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The Reluctant Saint | |
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Directed by | Edward Dmytryk |
Written by | John Fante Joseph Petracca |
Produced by | Edward Dmytryk John R. Sloan |
Starring | Maximilian Schell Ricardo Montalbán Lea Padovani Akim Tamiroff |
Cinematography | C.M. Pennington-Richards |
Edited by | Manuel del Campo |
Music by | Nino Rota |
Production company | Dmytryk-Weiler Production |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures (UK) Davis-Royal Films (US) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
Countries | Italy United States |
Language | English |
The Reluctant Saint is a 1962 American-Italian historical comedy drama film which tells the story of Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th-century Italian Conventual Franciscan friar and mystic honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.
It stars Maximilian Schell as Giuseppe Desa, as well as Ricardo Montalbán, Lea Padovani, Akim Tamiroff, and Harold Goldblatt. The movie was written by John Fante and Joseph Petracca and directed by Edward Dmytryk. It was made in Rome, with the film's sets designed by the art director, Mario Chiari.
Most of the key events in the movie are based on historical events or reports about the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Born Giuseppe Desa, he was said to have been remarkably unclever, but was recorded by many witnesses during his life as prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstasies.
The film begins with Giuseppe (Maximilian Schell) spending his final days at home with his mother (Lea Padovani). Because of his slow wits, she has kept him in school despite his being a grown man, older than the other students. He is seen bearing patiently and good-heartedly the ridicule of his fellow villagers, and enduring failed attempts at work as a laborer. At the insistence of his mother (who saw no viable alternatives), he enters a Franciscan friary through the influence of his uncle (Harold Goldblatt), an authority in the religious order. But trouble follows Giuseppe wherever he goes, including the friary, because of his slow wits. Eventually, his good heart is noticed by the visiting Bishop Durso, (Akim Tamiroff), who orders that he be trained to be a priest.
Despite Giuseppe's incapacity for the necessary scholarly studies, and preference for just managing the sheep and other animals in the friary's stable, he is ordained a priest. Although he learns little from the tutoring by the friars, Giuseppe passes the necessary examinations for the priesthood through a series of unlikely or possibly miraculous events. Soon after, when Giuseppe is seen levitating during ecstatic prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary and during conventual Mass, one of the superiors in the community, Father Raspi (Ricardo Montalbán), claims that Giuseppe suffers from demonic possession. Giuseppe is bound in chains by his brother friars and then exorcised, but his levitations continue, persuading everyone—including his former critic—of the divine origins of his powers.
A TV Guide review says: "A light-hearted tone is kept throughout, but the stereotyped performances, unbelievable settings, and lifeless direction hurt whatever promises are inherent in the material". [1] Other more favorable reviews can be found at IMDB.com: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056403/reviews?ref_=tt_urv as well as decentfilms.com: http://decentfilms.com/articles/reluctantsaint
1589 (MDLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1589th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 589th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 16th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1580s decade. As of the start of 1589, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
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