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Story of a Christian in ancient Rome who befriends a lion.Story of a Christian in ancient Rome who befriends a lion.Story of a Christian in ancient Rome who befriends a lion.
Doris Barton
- Vestal Virgin
- (uncredited)
Lillian Clayes
- Christian Woman
- (uncredited)
Harry Cording
- Soldier
- (uncredited)
Clint Dorrington
- Officer in Forest
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Chester Erskine
- Nicholas Ray(uncredited)
- Writers
- Chester Erskine
- Ken Englund
- George Bernard Shaw(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter principal filming was completed, Howard Hughes decided the film needed some extra sprucing up. He had Nicholas Ray shoot a "Vestal Virgin Bathing Sequence" which immediately ran afoul with censors and enraged producer Gabriel Pascal, amongst others. The sequence was eventually deleted from release prints.
- GoofsThe Christians sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" - a hymn published in 1871.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: ROME 161 A.D. IN THE REGION OF THE EMPEROR ANTONINUS
- ConnectionsFeatured in It's Showtime (1976)
- SoundtracksOnward, Christian Soldiers
(uncredited)
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Words by Sabine Baring-Gould
Sung by the marching Christians
Featured review
Probably terrible, but, I have to admit, I enjoyed it for its weirdness
An adaptation of a lesser George Bernard Shaw play. It supposedly doesn't "get" the original play, at least according to some other reviews I perused. I'm not even sure what the point of it all was (perhaps that, throughout all times, Christians have been annoyingly self-righteous, but at least during Roman days, you could feed them to lions), and it's a pretty big mess. However, I have to admit, almost grudgingly, that I sort of enjoyed it, perhaps just because of its weirdness. Alan Young plays Androcles, a comedic character with a hen-pecking wife (Elsa Lanchester, really playing it up - I have to wonder why they didn't have her carry a rolling pin). Because of his apparent friendship with a lion (from whose paw, of course, he pulled a thorn), people accuse him of witchcraft, and he is suggested to the Caesar (Maurice Evans) as a potential sacrifice. Also among those sacrifices are Jean Simmons, a beautiful young Christian, and Robert Newton, a pious warrior. Young is amusing in his way, and Evans is quite amusing, but the real reason to watch this film are for Simmons and Newton, both of whom are wonderful. Victor Mature is the least successful member of the cast, playing an army captain who falls for Simmons. He looks as if he's about to have a stroke most of the time. Alan Young is perhaps most famous for playing Wilbur on Mr. Ed, but to my generation he's even better known as the voice of Scrooge McDuck in stuff like Mickey's Christmas Carol and, of course, DuckTales. He's in his 90s nowadays and is still doing Scrooge McDuck.
helpful•83
- zetes
- Jun 19, 2012
- How long is Androcles and the Lion?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,250,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was Androcles and the Lion (1952) officially released in India in English?
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