Lilies of the Field
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.49 You Save: $8.49 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.33 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Lilies of the Field
Movie Review: Sidney Poitier made his mark on this film!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't get enough of Mr. Poitier. It' was great that he won Best Actor on this film playing Homer Smith, who is an out-of-work construction worker that helps a group of foreign (East European) Catholic nuns build their church and learn to speak English. Lilia Skala was great too. She earned her only Academy Award nomination (Supporting Actress) playing the head Mother Superior Maria. There are a lot of wonderful touching moments and funny interactions between these two main characters that will have you glued to the set.
Sidney Poitier is masterful in this role and is greatly remembered for it. His subtle humor fills the plot, even becoming hilarious at times. In one scene Homer is teaching the German nuns English, and he cannot help himself from modeling for them some Southern black dialect: Instead of "I stand up," he grins as the sisters follow his "Ah stands up, y'all"! Homer is so likable because he is good-natured, but Poitier lends texture to his character mainly through his interaction with his foil, the Mother Superior who will not thank him for all of his labors. Watch for strong musical scenes from Poitier as well, in which he intermingles his own religious background with the nun's East Germany Catholicism.
Lilia Skala is appropriately stern and commanding as Mother Maria. We know the sisters have come a long way, even over the Berlin Wall, to get to this inherited property in the American desert. The broken English spoken by her and her charges serves to endear the nuns to us. They are all humble but fiercely devoted people. As Juan, Stanley Adams does nice work. Although his accent and diction smack of falseness - this man seems to want to revert to a Bronx twang - Adams musters a rascally nonchalance that bonds him with Homer. Juan also functions as a template for the modern age: Catholic-born, this agnostic now serves meals in his restaurant while the traveling priest says mass for the people who have come from far and wide.
Dan Frazer does well as Father Murphy, the priest whose prayers for a massive cathedral were answered with a trailer with bald tires. And director Ralph Nelson ( who made many films beside this one, notably "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Father Goose" and "Charly) acquits himself well as Mr. Ashton, the slightly racist builder who employs Homer and who is the victim of Mother Maria's constant pleas for donations. If you are looking for a small but thought-provoking work, a film that covers tolerance and faith and friendship through its exploration of a most unlikely relationship, watch "Lilies of the Field."
Movie Review: "Just passing thru."
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a smooth effortless beautiful story of faith. Other stories just seem to try so hard to make a point. This one succeeds!
I used to watch this when I was a child. I saw it again over the weekend with my niece who is 13. Every movie I dusted off to play she would revert back to her toddler days and start whining. But I stuck to my guns and made her watch this. Of course the whining was even louder when she saw it was in Black and White, but it didn't take long for her to be reeled in. This movie is so endearing and it always amazes me how in ANY movie Sidney Poitier did in the early sixties he struck such a cord with the viewers to where you could not take your eyes off of him. NO ONE could have made this role work other than him, even Gregory Peck who I adore. Somehow it just wouldn't have been the same at all.
With faith that could move a mountain the Reverend Mother thanks God for the man who will build a Chapel for her as Homer Smith or "Omer Schmitt" as she refers to him, stops there for water. When he notices her giving Thanks, he is very quick to tell her he is "just passing thru" to which she replies "Yah.... but you stopped." So begins the battle of faith and wills. She has no money in which to pay him; he works for hire so he can go further out west, yet thru her faith in God Homer will build her a "SHAP-IL". Homer's charm and generosity both melts some of her icy exterior and makes her let go of her ferocious pride as head of household when he brings brightness to the sisters' barren existence yet he doesn't allow her to run him over. (Not every time.) Although he and the Reverend Mother are just like oil and water Homer finds that he cannot up and leave them.
It's amazing how a story whose cinematography shows the starkness of the landscape with the nuns walking in the distance (just 5 little black dots against a panoramic landscape of blazing white) and gentle story line can make you feel serene and happy where you would not usually equate the desert to those feelings. It's such a beautiful flowing mix of emotions and visions that you can't help but feel heart broken when the reverend mother realizes at the end what is going on when the sisters are singing "Amen." You want everything to stay just as it is. This story just seems to flow with no effort.
