walsusa This November, 2016 is Natalie Wood month on Turner Classic Movies, so it's time once again to show one of her earlier screen efforts, 1954's "The Silver Chalice", a film near the top of my "so bad it's fun to watch, classic clunker" list. Natalie plays the younger Helena, a slave in the house of Ignatius (E.G. Marshall). Ignatius has adopted a young poverty-stricken boy who already shows promise as a carver and sculptor. Ignatius names the young boy Basil and makes Basil his heir, much to the dismay of Linus, Ignatius' brother. Linus, much overacted by Herbert Rudley, denounces the adoption, outraged as he is by the thought that this urchin will inherit most of Ignatius's fortune. After Ignatius's death, Linus has the inheritance fraudulently voided and, equally fraudulently, sells Basil into slavery.Well, that young slave sculptor grows into Paul Newman, a little-known stage and TV actor making his screen debut. Natalie Wood's Helena, whom young Basil had helped to escape from slavery, morphs into a curvy Virginia Mayo, now assistant to Simon the Magician, actually played quite well by Jack Palance. Fortunately for Wood, Newman, and Mayo, their other, more memorable screen work has long since eclipsed their efforts here. But one of the worst aspects of the film is that its plot is based on the Costain novel, which alone qualifies the film for "classic clunker" honors.For some unknown reason, Thomas B. Costain's 1952 "The Silver Chalice" novel made the best seller list. Although any copyright protection had long expired, a suit against Costain by Lew Wallace's estate might still have been in order, even if just on general principles. The "Silver Chalice" plot looks for all the world like a "Ben-Hur" makeover. A young man in biblical times, this time a poor boy raised to great wealth, is wrongfully deprived of that wealth and sold into slavery. His struggle to regain his name and fortune helps him to know Jesus --- this time not through slavery and a chariot race, but through slavery and struggling and finally succeeding to carve an image of Jesus's face for a chalice he's making to house the Holy Grail. Hardly original, it would seem.Not only that, though---Thomas B. Costain posited that for 20 years after the last supper and Jesus's death, the Holy Grail had been in the possession of Joseph of Arimathea --- who knew? Anyway, according to all four canonical gospels, Joseph retrieved Jesus's body from Calvary and, according to some tradition, gave up his own tomb so that Jesus's body would have a place of interment. And according to Mr. Costain, Joseph got hold of the grail as well, keeping it hidden for 20 years. Joseph and Luke the Physician, played by Alexander Scourby, determined to house the grail in a suitable chalice, which is where Basil comes in. Basil had acquired quite a reputation as an accomplished silversmith, so Luke sought him out for the chalice job. Basil makes the chalice, but in all the ensuing battles and riots depicted in the film, the chalice and grail are lost again, maybe for all time. Aside from a subplot involving Simon the Magician and Helena---Simon does tricks to amuse the officers at Antioch's Roman garrison, while Helena apparently turns tricks to gratify those selfsame officers. But Simon eventually imagines his magic is greater than Jesus's reported miracles---so much so that he convinces himself that he can fly unassisted. To prove it Simon jumps off a very tall tower and expects to fly away; it doesn't work out too well for him. Other reviewers have chronicled most of film's, ah, interesting aspects: the cardboard sets, the 1950s dance routines performed at Caesar's Palace (no, supposedly the one in ancient Rome!), the hilarious costumes and makeup, and the over-the-top, kitschy-biblical dialogue.The best performance in the dialogue category is awarded to Lorne Greene, who as St. Peter remains on the dock delivering a farewell speech as Basil, his inheritance now recovered, and his new bride Deborra (Pier Angeli) sail away. Lorne is then left standing there, preaching to absolutely no one, but preaching nonetheless about the grail's return. When the grail does return, he says, it will be into " . . a world of evil and long bitter wars (and election campaigns). In such a world as that the little cup will look very lonely. But it may be in that age when man holds lightning in his hands, and rides the sky as Simon the Magician strove to do. It will be needed more then than it is needed now." OK, I added that "election campaigns" part. But yeah, if ever that "little cup" is to reappear, now is as good a time as any. In the meantime, I might watch "The Silver Chalice" again. As with other "classic clunkers," the more times you watch, the more weird stuff you see!

