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Topic: THE SILVER CHALICE (1954)

Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-28-2009 08:31 PM

All through Paul Newman career I had heard how he was very ashamed of his film debut performance in THE SILVER CHALICE and once took out newspaper advertisements asking the public not to watch the film when it was shown on television for the first time. His request backfired when the film received very high viewer rating. I think he also tried to buy the film from Warner Brothers so he could destroy it but that never happened. I am sure it was out of respect to the wishes of Mr. Newman, the film was not publicly shown during the remainder of his life. Now that he has passed away, Warner Brothers released the movie on DVD recently and I just watched it last night. The biblical movie was in no way the caliber of Quo Vadis, Ben-Hur or the TEN COMMANDMENTS but in my humble opinion, it was not that bad. Paul Newman's performance was just average and nothing like his later films but it was not as bad as he made it out to be. Newman played the part of Basil a Silver craftsman who was commissioned to create a silver chalice to hold The Holy Grail that Jesus Christ had used at the last supper. The cast consisted of Virgenia Mayo as Helena and Natalie Wood playing her part as a little girl. Jack Palance played Simon the magician and he was good and so was Piere Angeli as Basil's wife. Lorne Greene played Simon Peter and it was hard to accept him as The Big Fisherman after seeing him as television's Ben Catwright in Bonanza for years. The thing I liked best about the film was the excellent set decoration and photography and how well it was used with background matt paintings. For a film that was made in 1954, the color was stunning with no trace of fading when I watched the CinemaScope film on my new HDTV and played on my Blu Ray player . The image and color was so vibrant, it looked like I was watching it in high defination. The original four track mag sound was retained with excellent surround and directional sound in the front sound field.

-Claude

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Joe Tommassello
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 547
From: Coatesville, PA, USA
Registered: Jan 2008

posted 04-01-2009 04:25 PM

Funny how Hollywood icons can be. I had the pleasure of getting to know Irvin S. Yeaworth (nicknamed "Shorty" based on his height of about 6'5") before his untimely death recently. Mr. Yeaworth was the director of the original "The Blob" with "Steven McQueen". The film was shot in and around the area where I now live and is a beloved part of the local history...particularly in Phoenixville PA where they have a yearly "Blobfest" at the Colonial Theater at which you can have the rare opportunity to watch the actual room you are sitting in on the screen. In any case Mr. Y told me that Steve McQueen - though he outwardly minimized his first starring performance and it's significance to his career - always kept a one-sheet for the film prominently displayed in his personal office. Yeaworth suspected either he kept it there to remind him of his humbler beginnings...or maybe he just had a sincerely emotional and personal connection to that film. I could tell that Shorty believed the latter.

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