iPedia Free Information Center

Information about The Reluctant Saint

The Reluctant Saint

VHS cover for the film
Directed byEdward Dmytryk
Produced byEdward Dmytryk
Written byJohn Fanta
Joseph Petracca
StarringMaximilian Schell
Ricardo Montalban
Lea Padovani
Akim Tamiroff
Harold Goldblatt
Arnoldo Foa
Mark Damon
Luciana Paluzzi
Carlo Croccolo
Giulio Bosetti
Elisa Cegani
Distributed byDavis/Royal Films International
Release date(s)1962
Running time105 min.
LanguageEnglish
IMDb profile


The Reluctant Saint is a 1962 film which tells a somewhat fictionalized version of the story of Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th Century Italian saint. It stars Maximilian Schell as Joseph, as well as Ricardo Montalban, Lea Padovani, Akim Tamiroff, and Harold Goldblatt. The movie was written by John Fanta and Joseph Petracca and directed by Edward Dmytryk.

Saint Joseph of Cupertino was an Italian saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstasies. This movie follows Joseph (Maximilian Schell) from his final days living 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 with being ridiculed by fellow villagers, and enduring failed attempts at work as a laborer. At the insistence of his mother (who saw no viable alternatives), we see him joining a Franciscan monastery through the influence of his uncle (Harold Goldblatt), an authority at the monastery. But trouble follows Joseph wherever he goes, including the monastery, because of his slow wits. Eventually his good heart is noticed by a visiting higher up in the church hierarchy (Akim Tamiroff), who orders that he be trained to be a priest. Despite his incapacity for the necessary scholarly studies, and preference for merely managing sheep and other animals in the monastery's stable, Joseph does become a priest. Despite learning little from tutoring from the monks, Joseph passes the necessary examinations for the priesthood through a series of unlikely or possibly miraculous events. Soon after, when Joseph is seen levitating at the time of his ecstatic prayers to the Virgin Mary, one of the monastic authorities (Ricardo Montalban) claims that Joseph suffers from demonic possession. Joseph is therefore exorcised, but his levitations continue, persuading everyone, including his former opponent, of the divine origins of his levitations.

Most of they key events in the movie are based on historical events or reports about the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino.

External links

Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 - July 1, 1999) was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy era red scare.
..... Click the link for more information.
Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 - July 1, 1999) was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy era red scare.
..... Click the link for more information.
Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell (left) in the film Judgment at Nuremberg

Born November 8 1930 (1930--) (age 78)
Vienna, Austria


..... Click the link for more information.
Ricardo Montalbán

Birth name Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino
Born November 25 1920 (1920--) (age 88)
Mexico City, Mexico

Spouse(s)
..... Click the link for more information.
Akim Tamiroff (October 29, 1899, Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia - September 17, 1972, Palm Springs, California) was an actor of Armenian ethnicity, trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the US in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors and decided to stay.
..... Click the link for more information.
Mark Damon (born Alan Harris on April 22, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film actor and producer. He started his career in his native country, appearing in such films as Young and Dangerous (1957) and Roger Corman's House of Usher.
..... Click the link for more information.
Luciana Paluzzi (born June 10, 1939 in Rome, Italy), is a redheaded Italian actress. She is best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film Thunderball.
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1959 1960 1961 - 1962 - 1963 1964 1965

Year 1962 (MCMLXII
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1959 1960 1961 - 1962 - 1963 1964 1965

Year 1962 (MCMLXII
..... Click the link for more information.
Joseph of Cupertino (or Giuseppe da Copertino, born Giuseppe Maria Desa) (June 17, 1603 – September 18, 1663) is an Italian saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation,[1]
..... Click the link for more information.
Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell (left) in the film Judgment at Nuremberg

Born November 8 1930 (1930--) (age 78)
Vienna, Austria


..... Click the link for more information.
Ricardo Montalbán

Birth name Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino
Born November 25 1920 (1920--) (age 88)
Mexico City, Mexico

Spouse(s)
..... Click the link for more information.
Akim Tamiroff (October 29, 1899, Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia - September 17, 1972, Palm Springs, California) was an actor of Armenian ethnicity, trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the US in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors and decided to stay.
..... Click the link for more information.
Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 - July 1, 1999) was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy era red scare.
..... Click the link for more information.
Anthem
Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Fratelli d'Italia)


..... Click the link for more information.
Metaphysical levitation is a name given to the paranormal phenomenon of levitation occurring without any scientific explanation (such as electromagnetism or air pressure). Of course, as with all paranormal events, cases of levitation are hotly disputed; traditionally the scientific
..... Click the link for more information.
Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell (left) in the film Judgment at Nuremberg

Born November 8 1930 (1930--) (age 78)
Vienna, Austria


..... Click the link for more information.
Franciscan is used to refer to those in Roman Catholic and Anglican religious orders which follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis" ,[1] or a member of one of these orders. There are also small Old Catholic and Protestant Franciscan communities.
..... Click the link for more information.
Monastery (plural: Monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον (monastērion), denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer (e.g.
..... Click the link for more information.
Akim Tamiroff (October 29, 1899, Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia - September 17, 1972, Palm Springs, California) was an actor of Armenian ethnicity, trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the US in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors and decided to stay.
..... Click the link for more information.
Mary (Judeo-Aramaic: מרים, Maryām, from Hebrew Miriam), called since medieval times Madonna (My Lady), resident in Nazareth in Galilee, is known from the New Testament[1]
..... Click the link for more information.
Ricardo Montalbán

Birth name Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino
Born November 25 1920 (1920--) (age 88)
Mexico City, Mexico

Spouse(s)
..... Click the link for more information.
Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkizein - to adjure) is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed (taken control of).
..... Click the link for more information.
Metaphysical levitation is a name given to the paranormal phenomenon of levitation occurring without any scientific explanation (such as electromagnetism or air pressure). Of course, as with all paranormal events, cases of levitation are hotly disputed; traditionally the scientific
..... Click the link for more information.
Joseph of Cupertino (or Giuseppe da Copertino, born Giuseppe Maria Desa) (June 17, 1603 – September 18, 1663) is an Italian saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation,[1]
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter