Androcles and the Lion

"SPECTACLE, ROMANCE, COMEDY!...as only Shaw could write it and the screen show it!"

1952 1h 38m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 16

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.

“SPECTACLE, ROMANCE, COMEDY!...as only Shaw could write it and the screen show it!”

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Where to watch · US

Criterion ChannelSubscription

Cast

Victor Mature
Captain
Jean Simmons
Lavinina
Alan Young
Androcles
Robert Newton
Ferrovius
Maurice Evans
Caesar
Elsa Lanchester
Megaera
Reginald Gardiner
Lentulus
Gene Lockhart
Menagerie Keeper

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Chester Erskine
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

74 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Chester Erskine, shot by Harry Stradling Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Friedrich Hollaender. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Roland Gross shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Victor Mature and Jean Simmons and Alan Young carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "SPECTACLE, ROMANCE, COMEDY!...as only Shaw could write it and the screen show it!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0044355 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 16 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chester Erskine directs. Harry Stradling Sr. behind the camera. Friedrich Hollaender scores. Roland Gross cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

174 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Chester Erskine, shot by Harry Stradling Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Friedrich Hollaender. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Roland Gross shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Victor Mature and Jean Simmons and Alan Young carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "SPECTACLE, ROMANCE, COMEDY!...as only Shaw could write it and the screen show it!".
7IMDB entry: tt0044355 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 16 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr.
Original score: Friedrich Hollaender
Editing: Roland Gross
Production design: Harry Horner
Costume design: Emile Santiago
Makeup / hair: Larry Germain
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Androcles and the Lion (1952)

Also by

Chester Erskine

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-10
★ 7/10
I think Charles Erskine has done pretty well with this entertaining adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw comedy. Escaping from his overbearing wife "Magaera" (Elsa Lanchester), "Androcles" (Alan Young) discovers a lion in the wilderness with a thorn in it's paw. Despite being petrified, he removes the offending pain and the lion escapes. Shortly afterwards, he finds himself a prisoner of the Romans under the command of Victor Mature. He is rounding up Christians for the Emperor's grand circus and has already recruited "Lavinia" (Jean Simmons) and will soon add the ferocious "Ferrovius" (Robert Newton) as they journey to Rome. En route we learn a little about the strength of their respective faiths - to Jesus and to the Emperor, and by the time we get to the sharp end, it's clear that loyalties are becoming a little blurred on the latter side. I think this is GBS writing at his best. The comedy is fairly continuous, though not always laugh out loud, and the effort from Newton is as good as he delivers anywhere in a career of strong, characterful, acting. Hats off also to Young who does well here serving to hold together a cast of experienced talent delivering quite a thought-provoking and certainly enjoyable hundred minutes of historical light-heartedness set to a positively jolly score from Frederick Hollander. This is good fun, and well worth a watch to see what can be done with a strong story delivered by a cast who know what they are doing.

Production companies