Catholic_Movies

Catholic Movie Collecting

The Shoes of the Fisherman,

The Cardinal

The Monsignor

Scarlet and The Black.

The Passion of the Christ.

Song of Bernadette,

Bells of St. Mary ..

Jesus of Nazareth

In this House of Brede (Good movie, better book)

The Mission (You get to see Dan Berrigan in a cassock and a Jesuit crucified)

A Nun's Story

The Abdication (Albert Finny and Liv Ulman are wonderful. The story of the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden to Catholicism.)

Becket (Sort of a Catholic movie)

Francesco (Mickey Rourke playing St. Francis, if you can believe it. Helena Bonham carter as St. Clare.)

On the Waterfront (Not a Catholic movie, as such, but a great priest character, played by Karl Malden)

Absolution (Richard Burton)

The Diary of a Country Priest.

Black Narcissus (About Anglican nuns.)

Cry, the Beloved Country (Either the original made in the 50's with Sidney Poitier or the 1990's remake with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. About a South African Anglican parish priest and some priests in an Anglican religious order. I thought the religious were Catholics the first time I saw the movie. )

staircase

Francesco (Mickey Rourke playing St. Francis, if you can believe it. Helena Bonham carter as St. Clare.)

The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1979) is a great Catholic film by Ermanno Olmi, Catholic and advocate for social justice. It is a magnificent depiction of the life of the Italian peasantry a century ago and how that life was beginning to collapse under capitalism.

The Bells of St. Mary's (Same priest saves a parish and school)

Going My Way (Priest saves a parish)

Quo Vadis (Christian persecution under Nero)

Catholics aka The Conflict (Monks resisting the Novus Ordo)

St. Ralph (Catholic boy runs the Boston marathon)

Diary of a Country Priest (Already mentioned; French Priest who has struggles with his parishioners)

a) The Ten Commandments

b) Ben Hur (Down Eros Up Mars! We keep you alive to serve this ship, so row well, and live!)

c) The Robe

d) Demetrius and the Gladiators

e) Barabbas

f) Quo Vadis

g) Going My Way ("You even throw like an atheist!")

h) The Bible:In the Beginning w/Lawrence of Arabia and Patton *hehehehe*

Bless Me Father Granada TV series (UK):

Quo Vadis Petre

A Man for all Seasons

Becket

The Trouble With Angels with Hayley Mills and Rosalind Russell filmed as the church was about to change catches a glimpse of how nuns were looked at then.

Miracle of Marcelino

The Reluctant Saint

Guilty of Treason

I Confess

Don Bosco {the older version}

Sealed Lips

The Life and Miracles of St. Frances Cabrini

The Passion of Joan of Arc is great!

Day of Wrath" (1943)

King of Kings" (1927 version ONLY).

Au Hasard Balthazar" (1966)

Andrei Rublev" (1966 or so) is a monumental depiction of the life and times of the famed icon painter and Orthodox saint.

Flowers of St. Francis (1950) is smaller scaled but unrivaled account of St. Francis - using in part real monks as actors.

Hitchcock, Fellini and Clouzot; more recently, "Master and Commander," "The Lord of the Rings," " The Lion the Witch and Unicorn, " some of the Jane Austen films etc.

Frank Capra, definitely. Several of John Ford's films as well (others are specimens of liberal ideology). Once one starts thinking there is so much out there that's rewarding - considering the orientation of the film industry the riches are amazing. Mel Gibson's last two films. Several of the Evelyn Waugh adaptations, especially the monumental "Brideshead Revisited." And so on....

The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara is in my top five.

Padre Pio Miracle man its an Italian film with subtitles. There is this one scene where a monk and a priest are debating about St Pio being a fake and the one says to the other what would you have us do remove the sanctuary destry the alter and remove all the mysticism or something to that effect.

Andrei Rublyev, made in the Soviet Union around 1969. Many critics consider it the greatest religious movie of all time and one of the 10 greatest films ever. By our standards it is slow and long (3 hours) but well worth it. The characters are Russian Orthodox but I think a Catholic can relate to the story. Actually all of Tarkovsky's films are considered to be religious in nature but I will leave it to the professional critics to elaborate on that.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=5077

'Saved By Priest and his catholic faith' says Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke

New York, Oct 6, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Hollywood star Mickey Rourke insists his strong commitment to Roman Catholicism has saved him from slipping back into his formerly chaotic lifestyle. He made these comments to British gossip magazine Female First. The DOMINO actor ensures he talks to his priest as often as possible, and the release of being able to offload his problems prevents him from having a mental "explosion".

