The Silver Chalice was Paul Newman's debut film and it almost sunk his career before it got going. Good thing he scored such a great success in his second film, Somebody Up There Likes Me.
Newman is horribly miscast in his role as Basil the young sculptor who is commissioned to craft a silver chalice to surround the Holy Grail. It was the kind of a part that someone who was used to classical roles should have done. Charlton Heston or Richard Burton would have been believable.
Such biblical characters as St. Luke, St. Peter, and Joseph of Arimathea weave in and out of the story. In fact one of the two women Newman gets involved with is Joseph of Arimathea's granddaughter Deborah who is played by Pier Angeli.
The other is Virginia Mayo who is also miscast. Great in modern roles such as White Heat and The Best Years of Our Lives, Mayo looks very lost in the ancient world.
The best performance in the film is easily that of Jack Palance. He's a magician, an illusionist in the great tradition of David Copperfield. Some Jewish rebel conspirators, not satisfied with the message of peace that Jesus brought, hire him to essentially front for them as their idea of a Messiah.
To say the part goes to his head is an understatement. But I think the role of Savior of Mankind would go to anyone's head except for the one it is meant for. Jack Palance gets the idea he can fly.
Right around the time this film came out, Mary Martin was doing a bit of stage flying herself on Broadway in Peter Pan. Palance figures out a contraption similar to what she used for her performance. And then as he goes completely mad, believing he really is the Messiah, he eschews use of the contraption with predictable results.
So Jack Palance is not the Messiah, he turns out not to even be Peter Pan.
Newman is horribly miscast in his role as Basil the young sculptor who is commissioned to craft a silver chalice to surround the Holy Grail. It was the kind of a part that someone who was used to classical roles should have done. Charlton Heston or Richard Burton would have been believable.
Such biblical characters as St. Luke, St. Peter, and Joseph of Arimathea weave in and out of the story. In fact one of the two women Newman gets involved with is Joseph of Arimathea's granddaughter Deborah who is played by Pier Angeli.
The other is Virginia Mayo who is also miscast. Great in modern roles such as White Heat and The Best Years of Our Lives, Mayo looks very lost in the ancient world.
The best performance in the film is easily that of Jack Palance. He's a magician, an illusionist in the great tradition of David Copperfield. Some Jewish rebel conspirators, not satisfied with the message of peace that Jesus brought, hire him to essentially front for them as their idea of a Messiah.
To say the part goes to his head is an understatement. But I think the role of Savior of Mankind would go to anyone's head except for the one it is meant for. Jack Palance gets the idea he can fly.
Right around the time this film came out, Mary Martin was doing a bit of stage flying herself on Broadway in Peter Pan. Palance figures out a contraption similar to what she used for her performance. And then as he goes completely mad, believing he really is the Messiah, he eschews use of the contraption with predictable results.
So Jack Palance is not the Messiah, he turns out not to even be Peter Pan.