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The Reluctant Saint
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Wikipedia article
'The Reluctant Saint' is a 1962 American-Italian historical comedy drama film which tells the story of Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th-century Italian Conventual Franciscan friar and mystic honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.
It stars Maximilian Schell as Giuseppe Desa, as well as Ricardo Montalbn, Lea Padovani, Akim Tamiroff, and Harold Goldblatt. The movie was written by John Fante and Joseph Petracca and directed by Edward Dmytryk. It was made in Rome, with the film's sets designed by the art director, Mario Chiari.
Plot
Most of the key events in the movie are based on historical events or reports about the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Born Giuseppe Desa, he was said to have been remarkably unclever, but was recorded by many witnesses during his life as prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstasies.
The film begins with Giuseppe (Maximilian Schell) spending his final days at home with his mother (Lea Padovani). Because of his slow wits, she has kept him in school despite his being a grown man, older than the other students. He is seen bearing patiently and good-heartedly the ridicule of his fellow villagers, and enduring failed attempts at work as a laborer. At the insistence of his mother (who saw no viable alternatives), he enters a Franciscan friary through the influence of his uncle (Harold Goldblatt), an authority in the religious order. But trouble follows Giuseppe wherever he goes, including the friary, because of his slow wits. Eventually, his good heart is noticed by the visiting Bishop Durso, (Akim Tamiroff), who orders that he be trained to be a priest.
Despite Giuseppe's incapacity for the necessary scholarly studies, and preference for just managing the sheep and other animals in the friary's stable, he is ordained a priest. Although he learns little from the tutoring by the friars, Giuseppe passes the necessary examinations for the priesthood through a series of unlikely or possibly miraculous events. Soon after, when Giuseppe is seen levitating during ecstatic prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary and during conventual Mass, one of the superiors in the community, Father Raspi (Ricardo Montalbn), claims that Giuseppe suffers from demonic possession. Giuseppe is bound in chains by his brother friars and then exorcised, but his levitations continue, persuading everyoneincluding his former criticof the divine origins of his powers.
Cast
* Maximilian Schell as Giuseppe
* Ricardo Montalbn as Father Raspi
* Lea Padovani as Giuseppe's Mother
* Akim Tamiroff as Bishop Durso
* Harold Goldblatt as Father Giovanni
* Arnoldo Fo as Felixa - Giuseppe's Father
* Carlo Croccolo as The Gobbo - the Hunchback
* Giulio Bosetti as Brother Orlando
* Elisa Cegani as Sister
* Giacomo Rossi Stuart as Young Examining Prelate
* Tonio Selwart as Examining Prelate
* Odoardo Spadaro as Old Examining Prelate
Reception
A TV Guide review says: "A light-hearted tone is kept throughout, but the stereotyped performances, unbelievable settings, and lifeless direction hurt whatever promises are inherent in the material".[https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-reluctant-saint/review/2030127185/ The Reluctant Saint at TV Guide]
References
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