He says, "I've talked to my priest a lot. I used to have to call him or the shrink when there was an explosion, because I was really good at not talking to anybody until there was an explosion.

"My priest is this cool Italian from New York. We go down to his basement and he opens the wine. .

"We smoke a cigarette and I have my confession. He sends me upstairs to do my Hail Mary's. I mean, I'm no Holy Joe, but I have a strong belief.".

Mickey Rourke has revealed that he came close to committing suicide during his eight year addiction battle in a comment to Now Magazine, a British Gossip paper. The 'Nine 1/2 Weeks' star, who suffered addictions to drugs and alcohol, said he was only saved from shooting himself in the head because of his faith in God. .He said: "If I wasn't Catholic I would have blown my brains out.

"I would pray to God. I would say 'Please can you send me just a little bit of daylight.'" .

Mickey Rourke tried to commit suicide - but was saved at the eleventh hour by a priest. The Hollywood star, who at one time ruined his career through self-destructive behavior, says he was close to shooting himself when he went to confession and asked for God's approval of his sinister plan.Fortunately, the priest counseled Mickey out of his depression and helped him come to terms with his life.

"He talked me out of it and we started meeting.His name is Father Pete and he lives in New York.

"Father Pete put me back on the right track," the actor concluded.

Satan Never Sleeps, starring William Holden.

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Your grandaughter should love "

The Secret of Roan Inish". It's particularly apropos with the feast day of St. Patrick upon us.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose" - the best film on the subject and light years away from the usual horror depictions.

How is The Nun's Story anti-Catholic? (A sincere question. This is the only movie on my list that I have not actually seen. Other people have praised it as a Catholic movie.)

I really like Black Robe too, although there are some problematic scenes.

Jesus Living In Mary (St. Louis de Montfort)

Maximilian by Leonardi Defillipis

Reluctant Saint

Song of Bernadette

Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima

Don Bosco

the Scarlet and the Black

The Robe

King of Kings

The Passion of the Christ (my favorite)

Ocean of Mercy

1964 movie Becket in the movie theater as the restored print has been re-released! There will be a new DVD version from this restoration available on May 15th. One interesting point I read was that in the movie (based on the play), Becket is portrayed as a Saxon when in fact he was a Norman.

Guilty of Treason (1950)

The story of Cardinal Josef Mindzhenty, a Roman Catholic cardinal from Hungary who spoke out against both the Nazi occupation of his country during World War II and the Communist regime that replaced it after the war. Mindzhenty was arrested, tortured and eventually released, but was persecuted to the extent that he wound up taking refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest for many years, still acting as a spokesman for the Hungarians who wanted the Russian occupation forces and their Hungarian collaborators out of the country. Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com

http://imdb.com/title/tt0041437/plotsummary

Father Brown: Perhaps you think a crime horrible because you cannot imagine yourselves committing it. That isn't true, you know. What really horrifies you is the secret and shameful knowledge that you are capable of committing it. We all are, I no less than you. We were not made good people or bad people. We were made people.

Father Brown, Detective

1935-USA-Detective Film

PLOT DESCRIPTION

G.K. Chesterton's crime-solving cleric Father Brown was first brought to the screen in 1934, in the corpulent form of Walter Connolly. The good father spends most of the film trying to retrieve a valuable diamond cross from elusive thief Flambeau (Paul Lukas). Father Brown is convinced that Flambeau is eminently redeemable, but the double-crossing thief hardly proves to be a prime candidate for salvation. Amazingly, Father Brown's faith in Flambeau's essential decency proves well-founded, but it's certainly touch-and-go for a while. Long unavailable for reappraisal, 1934's Father Brown, Detective has been eclipsed by the popularity of the 1954 Alec Guinness remake.

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Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston

Miracle of Marcelino--this has always been a real tear jerker every time we watch it

The Singing Nun starring Debbie Reynolds--I'm glad that the emphasis is not on the real Soeur Sourire

Change of Habit starring Mary Tyler Moore and Elvis Presley--this is an okay movie and does show how VII wrecked religious life. The ending is ruined when a folk choir provides the music for a TLM.

