The Reluctant Saint

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The Reluctant Saint is a 1962 American-Italian

It stars Maximilian Schell as Giuseppe Desa, as well as Ricardo Montalbán, Lea Padovani, Akim Tamiroff, and Harold Goldblatt. The movie was written by John Fante and Joseph Petracca and directed by Edward Dmytryk. It was made in Rome, with the film's sets designed by the art director, Mario Chiari.

Plot

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

The film begins with Giuseppe (

Despite Giuseppe's incapacity for the necessary scholarly studies, and preference for just managing the sheep and other animals in the friary's stable, he is ordained a priest. Although he learns little from the tutoring by the friars, Giuseppe passes the necessary examinations for the priesthood through a series of unlikely or possibly miraculous events. Soon after, when Giuseppe is seen levitating during ecstatic prayer to the

• Maximilian Schell as Giuseppe
• Ricardo Montalbán as Father Raspi
• Lea Padovani as Giuseppe's Mother
• Akim Tamiroff as Bishop Durso
• Harold Goldblatt as Father Giovanni
• Arnoldo Foà as Felixa - Giuseppe's Father
• Carlo Croccolo as The Gobbo - the Hunchback
• Giulio Bosetti as Brother Orlando
• Elisa Cegani as Sister
• Giacomo Rossi Stuart as Young Examining Prelate
• Tonio Selwart as Examining Prelate
• Odoardo Spadaro as Old Examining Prelate

Reception

A TV Guide review says: "A light-hearted tone is kept throughout, but the stereotyped performances, unbelievable settings, and lifeless direction hurt whatever promises are inherent in the material".^[1] Other more favorable reviews can be found at IMDB.com: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056403/reviews?ref_=tt_urv as well as decentfilms.com: http://decentfilms.com/articles/reluctantsaint

References

External links

• The Reluctant Saint at
  IMDb
• The Reluctant Saint at AllMovie