Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Robe (Movie Review by Bob Racine)



                                  2 hrs & 15 min, color, 1953

When I was twenty years old and in college, I was thrust into the life of the ancient world.  The fact that I was an ancient language major had much to do with that.  All throughout high school I had been exposed to the study of the Latin language and had become at least academically familiar with some Roman writings.  I had strolled with Julius Caesar through his Gallic Wars and had made my first acquaintance with Shakespeare’s depiction of the man’s fateful assassination on the Ides of March.  I had plowed page by page through Virgil’s Aeneid and gasped a bit when on the farthest rim of my sophomoric imagination the details of the bloody Trojan War were traced.  Then in college I took up Greek and was soon awash in the life and works of Plato, in the tragedy of Euripides and the comedy of Aristophanes.  It is no surprise that when the motion picture adaptation of Lloyd C. Douglas’ novel “The Robe” – about the Christian conversion of the Roman tribune Marcellus who is ordered to conduct Jesus’ crucifixion – descended upon the country, both my ancient language professors were keen in their praise of it and strongly urged it upon us students.     

It turned out to be a movie that opened up uncharted territory in my historical perceptions as well as my capacity to experience at a visceral level something of the draconian broil and fury of those Bible times.  It also happened to be the first movie ever shot in Cinemascope.  When that gigantic image with its stereophonic soundtrack thrust itself upon my eyes and ears, I had a moment of fearful unreality and disbelief, but one that soon gave way to a degree of excitement that as a pre-ministerial student I found irresistible.  Of course we have far exceeded the rudiments of that production – on screens that have grown even wider and sound systems that dwarf all that has preceded them.  But I was in store for more than a matinee treat.  “The Robe,” though flawed in some glaring respects, has proven to be a film I have liked to occasionally revisit, and what better time than the Easter season.          

One thing that particularly impressed me was Richard Burton in the lead role of Marcellus.  It was the first time I ever laid eyes on him, and it amazed me that this tribune as Burton portrayed him was not some sensitive, discontented, searching soul just waiting for Jesus to fill some empty place in his life.  He brought a three-dimensional hardness and a depth of passion to the role such as I had never encountered in other Biblical epics on screen.  In his hands Marcellus is a tough-as-nails, thoroughly corrupt and self serving man of the aristocracy perfectly content to (sort of) serve the many gods of his forebears, with a cluck of the tongue.  I knew this actor was a very special find, though I was not yet educated to the point that I could put into words exactly how and why.  I just knew he was captivating.  There is not a hint of pretense in his work, nor has there been in any of the multitude of movies and stage works that have followed. 

Marcellus is sent to Palestine by an aggrieved Caligula (Jay Robinson) and he comes face to face with the gruesome task of execution as the Romans practiced it.  There have been many movie depictions of Christ’s crucifixion, but I still regard the one in this 1953 film as the most stirring and potent.  One thing unique about it is its portrayal of the event from the point of view of the crucifiers.  We walk the walk to Calvary and visit the grim Golgotha scene in the shoes of Marcellus and his soldiers and his Greek slave Demetrius (Victor Mature).  We experience the horror and pain of it as they do.  We view it in close-up; the visuals and the powerful throbbing music (created by veteran composer Alfred Newman) that accompany them are almost overpowering.  I can almost smell the stench of death.  When I first saw it that half a century ago, it nearly knocked me out of my seat.  The Scripture I had been studying came alive for me far beyond anything I had expected.  The depiction is concise, only about ten minutes in length, but it leaves me feeling as if I have been drenched in blood and tears and the fury of hell itself.  It leads understandably to Marcellus’ mental and emotional collapse. 

He is seized with fits of insanity, not knowing why until he is sent by Emperor Tiberius to track down and destroy the Galilean carpenter’s robe that he has won in a crap shoot next to the cross and which his slave has run away with.  His search for sanity and release from the guilt he feels over the murder he has committed leads him to the town of Cana, where he comes under the influence of a community devoutly loyal to Jesus.  There he is reunited with Demetrius who has joined the traveling company of the Apostle Peter (Michael Rennie).  When he touches the feared robe again, he loses all fear and is drawn into the believing and loving sect.  All this time he is adored back home by a Roman maiden Diana (Jean Simmons) whom he loves, though he fears that she will not be receptive to his new found and outlawed faith.  Burton makes the whole trajectory utterly watchable.

Much of the film’s narrative is quite well composed, with very touching and sometimes insightfully dramatic moments.  But we also have to endure some blatant historical errors; much that happened in Palestine and Eastern Asia over many decades following the life of Christ as the Christian movement spread is compressed into an unbelievable year or so.  Peter did not reach Rome in anywhere near that short a time.  The most historically misleading of all has to do with the responsibility for Jesus’ death.  It appears to be solely a Roman plot; the Jews are by inference completely exonerated.  There is no mention of the Sanhedrin, or the Pharisaical hierarchy that had schemed to destroy him.  Pilate simply considers him a troublemaker and wants him arrested and out of the way.

There is also some sword play such as you look in vain to find in the novel.  One instance of it is quite pertinent.  Marcellus defends the village of Cana from annihilation by local Roman legions, a victory he manages to win without bloodshed or bodily injury, the first sign of his transformation into a man of peace.  But a second instance of the sword is pure Hollywood, a commando style rescue that anyone familiar with the New Testament would regard as entirely out of character and unlikely for Christ’s followers at that point in time.  

These failings aside, there is much to value.  One beautifully melodic treat is furnished by a young woman named Miriam (Bella St. John); she sings of the empty tomb and the journey that was made to it that Easter morning.  It is vocalizing of a very high inspirational order, and it does much to capture Marcellus’ heart when he happens to hear it.  And the life in Cana as portrayed in detail is unmistakably an expression of pure Christian living and sharing – the genuine article, nurtured by a local weaver named Justus (Dean Jagger).  A humble though quaint contrast to the turbulent life among the Romans previously depicted!    

A most fitting climax is the tribune’s trial before the new Emperor Caligula (Tiberius having died) after his capture upon returning to Rome, accused of treachery against the Empire.  “Do you not call this Jesus whom you serve a king?”  Marcellus’ reply to his sovereign is classic material, and once again Burton serves it up brilliantly.  Diana, caught between her ruler and the man she loves, is positioned to make a life-or-death decision.  A momentous scene, except for the few hokey minutes that follow it and with which the film is concluded!

“The Robe,” produced by Fox, is not a masterpiece, but its shortcomings are greatly exceeded by its virtues.  Henry Koster provided substantial direction and care in its movement, and all the casting, even beside Burton’s, is inspired.  It has always over the fifty intervening years been available for private showing and can now be rented from Netflix.  I see nothing in it that should be offensive to anybody, Christian or otherwise.  Lovers of justice and charity for all can relate to it.


To read other entries in my blog, please consult its website:  enspiritus.blogspot.com.  To learn about me consult on the website the blog entry for August 9, 2013.

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