The Nun's Story starring Audrey Hepburn. My extended family watches this together over a period of nights about once a year. We stop the movie at intervals and discuss Gabrielle's obvious pride and how it has helped her make poor choices. We talk about what she could have done instead. Even the pre-teens and teens enjoy finding and discussing her faults and how pride sneaks into their own lives. This is really a good piece for discussion and it really does take a number of nights. Nod

http://www.dvdmoviecentral.com/ReviewsText/therese.htm

This 1986 film treatment of the Saint's life is pretty grim in many ways with it's stillness and raw naturalism, but its starkness also conveys

convincingly the power and absolute desolation of the Saint's mystical travail in her passion.

You get to see a young woman willingly participating in Christ's death and resurrection.

The characters are clearly flawed and at times you get the impression of St. Teresa as a little more than a precocious and gifted young woman who none the less stands to give the hardened atheist a little jolt. She is determined to love Christ unto death in the face of profound sickness, psychological desperation and forlornness.

It also doesn't shirk on the rigours of authentic religious life. As one nun in the infirmary with St. Teresa tells her, "it's the first 40 years in Carmel that are the hardest."

There's nothing sentimental, amateurish or schlocky about this production. I came away edified.

Incidentally, Rourke appeared in this film which portrays a really compelling hero priest who was a former SAS man. He's the kind of priest you would hope to see wearing a Bishop's Mitre some day. This film has a happy but unexpected ending for the Catholic viewer.

A Prayer for the Dying (1987)

Martin Fallon is an IRA bomber who tries to blow up a troop truck but instead kills a bus load of school children. He loses heart and quits the movement and goes to London trying to leave the U.K. and start a new life. The IRA wants him back (he knows too much) and the local crime boss, Meehan, will only help him if he performs one last hit, on a rival crime boss. When Fallon does perform the hit, he is seen by a catholic priest. He refuses to kill an innocent again and must find a way to escape the police without killing the priest who can identify him. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

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Vincenzo

Joined: 03 Feb 2007

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

Posts: 2481

PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:08 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Reviewer: Dr Roger Lambert (Oxford, Oxfordshire United Kingdom)

Set in 1348 in Cumbria in North West England during the plague this is an outstanding tale.

There are many reasons why the film is outstanding, the mix of black and white and colour photography is beautifully balanced, even to the extent of mixing within individual scenes,this all adds to the mythical qualities of the story. The desolate snow swept landscape of Cumbria (New Zealand doubles up for Cumbria)are stunning and the perfomance by Hamish McFarlane as the visionary boy is suberb.

It is partly about time travel, the boy with a small group of his fellow villages go through a mine to find themselves in a modern day New Zealand city, that essentially is more barren than where they came from. They are in search of a miraculous church and their quest is to place an icon on top of the steeple. There are some nice gags but essentially the film is about the boy's vision. Did in fact the travel through time actually happen or was it part of the boy's spirituality.

Is in fact the film a subtle allegory that,without preaching, equates the plague with Aids and the barreness of the landscape and the villagers on the edge of not surviving, a post nuclear apocalyptic vision? The film was made in 1988 when these possibilities dominated. Equally though, these possibilities are as relevant today.

A lyrical but disturbing fable.

................................................................................................

This film is one of my all-time favorites and seems to me to strike at the heart of modernism.

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

Posts: 2481

PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:26 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for bringing this one up. It looks magnificent.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:26 pm Post subject: Advertisement

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Konrad

Joined: 28 Jun 2005

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:47 am Post subject: Reply with quote

It's quite funny, I just saw this topics minutes after discovering the St. Benedict Center in Still River sells Videos here. I think they have some that have not yet been mentioned.

I would also highly recommend the Don Camillo movies with Fernandel. They are both funny and Catholic. The books are even better. Unfortunately, Fernandel died while the filmed the movie version of Guareschi's Trad coming out. In that book Don Camillo gets thrown out of his parish by his bishop for refusing to turn the altar around and using vernacular and then starts an independent chapel. It's not as good a read as the early books (which are just beautiful and very moving to read), but it gives a feeling of how Guareschi's heart was broken by the postconciliar changes.

