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Very disappointing...

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Producer: Gabriel Pascal. Executive producer: Howard Hughes. A Gabriel Pascal Production, produced and released by RKO Radio. Animals supplied by Sid Fogel. Lion (Jackie II) trained by Mel Koontz.Copyright 30 October 1952 by RKO Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Capitol: 14 January 1953. U.S. release: 9 January 1953. U.K. release: 8 March 1954 (sic). Australian release: 23 April 1953. Sydney opening at the Esquire. 98 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Ancient Rome. A henpecked tailor extracts a thorn from a lion's paw. This good deed later proves to be his salvation when he meets up with the lion again in the Colosseum.NOTES: Last of Gabriel Pascal's four films, all adaptations of Shaw plays. Originally, Harpo Marx was cast as Androcles, Rex Harrison as Caesar, Dana Andrews as the Captain and George Sanders as Lentulus. Pascal felt Harpo was "the perfect Androcles" and from all accounts, the rushes were absoluteky brilliant. But five weeks into shooting, mega-rich producer Howard Hughes saw Alan Young on some trashy TV show and insisted Young be substituted for Harpo. But Young was not free. His agent had signed contracts all over the place. So Hughes bought up all Young's contracts. By the time this was all settled and shooting was ready to get under way again, only Jean Simmons and Robert Newton were still available to continue in their original roles. All the footage that had been shot was scrapped and Pascal, now firmly under the thumb of Howard Hughes, started shooting again from square one. As a result of Hughes' antics and his decisive interference, Androcles and the Lion is only remembered today as one of Hollywood's costliest failures.COMMENT: Commences in sprightly fashion, but unfortunately, mingled with the excellent wit, satire and comedy is a banal little romance involving Jean Simmons and Victor Mature of all people who rattles off lines about his "dooty" as a soldier until we are blue in the face with boredom. But if Mature overacts, Robert Newton is even worse. Alan Young starts well, but he also plays his part too broadly, especially in the later, sentimental sequences. Fortunately, a brilliant performance by Maurice Evans as Caesar virtually saves the film, though Gene Lockhart and Reginald Gardiner also contribute some deftly-played scenes. Aside from the wit and the amusement offered by about half of the film's episodes, there is a little spectacle for those whose eyes like to dwell on Harry Horner's recreation of the architectural triumphs of ancient Rome. Also outstanding are Stradling's photography and Hollander's music score. On the other hand, Erskine's direction is strictly routine.

Whatever the reverse of deja vu is you'll find it here inasmuch as three of the cast played similar roles in similar films within a year of two of this one. John Hoyt went on to play Decius Brutus in Mank's Julius Caesar whilst Jean Simmons played an almost identical role to the one here in The Robe in which Victor Mature also appeared. Other than that there is little remarkable in this fairly affable adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's satire on early Christianity written, as the majority of Shaw's work, for the theatre. Alan Young makes a decent fist of the eponymous Androcles and though he played a couple more leads his career faded within the decade. Jean Simmons made her US debut here and went on to enjoy several decades of success whilst most of Victor Mature's best work (Kiss Of Death, Easy Living, was behind him. Worth seeing but not worth buying the DVD.

The ancient Greek Aesop wrote a simple fable about being kind to animals and it will be returned in kind by them. From that George Bernard Shaw used the fable to write a satire on the early Christian religion. And now RKO studio brought it to Hollywood under the supervision of Howard Hughes. I'm not sure what Aesop or Shaw might have thought of Androcles And The Lion in this form.It's an interesting film and above all the acting of Alan Young in the title role as the almost child like Androcles the tailor carries the film over a couple of bumpy spots. Later on Alan Young played that ultimate of animal lover Wilbur Post in Mister Ed.Shaw was trying to say that there are many kinds of Christians and there are other forces in personality that will determine which tenets of Christianity or for that matter any religion will dominate in one. Faced with the choice of being martyred or standing up for oneself, Robert Newton decides the sword is mightiest of all and makes short work of six of Emperor Maurice Evans's gladiators. Gentle Christian woman Jean Simmons spurns the love of praetorian Victor Mature, but Newton's performance in the arena saves them all.Finally there's Young who is thought of as a sorcerer and that scares them more than possibly being a Christian. He gets to go in the arena and face a lion. Wouldn't you know it's the same lion he took a thorn out of a paw. Naturally the lion isn't about to make a meal of his friend. That puts the whole empire under his thumb if he wanted it. But it's not in the gentle and kind Young nature. He's as meek, as Newton is aggressive and Simmons is pious. Just their basic personalities that religion did not change in any way.One performance that is not normally commented on is that of Elsa Lanchester as Young's shrew of a wife. One of the reasons that Young likes animals is that they don't pester him the way she does. He bears the cross of his partner with a cheerful acceptance, but you get the feeling that Christian martyrdom might just be a way out of a bad marital situation.Aesop might not recognize his tale, but enough of Shaw's observations on life remain intact in Androcles And The Lion.

Androcles is a devout Christian, all creatures are friends of the Earth. During an encounter with a lion, who is roaring in pain, he removes a huge thorn from the beasts' paw, thus creating a friend for life. A short time after the incident, Androcles and a number of other Christians are arrested and condemned to death in the arena. They are to die by fighting with gladiators or eaten alive by lions, is there any chance that Androcles and his companions can survive their fate?During my viewing of this film I was eating some soup and bread, I literally nearly choked on the bread and expelled the soup via my nose! Such is the hammy comedy on offer here, Androcles And The Lion, adapted from a George Bernard Shaw play, is an enjoyable picture if one is prepared for just what a ham sandwich it is. The cast, featuring Victor Mature, Jean Simmons, Alan Young and Robert Newton, play it as cardboard cutouts {Simmons possibly the only one taking it serious}, with the technical aspects so bad I dare you not to laugh out loud as Young dances with a man in a Lion suit!!Don't take it serious and you should be OK, and I'm certainly not annoyed that I sat thru it, but I would rather wrestle a Lion and two Tigers before I had to sit and watch it again! 4/10