It just unfolds...... absolutely beautiful.
Movie Review: Heart-warming
Summary: 5 Stars
Few films age as well as "Lilies of the Field". I saw it just recently for the first time in over 40 years and to my surprise it has lost none of its charm. It is just as light-hearted, humourous and relevant as I remembered it to be. Themes of racial harmony, brotherhood, community involvement and an honest day's work are still admirable values worth reminding us to practice.
Sidney Poitier is the star here. And shine he does. His verbal sparring with Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) is brilliantly acted and memorable. He deservedly won an Oscar for his performance as the itinerant jack-of-all-trades Homer Smith. Lilia Skala's acting is stellar too as the strong-willed nun whose faith and perseverance convinces Homer Smith and others to build a chapel.
The DVD itself is okay. Picture quality of this 1963 B&W film is superb. Subtitles are in Spanish and French. The original trailer is a nice addition too.
Overall, "Lilies of the Field" is a wonderful film for the entire family. It really doesn't matter what cultural or religious background you come from or what age group you fit in. My father was a German-American kid taught by Catholic nuns who had fled Nazi Germany, and I suppose there was a shared similarity with the East European nuns depicted in this film when he watched it. My wife is Malaysian, yet she thoroughly enjoyed this film. All of which just goes to show its message is universal and ageless.
Get the movie. Read the novella The Lilies of the Field By William E. Barrett. Both are a delight.
Movie Review: Another Poitier Triumph
Summary: 5 Stars
Although highly regarded in its day, "Lilies of the Field" is now considered a relic of the civil rights era or Hollywood's token Oscar "gesture" to a Black performer. This is unfortunate, since it underrates both the film and Poitier's textured performance. "Lilies..." is a simple, funny and touching story that emphasizes respect for the differences in people. Lilia Skala gives a powerhouse performance as the Mother Superior, almost stealing the film from Poitier. She gives just the right measures of rage and prideful determination to make her character sadly noble. Hers is one of the most memorable supporting performances on film, and she deserved an Oscar as well. But this is Poitier's show, and he gives the character of Homer humor, rebeliousness and magnanimity that make him unique in films. Rather than the usual angry political stance Hollywood takes with anything involving race, this character is presented as simple, decent, a little lost, but just an average man doing the best he can. There's nothing "special" about him, which makes the character (and Poitier's performance) special and memorable. Of note in this edition, the digital transfer of the film is especially crisp and vivid, not the usual slack job MGM does with these older films. Unfortunately, there are almost no extras, and it would have been great to have a commentary by Poitier to listen to. Still, this is a memorable film for the whole family. Makes me wanna holler.Movie Review: great film with a powerful message....
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are looking for a good introduction to the masterful actor, Sidney Poitier, I truly reccomend that you watch LILIES OF THE FIELD. What distinguishes Poitier from other actors that I have seen is the way in which he embodies the characters he brings to the screen. Poitier has the grace of a dancer and the presence of a prize fighter. His combination of charisma and realism in the role of Homer Smith absolutely grabs your attention and you can't help but watch him.
Smith is an unemployed man, who is highly skilled with his hands and willing to take on odd jobs to make his way out of a small town in the Southwest. By a strange twist of fate, he encounters an Eastern European nun, Mother Superior Maria (Lilia Skala), who has prayed to God that she be brought someone to build a chapel for the large immigrant population in her parish. (They are holding worship services literally in the middle of the desert, with not church in sight.) Every time Homer tries to leave, (seemingly) a higher power keeps bringing him back to Maria and the other sisters (who speak few words of English).
Not only is this film a great examination of faith and the power of prayer, but it also is a great examination of racial and cultural relations in 1960s United States, through the eyes of immigrants and an outsider. This film is intelligent, without being preachy. It will even make you smile.