The Cardinal l'd watched in 1984 on TV,a overlong movie...in that time l didn't have any idea how meaning of the pictures itself...today after a long time l've the opportunity to re-watch this Otto Preminger's unknown movie and After almost three hours long l finally recognized this picture is really amazing...telling a story about a young priest in Boston until a high position in Catholic Church,the movie is showing in flashback since the beginning,all the facts one's most remarkable to me is about the Father Ned Halley played by Burgess Meredith who died in poverty...another was when he has to help a nigro priest in Georgia and has to confront the segregationist system in this town....the story through the time have many faces until the final....once more Otto Preminger proves as one's best directors for all times!!Underrated movie!!Resume:First watch: 1984 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.5

The Cardinal, directed by Otto Preminger, marked a period in the life of an Irish-American priest who rose to become a Cardinal-Archbishop. The movie, based on a best-selling novel of the same name that was published in 1950, suffered in comparison with the blockbuster book, which was a great read as well as commercial success in its day. The movie has some excellent acting but the plot is often disconnected and poorly presented. The book is a long one and it seems as if some of the scenes were poorly selected. The scene where a churchgoer attributed a cure to the Virgin Mary resulted in a crowd of immigrants flocking to the church, a stereotype of the poor, uneducated Catholic. The young woman working with the parish priest of a rural, French community, performed by Burgess Meredith, presented a beautiful young woman who says she was meant to spend her life in service to the poor and the sick. It might have been a sincere effort to show youthful virtue but seemed a stretch to even the most devout Catholic. Tom Tryon is badly miscast as Father Stephen Fermoyle, the main character, whose life draws upon the rich subject of Irish Catholic life in 20th century America. Directors will want to have a main character, who will have some star appeal but Tom Tryon seemed uncomfortable and awkward. Hitchcock used Montgomery Clift in the movie "I Confess" but Clift's acting was strong enough to make him credible. Carol Lynley as his wayward sister is excellent. However, the scenes showing Lynley as a vaudeville and nightclub performer while Tryon watched in horror from the audience was rather funny and not overly risqué. Maybe the movie is just dated. I found the performances of Burgess Meredith and John Huston very convincing. One meeting between the church prelate and the bed-ridden parish priest was very moving with the Cardinal offering to give the elderly priest the last rites. Huston seemed to combine the gravitas of a high church official with concern for the faithful. Ossie Davis was outstanding as the priest from the state of Georgia fighting racism within his own parish and diocese, seeking help from the Vatican. Fermoyle's relationship with the attractive Romy Schneider, while on a sabbatical to think about his vocation, seemed more to highlight the photography of Vienna and the mountains overlooking the Danube River than to highlight his self-examination of his priestly vocation. The foray to Georgia to help a black priest facing the Klu Klux Klan and the racism of his parish was timely in the1960's when the movie was made. The Irish Catholic population in North America experienced phenomenal growth in the 19th century with successive waves of immigrants, particularly after the Irish potato famine of the 1840's. The second and third generation Irish benefited greatly from the education and social skills they received at Catholic schools, and the life of Stephen Fermoyle shows the idealized priestly vocation that many families aspired to give to their Church. With their love of music, their faith and family life, they formed a distinct culture within the American mosaic. This culture, based mainly in urban America, is what the novel captured. It is too much to believe a movie could be as effective and while the movie has some great photography and acting, it should have been much better

Perhaps its my age,or maybe the current times,but I hadn't seen this film since its release in 1963 that runs 175 minutes,and what a shame that has been.To be a catholic,what does that mean?I've felt there are many roads to Heaven,but the road you take,stay on it or you surly will get lost.Growing up as a catholic I was always angry that some picked and choose what to believe.be one or not,it's not like going to supermarket and buying only what you like. Eventually I too left the church.Will this re watching make me go back,only God knows.Otto Preminger put together a film based on a novel by Henry Morton Robinson thats challenging,hard and sometimes painful to watch,but in the end,its true to what being a catholic is all about in the modern world.you might even say it foresaw "liberation theology"but in a different way. Today we have a Pope who is from Argentina,we had one from Germany and Poland since this film was made.Very interesting indeed.Now to the picture itself. Tom Tryon ,in by far his greatest performance plays Stephen Fermoyle,who at the films end does become a Cardinal.We open with him before the ceremony and his reflecting back over the years as he left his education at the Vatican with his teacher played by Ral Vallone,now we know why HE played a Pope in Godfather 3,and the steps he took as a irish catholic priest from boston to the Vatican and the many conflicting tests to his faith that he conquered while winning some,and losing other battles along the way.First he's knocked down a bit by a Bishop who sees some of himself in the priest and wants the young priest to be saved from ambition and false pride,played by John Houston,so he sends him to a broken down local parish run by a good humble priest,played by Burgess Meredith,where he proves himself to be unselfish. Then family,sister,played by Carol Lynley, in failed relation with a Jew and then a vaudevillian dancer and final death during child birth. A midlife crisis of life in in the 1920's where on leave as he he's questioning his calling,he falls in love but not with a woman who loves him,Romy Schneider,but back to his own calling. Then conscience,civil race strife in Georgia in the 1930's with Ossie Davis as a young black priest. Finally,the movie began at the dawn of WW1 and it comes full circle to the clouds of WW11 gathering on the Horizon. There are many other fine actors as well,Its a sweeping film that doesn't dodge tough questions but rather lets you focus on what YOU think of your own responsibilities in this life as seen thru the eyes of a man of the cloth who questions and seeks as we do.

I quite like Otto Preminger's work, which has consisted of some masterpieces(Laura), some great movies(Carmen Jones), some underrated curiosities(Under Your Spell) to decent and interesting(this). So far, my least has been River of No Return, and even that was nowhere near close to awful.I found The Cardinal to be interesting and a very decent little movie. It isn't entirely successful however, the film is lengthy and does feel overlong and stodgy in places, Tom Tryon's lead performance is rather stiff and when I saw The Cardinal, the sound seemed muffled.However it is a well made movie, with beautiful locations and photography, and the music score is highly emotional. Preminger directs with his usual efficiency, the script has many moments of thoughtfulness and the story is crafted in a loving and careful manner and asks several questions which is a further point of interest. To make up for Tryon, we do have a great supporting cast, especially Burgess Meredith and John Huston who are both wonderful. And the scene with Meredith dying and Huston visiting him was beautifully done.In conclusion, an interesting film. 7/10 Bethany Cox