Michael_Elliott The Silver Chalice (1954) * (out of 4)Really bad "epic" about a Greek slave (Paul Newman) who is asked to make the cup of Christ as well as sculpt the faces of his disciples. The film also follows his connection to Helena (Virginia Mayo), a former slave girl who now works for a magician (Jack Palance) who is going around trying to get followers like Jesus did.THE SILVER CHALICE is best remembered for a Variety ad that Paul Newman took out after he got famous and apologized for not only his performance in this film but also the film itself. Of course, doing something like this is only going to get people interested in the film so I'm sure many people have watched this because of Newman's plea for you not to. There's no doubt about it that Newman should have been embarrassed but he's certainly not the only one as this is certainly one of the worst films of its type.There are all sorts of problems with this but I think the biggest is the fact that they tried to pass this off as an epic. Obviously the filmmakers were trying to cash in on the various epics that were making a killing at the box office but there's just no proof of talent here. For starters, the story itself is rather boring and the two stories just don't mix well together. Even worse is how deadly boring the film is and how it drags throughout the long running time. Throw in some bad dialogue and you've got the occasional laughter. You've even got some really bad looking sets that are obviously built on a soundstage.Even worse are the performances. Having seen the majority of Newman's work there's no question that this here was his worst performance. You can also tell that he had no direction and he's constantly all over the screen and not seeming to know where to turn or how to say a line. Mayo is also just as bad but she seems to be sleepwalking more than anything. Palance doesn't give a "good" performance but it's so campy at times that you can't help but be entertained by it. Everyone else from bit players to extras are all over-the-top and just not very good.THE SILVER CHALICE at least has the benefit of being called one of the worst of its kind. Outside some nice cinematography there's really not much here outside the camp value.

asalayo I actually enjoyed a few parts of this bizarre movie, the first for Paul Newman. I think Jack Palance had the juicier role and he made the most of it as the magician, Simon, who challenges the Lord himself. This was the only "real" part of this movie, with a storyline taken from the Bible.Then we get the problem areas. A real bible story with modernistic, surreal sets. Beautiful Virginia Mayo looks like a Vulcan from Star Trek with her uplifted eyebrows. Her gowns are very 1950's.During Caesar's feast the dancers pop out of the floor and gyrate like they just came from a modern dance recital. The music is deafening.The dialog is simplistic and often unintentionally funny. So are some of the scenes, like the looting scene where two women fight over a gown like they're in Macy's.But what takes so much from the actors is the sets. I just couldn't get past gawking at the most bizarre sets I've ever seen in a movie, much less a Biblical one. These two things simply do not mesh.

wes-connors "The Bible" anthology orator Alexander Scourby (as Luke) chooses Greek sculptor Paul Newman (as Basil) to fashion "The Silver Chalice" that served at Jesus Christ's "Last Supper" with faces of the Lord Christ and some of his disciples. Looking tanned and handsome in Warner colors, Mr. Newman not only has trouble recreating the face of Jesus, but also choosing between bosomy Pagan-tilting Virginia Mayo (as Helena) and pretty Christian-leaning Pier Angeli (as Deborra). His cup runneth over...Unlike Newman, you'll have no trouble figuring out where his character and this story are going...Going up are Ms. Mayo's plucked and penciled eyebrows; going down is Jack Palance (as Simon) as the new Messiah. Don't be too quick with the fast-forward button, lest you miss Mr. Palance's fall from grace. Newman, who herein moved from TV dramatic guest to big screen star, was not proud of this film; and, it's easy to see why. It's a woefully misguided Biblical epic, with Newman not the least of its problems. The musical score by Franz Waxman is nicely done, especially during softer sequences.**** The Silver Chalice (12/17/54) Victor Saville ~ Paul Newman, Virginia Mayo, Pier Angeli, Jack Palance