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Maximilian

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:17 am Post subject: Darby O'Gill Reply with quote

Confederate Ursid wrote:

just in time for St. Padraig's Day, "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." with a pre-Bond Sean Connery. Smile

This is on my list of "guilty pleasures." It's embarrassing to admit it, but I love this movie. The acting is actually fabulous for such a low-budget movie with special effects that probably cost about $10 back in the early sixties.

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Confederate Ursid

Joined: 21 Jan 2007

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:52 am Post subject: Reply with quote

"I love the ground she walks upon, my pretty Irish girl!"

Nothing to be embarrassed about liking this show. Simple, sweet, good story, amazing effects for its time, good Catholic moments....

And Katie would certainly make a fine bride for those gentlemen here looking for a good Trad wife.Halo wink wink nudge nudge

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DJR

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:10 am Post subject: Re: Darby O'Gill Reply with quote

Maximilian wrote:

Confederate Ursid wrote:

just in time for St. Padraig's Day, "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." with a pre-Bond Sean Connery. Smile

One of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, I'm old enough to have seen it when it first came out.

I love King Brian: "By all the goats in Kerry, you think I'd sit on a Spanish throne???!!!"

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littlepaddle

Joined: 14 Feb 2005

Posts: 311

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:40 am Post subject: Reply with quote

Besides Becket and a man or all sesons,

one of my all time favorites is Come To the Stable with Lorreta Young. It so reminds me of the nuns that taught me....in a good way.

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Big Mike

Joined: 09 Jun 2006

Posts: 32

Location: Nevada

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

The Passion of the Christ Recut

Flowers of Saint Francis

Shoes of the Fisherman

Going My Way

Name of the Rose

The Robe

Demitrius and the Gladiators

Quo Vadis

Therese (1986) The more modern version comes across as "Splendor in the Grass" with nuns

The Seventh Seal

Barrabas

The Nun's Story

Andrei Rublev

Ben-Hur

The Mission

The Ten Commandments

Au Revoir les Enfants

Intolerance

King of Kings

Greatest story Ever Told

Jesus of Nazareth

Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima

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Zarquon

Joined: 14 Feb 2006

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Otremere,

You and I seem to have really similar taste in movies. A Prayer for the Dying and The Navigator are among my favorites. See the St Francis movie if you an.

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

Posts: 2481

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:38 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Zarquon wrote:

Otremere,

You and I seem to have really similar taste in movies. A Prayer for the Dying and The Navigator are among my favorites. See the St Francis movie if you an.

Oh yeah, I've seen a lot of Rourke films, especially Barfly which virtually canonized the poet Bukowski. "Drinks for all my friends!!"

When I saw his face on the VHS box I just passed over it. I assumed it was a kind of 80s-90s reprise of Zepherelli's St. Francis which really stinks. I'll check it out...

I thought Rosellini did a great job with the life of St. Francis. He took actual monastics for all of the roles rather than experienced actors, simply had them talk and then dubbed in the dialogue afterwards.

I guess I always thought of St. Francis as more of a masculine persona rather than the pencil necked pretty boy image he takes on in most of these films and various artistic representations. Perhaps Rourke is the answer there. He's a superb actor, but then, you did recommend the scurrilous Name of the Rose with James Bond Sr. playing a liberal nice-guy priest in the Middle Ages.

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fizmath

Joined: 29 Jun 2006

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Location: Oak Forest, Illinois, USA

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Any thoughts on Black Robe? I recall that there is at least one morally objectionable scence. Aside from that it was a very sympathetic portrayal of the Jesuit missionaries in the New World

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:56 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

fizmath wrote:

Any thoughts on Black Robe? I recall that there is at least one morally objectionable scence. Aside from that it was a very sympathetic portrayal of the Jesuit missionaries in the New World

I wish someone would come in here and shoot some holes in its accuracy. The Indians, the priest and all, were all accurately and sympathetically portrayed.

The problem is the subtext of the film that insists that the conversion of the Huron somehow facilitated their destruction by the Iroquois.

White man bad, red man good.

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sockmonkey

Joined: 07 Jun 2005

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

I liked Sally and Saint Anne. I think it's an old black and white movie about a crazy Irish family. It would have been fun to watch it or Darby O'Gill and the Little People today for a bit of Saint Patrick's Day levity.

