Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

classicalsteve Although this film does present a rather idealized story about the rise of a humble priest from a lowly parish cleric to the rank of Cardinal, the issues through which the main character navigates and maneuvers are still as relevant today as in 1963. The Office of Cardinal is the second-highest ranking among Roman Catholic Church clergy, second only to the Pope. Cardinals who are able to make the journey to Rome during Conclave are called "The College of Cardinals", and at Conclave, they choose a new Pope. Not every Cardinal can make the journey and some, by certain decrees, are not allowed to participate and/or vote. The story is not about someone who is already a Cardinal, but rather the steps taken by a no-name cleric and his rise to the highest echelons of the Roman Church.The story begins when Bishop Stephen Fermoyle (Thomas Tyron in his most remembered performance) receives a formal letter from the Vatican in Rome. Such formal letters are read allowed in great ceremony where we learn he has been appointed a Cardinal by the Holy See. As the letter is being read, Fermoyle begins to remember in his own mind the religious and secular journey he has taken to arrive at this moment, a dream for many priests in the Roman Catholic. Many may aspire but few are called to become a Cardinal. Most of the film is essentially in flash-back. The story goes back in time to the ceremony in which he became an ordained priest in a ceremony officiated by the local Bishop back in Boston in the United States.The first issue with which the young priest faces concerns his sister and her current love relationship. The trouble is, her lover is not only not Roman Catholic, he's not a Christian; he's Jewish. Father Fermoyle than resolves he can solve the problem and entice the Jew to convert to Roman Catholicism. However, the plan doesn't work. At one point her sister comes to the church and enters the confessional, but she's looking for guidance from her older brother, not a cleric who simply wants to reinforce church doctrine. Eventually, the relationship between brother and sister is shattered, and tragic results eventually ensue. Father Fermoyle, now in service to Bishop-Cardinal Glennon (John Huston in an Academy-Award nominated performance) tells the bishop he may not be able to continue as a priest. He goes on leave from the church, and briefly entertains the joys of secular life in Paris.Father Fermoyle eventually begins working for the Vatican as a priest without a parish. Father Willis (Ossie Davis), an African-American priest from the United States pays Father Fermoyle an unexpected visit. He needs help with his church back home which was burned by white supremacists in his hometown in the rural American South. The American priest is asking for an audience with the Pope. Although he is unable to arrange an audience with the pontiff himself, Fermoyle is certain that one of the high-ranking Cardinal-bishops would give him an audience and aid in the cause against racism. To their astonishment, the Cardinal offers no help but feels it's something which the Americans need to resolve. They also feel it's too politically charged to enmesh themselves into the racist issues plaguing America. Father Willis leaves the Vatican disappointed.Then unexpectedly, at his home in the South, Willis receives a special guest: Father Fermoyle. Fermoyle has traveled from Rome to the American South to aid Father Willis, although his presence is "unofficial". Fermoyle is not in the local town as a representative from Rome but simply there under his own cognizance. He then learns the local authorities want to sweep the business of the church burning under the proverbial rug. Another local priest, probably Anglican, also tries to compel Willis not to testify in court. However, Father Fermoyle supports Willis in his resolve to confront the issue in the local court. The Vatican priest learns some of the white locals don't like outsiders meddling in their affairs, and they don white sheets at night to make their point.Why I think "the Cardinal" works as well as it does is because the story doesn't come off dated or sanguine. The issues confronted by the story are very real, and these episodes resonate today with the problems of racial and religious intolerance. I think the point of the story is that, to become a Cardinal from the rank of a lowly priest is a very arduous journey. The story rings slightly of the rise of Pope John-Paul II who, when he was a young parish priest in Poland, hid and helped Jewish refugees escape from the clutches of the Nazis. Even the current pontiff, Pope Francis I, became a vocal opponent of fascism in South America. While certainly, some priests rise to higher ranks because of their loyalty to doctrine, others gain the ranks because of engaging in blood, sweat and tears. While the Cardinal is a fictional account of such a rise, the film does demonstrate a few are given the privilege because of their contribution to humanity at large.

NewEnglandPat Otto Preminger's solemn, stately retelling of the rise of Stephen Fermoyle to Cardinal is an interesting albeit lengthy film that has not received its due over the decades since its release in 1963. The many trials and tribulations of Fermoyle's ascension in the Catholic church hierarchy to the College of Cardinals is dramatized by Tom Tryon in the title role. Tryon brings a brooding quality to his interpretation as a priest who has a literary gift that is frowned upon his superior, Cardinal Glennon, and a later, difficult personal decision regarding his youngest sister who is in labor and ready to give birth to her baby. A subsequent leave of absence from the church brings additional inner conflict to Fermoyle as he must choose between a woman's love for him and his devotion to the church and his calling as a priest. Further problems for Fermoyle include intervening in an explosive racial situation in Georgia and as an emissary sent to Vienna during the Nazi occupation in World War II. Tryon's humorless, if not quite wooden, acting brings a certain realism to the film's central character. John Huston and Raf Vallone are excellent in their roles of Cardinals and Romy Schneider is good as the woman who loves Fermoyle and wants to sway him forever from the pull of the priesthood. The film is wonderfully filmed by Leon Shamroy and scored by Jerome Moross, and has a solid cast of top character actors in bit parts. This film should rank as one of the best pictures of the last fifty years.

edwagreen This was an absolute masterpiece for director Otto Preminger. The story of a conflicted priest who thinks back to his rise within the church on the day that he is to be made a cardinal.The film pulled absolutely no punches when it talks about the social issues of the period, whether it be racism in the south or the rise of Nazi Germany and its take over of Austria in March of 1938.This is a story of a priest in definite conflict. He allowed his religious views to literally end the life of his sister. The disgusting anti-Semitism reared in his own family and by neighborhood friends best described the era.

vincentlynch-moonoi Otto Preminger crafted an impressive film here, taking his time to tell the story (all 3 hours of it), but alas making a film that will be of most interest to Catholics.There are many interesting characters portrayed in this film, and some in rather interesting ways. One wouldn't expect Chill Wills to be a monsignor...but he was quite good. Burgess Meredith, as a failing and dying priest -- a little more predictable, but nevertheless played with relish, as Meredith always did. John Huston, interesting (as always) as a cardinal. A relatively young Ossie Davis as a parish priest in the South.Of course, the focus is on Tom Tryon, as the priest who must sort through all the good and bad features of Catholicism. Was he just a bit stiff in the role? Perhaps, but good enough to make me wonder what happened to him (a rather interesting life).The settings here appear to be authentic and impressive -- Rome, Austria, for example. Perhaps the most powerful scenes are related to racism and the KKK and anti-Catholicism in Georgia. The "chapter" on Nazism seemed a bit contrived, yet effective. The script is a bit episodic...almost as if when one chapter ends another begins...but perhaps this is necessary considering the time spanned, as well as the scope of locations. In fact, Preminger took a huge risk here -- any single "chapter" could have been a film in and of itself, so to weave together such a huge tapestry was quite an undertaking. Interestingly, the Vatican's liaison officer for the film was Joseph Ratzinger -- today's actual Pope! I don't feel this film is a "watchable" as a film such as "The Shoes Of The Fisherman", but this is a really good, absorbing (if long) movie.