Netflix sent me The Silver Chalice just in time for Easter viewing. It’s not that I feel the need to watch a religious film for religious holidays (I once viewed Bride of Frankenstein on Christmas day), but you have to admit it was very good timing on their part.
For those not familiar with the story, Paul Newman supposedly put ads in several print publications apologizing for his performance as Basil. Or maybe he was apologizing for the whole film, I never saw the ad. In any case, it was an embarrassment to him and wasn’t released on DVD until six months after he’d passed away.
Personally I don’t know what he was apologizing for. Yes, his acting is a bit wooden (it was his first film and he was bound to be a little shaky), but Silver Chalice is not an “oh-God-I-can’t-stand-another-minute” type of bad film as has been reported elsewhere. Nor was it a considered a B-movie, to dissolve another myth (did Warner’s film their B productions in technicolor Cinemascope in the ’50s? I wasn’t there, so I cant’ say for sure, but I highly doubt it).
As stated earlier, Newman plays Basil, a slave who has a way with a piece of silver. He is commissioned by St. Luke to make a chalice for the cup that Jesus used during the Last Supper. He is supposed to carve the faces of all the disciples and Jesus into the chalice, which he manages, except his mind’s eye cannot “see” the face of the Saviour. Not even with descriptions by Joseph of Arimathea, who had known the living Jesus.
That’s the first plot. The second involves a magician named Simon (played by Jack Palance) who joins with a bunch of revolutionaries to try and overthrow the Romans. They want him to repeat the miracles of Jesus and convince the people that he is the new Messiah so that they will follow him into battle against their oppressors. Simon sees this as a way to settle his long standing grudge against St. Peter and agrees. He insists of finding the cup of Christ so that he can crush it before the believers and make himself Messiah.
So now we have the main plot and a revolution, but what about a love story? Basil is head over heels for Simon’s naughty “assistant” Helena (Virginia Mayo), but Joseph’s granddaughter Deborra (Pier Angeli) is in love with Basil. Frankly you can’t blame Helena for cuckolding Palance’s character with the beautiful Basil. Simon is rather effete and weak for all his magic powers, and Mayo comes off more butch than he does in their scenes together. At first I wondered what Vincent Price would have done with such a role, but after seeing what happens to Simon I decided he was too good for this movie. If Mayo is brassy, Pier Angeli is sweet and good. A little too good, as she passes up the chance to share a cot with Basil (even though they’re married) because of his feelings for the other woman. It makes one remember the “high standards” one had in younger days, which were sometimes very silly. It’s too bad the svelte figure that went along with them is gone too.
This movie takes itself rather seriously, as all Biblical epics do. But it is no more high camp than the more revered “Ten Commandments”, nor the dialog any worse. In fact, Mayo plays the siren much better than Anne Baxter (”Moh-oh-zez!”) in the latter film, and I would have to say that Heston’s performance is no better than Newman’s. The only difference is he gets to part the Red Sea. Yul Brynner makes a better villain than Jack Palance (at least in this picture. Palance got better as he went along), but where else would you find Ben Cartwright playing St. Peter? That’s right, good old Lorne Greene appears in this movie too. Made before his TV fame, I recognized St. Peter before anyone else in the film did because of that distinctive voice.
So next Easter, if you want to see something different, don’t be afraid to rent The Silver Chalice. There are some beautiful scenes and costumes and the lovely performance of Pier Angeli. If that doesn’t grab you, keep in mind that Paul Newman wears a toga through the whole thing!
Ciao!