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asenath

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Joined: 22 Oct 2005

Posts: 485

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:13 am Post subject: Reply with quote

"Blackrobe" is great. Michael Davies remarked how he was amazed it got made at all what with its all too accurate depiction of Indian savagery. I can't see how that fits in with the PC worldview. There are however several scenes which, if interesting from the perspective of anthropology, are nevertheless X-rated.

Re Nun's Story again: I don't think this reading of the main character as "not fitting in" or suffering from "pride" is one most viewers outside convinced Catholic circles would share. The late great Audrey Hepburn portrays an idealized modern woman confronted with an institution that is authoritarian, unfeeling and fond of perverse psychological mind games (e.g.., withholding news of the death of the nun's father). I don't think that is intended to be complementary.

More surprising to me is that several knowledgeable posters - and the Vatican - seem fond of the 1986 Therese. As a film I found it stagy and talky. But while The Nun's Story makes its point with subtlety, Therese makes a similar indictment of Therese's convent using more traditional cliches. The nuns there are depicted as wacky, sexually perverted and suffering from various other psychological problems. The customs of the order are uniformly bizarre or repulsive. Joining the Carmel does not advance Therese's sanctity but is a challenge to it.

Outside of liberal Catholic circles, I'm surprised that such positions regarding religious orders would find acceptance among Catholics. But if that's OK why not treat as "Catholic" "Ladyhawke" with my favorite damning portrayal of a (modernist?) bishop.

Let me add another good one: "Sous le Soleil de Satan" (1987). Talky but a good adaptation of the Bernanos novel.

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ad glorium

Joined: 03 Aug 2006

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Location: Montana Big Sky Country

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:51 am Post subject: Reply with quote

(I guess I always thought of St. Francis as more of a masculine persona rather than the pencil necked pretty boy image he takes on in most of these films and various artistic representations. Perhaps Rourke is the answer there. He's a superb actor, but then, you did recommend the scurrilous Name of the Rose with James Bond Sr. playing a liberal nice-guy priest in the Middle Ages.)

Have you ever seen the one called Francis of Assissi from 1961 with Bradford Dillman if so what did you think of that one. Just asking since I have always had the same opinion as you of St. Francis it took about 6 hours to recover from seeing Brother Son Sister Moon Surprised

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

Posts: 2481

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:02 am Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

Wholly agree here... also, the entire film is like being constrained in a bodice, struggling to get out of an endless and stiffling series of corridors peopled by a soul drowning routine. Eventually, like a realization, Hepburn walks out of the door into the sunlight.

Quote:

I found the brilliant lighting a wonderful likeness or illumination from St. Theresa's own radiance, and she really did face those trials in dealing with her Superior who was, "sick of those Martin girls." She herself undergoes a conversion towards the end of the film as she softens to St. Theresa and cares for her in the most motherly way. I suppose the scene where she orders one of her Nuns to whip her in penance for her harsh treatment of St. Theresa is one of those "repulsive" scenes.

I especially enjoyed her confrontation with the medical doctor who vocalizes the reaction much of the modern French audience must be having about the life of Carmel, "People should come and burn this place down," to which she icily replies, "They probably will."

If you're going to fault the portrayal of religious life in the Carmel at this time, I'd have to say that this is the way it was. Religious life, at least then, had its rigours. As far as the wackiness goes, only one nun specifically seemed to have a problem embracing chastity there, and seeked relief from the boredom in an unholy obsession with St. Theresa and the response is what you'd expect from a Saint.

When you say that the customs portrayed were repulsive and bizarre, do you mean that the filmmaker was inaccurate, or that he was only trying to present these customs in the worst possible light? I didn't come away seeing that at all, but I could understand that viewers might interpret that life, getting a peek into it, that way.

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Otremer6

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:02 am Post subject: Reply with quote

ad glorium wrote:

I haven't seen the 1961 production. That sounds interesting.

