.
↑ The Robe. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
↑ Crowther, Bosley (September 27, 1953). "Now Cinemascope! A Look at 'The Robe' and the New System in Which It Is Put On". The New York Times. Section 2, p. 1.
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