One of the more ridiculous 'epics'.
First of all, Richard Burton looks positively -puny- in the movie. All the other manly men (Victor Mature, etc.) make him look like a hairdresser.
And regardless of his Shakespearean cred his acting is B-movie bad. Whenever he's 'affected' by the robe it's like watching a drive-in horror movie. 'Get it off me! Aiiiii!'
It's a shame because as these things go it's a good idea.
Agreed...Burton was a voice, nothing more in my eyes, extremely wooden and overrated. He seems so out of place in this, very uninterested in his role and lost amongst greater talents and large spectacle.
shareDisagree: Burton's penchant for expressing sarcasm and cynicism served him well in the part. And he held his own even against the scene-stealing Jeff Morrow. And that ain't nothin' !
shareI agree. Burton's been criticized for being "stiff" in the role, but it seems to me a Roman officer would be a little stiff most of the time (ah, no pun intended). Mature, however, came off as most impressive, imo.
shareI think you're being a little harsh; he does give way to overracting at times, but this was one of his earlier Hollywood movies. Overall I think he holds the movie together well.
I admit though he could be a massively inconsistent actor, but if you want to check out his better performances I suggest 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', 'Becket' and 'The Spy Who Came into the Cold'.
I'm just speaking about this movie. I -really- liked Virginia Woolf and 1984. 'The Spy...' seems kinda 'scenery chewing' to me now. I think he acted 'for the stage' (ie. too big) on screen... at least until he got older.
shareYes, you may be right that "he acted 'for the stage'". Laurence Olivier suffered similar problems early in his career, but was fortunate to work with William Wyler on 'Wuthering Heights', which helped him restrain himself somewhat.
To be honest I have only seen 'The Spy...' once, but I seem to remember him being relatively restrained. I loved that film though. As for 'The Robe', whilst I accept that Burton was maybe a bit fortunate to get an Oscar nomination for his role; but I struggle to think of other actors to play the role in 1953 (Charlton Heston was still a bit fresh faced and other actors who could have pulled it off were seemingly otherwise engaged in similar epics). I also accept the somewhat unfashionable (at least in acting terms) Victor Mature outdid him in this one.
this dramatic way of acting or stage acting if you will was quite common for the time
so many movies, so little time
It was fun to see him in his younger years.
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