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tbhamdg

Joined: 03 May 2006

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Location: HURST, TX

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:37 am Post subject: Reply with quote

Otremer6 wrote:

Quote:

I still disagree. I think the world inevitable sees it this way, but that's because the world does not understand consecrated life. Certainly one sympathizes for Sister Luke in her struggles, but I don't see the portrayal of the order as harsh. It's like the Mother Superior, played wonderfully by Dame Edith Evans, says "In a way, it is a life against nature" - sinful, fallen nature, that is. I think a faithful Catholic, especially one that has experienced religious life, will get it, while the world will never get it. Sure there are unsympathetic characters, like the superior who asks Sister Luke to "flunk" her exam to show humility, but there are sympathetic ones, like the superior of the insane asylum, played by Beatrice Straight, who tells Sister Luke that the other nun was wrong to make that suggestion. To me, the movie is a tragedy in the classic sense. The tragedy is that Sister Luke was never able to overcome her own will and be truly obedient, which she frankly admits at the end when talking to the young nurse who wants to become a nun.

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

Posts: 2481

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:54 am Post subject: Reply with quote

tbhamdg wrote:

Otremer6 wrote:

Quote:

Everything is in the ending, which was a relief for her, but a tragedy from the Catholic perspective. The language of the film conveys a kind of relief that you might feel the day you stopped taking cold showers, getting up at 4am, praying your office, sticking to the rule, working non-stop.

It reminds me of modernist accounts of religious life. The kinds of impressions that certain monastics I've known over the years have had of it, that it was too rigourous, too Jansenistic, pathological, unhealthy and ridiculously parochial. I think that too was the message of the film maker. What a contrast to the presentation of religious life and Nuns that you find in, The Trouble with Angels.

She didn't appear to believe any more, she was walking into the modern world which she'd never left in the first place.

I like your point one of the Nuns made about life being against nature, but that's not what it's about at all, it's about surmounting or transcending it which is one of the most accurate and acute observations Frederich Nietzche made about the religious life, that Catholic mystics surmounted and went beyond nature, which is the culmination of an authentic, to borrow from the existentialists, existence.

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tbhamdg

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:20 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Otremer6 wrote:

tbhamdg wrote:

Otremer6 wrote:

Quote:

She didn't appear to believe any more, she was walking into the modern world which she'd never left in the first place.

She said "In a way it is a life against nature". She also said "The sacrifices that are required of us are bearable only if we make them with love. We can endure greater sacrifices because the object of our love is our Lord Jesus Christ." I think that says it all. Sister Luke failed to keep this essential point in focus, therefore, she was bound to fail. I still think the movie itself does not convey anything against cloistered life. We don't know the opinion of the filmmaker. It all depends on how you view it. I think the portrait of religious life in the film is beautiful. Unfortunately, Sister Luke could not see beyond her own personal struggles. I don't know how many of you know this, but this film is based on a true story and a real person. I have a Life magazine from '59 whose cover story is dedicated to this film. The real Gabrielle van der Mal (not her real name) said that when she saw the film (15 some years after she left) she wanted to go straight back to the convent. If the film was such a negative portrayal of religious life, why would it have evoked such a reaction within her? As I said before, the world cannot view this film and the life it portrays with the eyes of faith. Much like the Catholic Church itself, some look and see oppression and tyranny and others look and see their sweet Mother.

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Birgittino

Joined: 17 Jan 2007

Posts: 11

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject: Re: Catholic Movie Collecting Reply with quote

dulimon wrote:

I think I am gonn start collecting Catholic movies.any suggestions, I have The Shoes of the Fisherman,The Cardinal and The Mosignor...I like the first two quite a bit..anybody got favorites...I am trying to find the Scarlet and The Black. Also..are ther any Catholic book clubs ?

Try to see this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9bGlmZSBpcyBiZWF1dGlmdWx8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxzYz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1

La vita è bella! Life is beautiful! It was the favourite movie of Pope John Paul II., and it illustrates wonderfully the devotion on God's mercy according to Saint Faustina Kowalska: Jesus I trust in you! If you and me don't become like the boy heroe in this film, we never make it to heaven!

Trust blindly Our Father in Heaven even if everything in your life speaks against it!

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Otremer6

Joined: 18 Dec 2005

Posts: 2481

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:20 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

tbhamdg wrote:

Otremer6 wrote:

tbhamdg wrote:

Otremer6 wrote:

Quote:

She didn't appear to believe any more, she was walking into the modern world which she'd never left in the first place.

