The Robe, Directed by Henry Koster, is set in the Roman province of Judea during the 1st century, where Roman tribune Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton) is ordered to crucify Jesus of Nazareth, but is tormented by his guilty conscience in the aftermath.
After
the Crucifixion he gets drunk and wins Jesus' homespun robe and suffers
nightmares and delusions after the event.
After
a period of time in Rome he hopes to find a way to live with what he has done,
and although still not believing in Jesus as a Messiah, he returns to Palestine
to try and learn what he can of the man he killed.
It’s
a poignant script powerfully acted by Burton, while the lovely Jean Simmons is
incredible as the young woman he loves, Diana. Michael Rennie is a quiet but
forceful Peter, but Jay Robinson steals the picture as the depraved Emperor
Caligula, and as he normally did Victor Mature played himself as Demetrius and
there were a host of competent performances in the minor roles.
The
cinematography is quite magnificent filmed in Cinemascope, while the film is
graced by Alfred Newman beautifully and eerily haunting musical score.
A
very watchable movie that stands the test of time but is not given the exposure
it so richly deserves, perhaps because programmers are of a more secular bent.
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