The Silver Chalice

Paul Newman and the Holy Grail
This faux-Biblical epic marked Paul Newman's screen debut in the role of Basil, defender of the Holy Grail. His performance is, well, just imagine dropping Paul Newman in the middle of a Fifties religious spectacle, and that's pretty much what you get. You have evil wizards and hooch dancers for villains, solemn patriarchs and saintly good girls as heroes, and a silly plot made sillier by the pious hokum.

But all the stars are upstaged by the curious set designs. Imagine ancient Palestine as an igloo camp designed by Buckminster Fuller. Peculiar, science fiction domes are everywhere, and with the several scenes from the rooftops, including an interessting sword-fight, the scenery is quite distracting.

This film would be enjoyed by those who are in the right state of mind.

A bizarre religious epic!
Based on a best-seller by Thomas B. Costain, and directed by Victor Saville, "The Silver Chalice" was one of the studio's early CinemaScope films, and was really a variation on Fox's "The Robe," the first CinemaScope movie that had been a huge success in 1953... The action follows a group of Christians who are dedicated to preserving Christ's Holy Cup twenty years after the Last Supper...

Since Newman had the lead as a young Greek silversmith, sold into slavery, then chosen by the Christians to design a chalice for the Cup, becomes involved in battles and orgies, and must decide between the pagan world represented by a courtesan (Virginia Mayo) and the Christian world represented by his young, innocent wife (Pier Angeli). There is also a mad pagan magician (Jack Palance), who wants to destroy the chalice and establish his own religion, replacing Christ's miracles with black magic...

Newman was ideally cast as a Greek, because of his classic features, but he makes...

Flawed but interesting epic with a great score
This is the movie which became notorious due to an advertisement Paul Newman took out in an L.A. newspaper in the '60's in which he apologized for it before its U.S. TV premiere.(Other castmembers were apparently not so thrilled with this gesture!) From a modern perspective the movie can be seen as one of the most visually interesting wide-screen films from this early era of the "giant screen epics" with generally good performances and a truly magnificent score by Franz Waxman ( a genuis who also scored REBECCA,A PLACE IN THE SUN, SUNSET BLVD.,PEYTON PLACE,SAYONARA,TARAS BULBA etc.). An archeological find in Antioch (one of the crossroads of the ancient world and the home of the church which the Apostle Paul attended) of a beautifully sculptured silver chalice with Christ and the apostles on it led author Thomas B. Costain to write an "historical fiction" which became a best-seller in the early '50's. Like Lloyd C. Douglas' THE ROBE and General Lew...

Click to Editorial Reviews