I guess if you won't go for a critique of the various shots, situations themes, lighting, sound, in a word or two, the technical aspects of film making and the work itself, I have to ask you two things:

1. Do you at least admit that there are artists, particularly film makers, who create portrayals designed subtly or not so subtly to attack Mother Church? (I think Otto Preminger's The Cardinal falls into this category, btw)

2. Do you know anything about the Producer, Screenwriter, Director or author of the Novel itself?

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nadieimportante

Joined: 30 Sep 2005

Posts: 3400

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:30 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Otremer6 wrote:

I've seen a lot of Rourke films, especially Barfly

I went to school with Mickey Rourke, he was two grades ahead of me, but we ran into each other in sports, since we played at the same level. He was nothing like the character they/he paints him/himself as. He was just a guy trying to get the attention of the girls. He was a good baseball player, and pretty much failed at everything he ever did, but interestingly, would move up to some other endeavor.

He got thrown off the high school baseball team because he was a bad influence on the other players. Then he took up boxing, at the 5th Street Gym, Miami Beach, (where Ali trained), and promptly got the idea beaten out of his head. Then he decided to be a Broadway actor and went to New York. Never got anywhere, and so he decided to try Hollywood. The rest is history.

His problem is that Mick only respects manliness, the fist. Hollywood has a limp wrist, in that regard. He recognized that everyone in Hollywood is a brown nosing back stabbing effeminate weakling, with no physical power. But he miscalculated their financial power.

Personally, I couldn't stand to be around people like that, but, I guess that he's hooked by the "fame thing".

About Mick, I always think that one day I'd pick up a paper and read that he committed suicide by riding chopper off a steep cliff, while chugging a bottle of tequila. This "conversion" thing, although not a real conversion, is the first indication I've ever read that he is slowing down to maybe turn his direction from that cliff.

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tbhamdg

Joined: 03 May 2006

Posts: 164

Location: HURST, TX

PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:45 am Post subject: Reply with quote

Otremer6 wrote:

tbhamdg wrote:

Otremer6 wrote:

tbhamdg wrote:

Otremer6 wrote:

Quote:

She didn't appear to believe any more, she was walking into the modern world which she'd never left in the first place.

2. Do you know anything about the Producer, Screenwriter, Director or author of the Novel itself?

I didn't realize you were trying to discuss the technical aspects of the film. In what way do you think these reveal an anti-Catholic bias. Be specific. Just because she "walks into the light" at the end proves nothing. She's going outdoors. I think the fact that there is no music at all until she's out of sight and then you hear three bells says more for the fact that there isn't an attempt to portray it as something wonderful or heroic. But we could debate things like that all day.

1. Yes, I do. But I don't think you can make a convincing case that Fred Zinnemann has done this here and if that was his intention he was far too subtle.

2. I know something about that author and the subject, but not much. I know nothing about the director or any of the other persons involved. Do you? I'm only speculating based on the film itself, which is all I really have to go on, but I believe they were trying to tell "Sister Luke"'s story and let the viewer make up their own minds. I don't think they were trying to portray the Church as good or bad, necessarily, nor were they imposing a judgment on Sister Luke and her decisions. They were telling her story, pure and simple.

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Qm2/ss

Joined: 26 Oct 2005

Posts: 86

Location: Upstate South Carolina (not St Marys)

PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:43 am Post subject: Reply with quote

I do not know if anyone has suggested

The Quiet Man

With John Wayne and Maureen OHara, but it is an excellent movie. My whole family love the movie, Old and young alike.

This movie is especially of interest since yesterday was St. Patty's day.

Qm2/ss

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asenath

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Joined: 22 Oct 2005

Posts: 485

PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:01 am Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding Kathryn Hulme, the author of the book "A Nun's Story."

She converted and later identified herself as a Catholic writer. But in the 1930's she belonged to an occult, largely lesbian group:

http://www.gurdjieff-legacy.org/70links/rope.htm

Furthermore, some sites claim that the relationship between Hulme and the woman who was the model for the novels was lesbian.

Now it appears that the novel - which I have not read - is much more complex than the movie. It provides much more support for identifying pride as a character flaw than the images we see in the film.

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orapronobis70

Joined: 14 Mar 2007

Posts: 3

PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject: movies Reply with quote

I happened to find the American version of St Therese ( 2006) to be quite beautiful. I heard the other one from 1986 I believe was produced by an atheist just FYI. Also Marelino Pan Y Vino (1955) is a very sweetly made movie.

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loose_axle

Joined: 31 Jan 2007

Posts: 38

PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:57 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

Star Wars

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