The Cardinal

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The Cardinal

1963,

2h 55m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

47%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

47%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

On his path to the College of Cardinals, Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon), a newly ordained Catholic priest, is confronted with family, personal and social crises that cause him spiritual turmoil. First, his sister (Carol Lynley) conceives a child out of wedlock; then he is tempted away from the Church by a woman (Romy Schneider) ; later he contends with racial bigotry within the Church and encounters Nazism in Austria. Will Stephen overcome his trials and reach the rank of cardinal?

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Oct 23, 2007

This is an extremely well constructed film, made with a balance that keeps its overflowing plot line in perfect control.

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Tom Milne

Time Out

Jun 24, 2006

Risible script based on a doorstop novel by Henry Morton Robinson, but handled by Preminger with tremendous panache; worth seeing just for the incredible skill and flair with which he stages the action and moves the camera.

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

May 9, 2005

2/5

he end is a great letdown from what Mr. Preminger might have accomplished with the 1950 novel of Henry Morton Robinson. There is no strong flow of spirit through it. Even the melodrama is perfunctory and weak.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Aug 9, 2023

5/10

The film still feels largely uneventful and unmoving; Stephen’s tale just isn’t transformative or unforgettable.

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James Daane

Christianity Today

Dec 20, 2019

The scenery is superb, the acting good: yet The Cardinal suggests neither the crises of the period, nor the anguished religious struggles it seeks to portray within the Catholic soul. Though the treatment is reverential, it lacks spiritual fiber.

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Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

Oct 7, 2019

Otto Preminger has successfully put on film a long, absorbing drama about a young Boston Irishman who becomes an ecclesiastical prince of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Jan 27, 2019

The best movie score ever composed!

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Otto Preminger

Director

Tom Tryon

Stephen Fermoyle

Romy Schneider

Annemarie

Carol Lynley

Mona Fermoyle

John Huston

Glennon

Dorothy Gish

Celia

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Synopsis

On his path to the College of Cardinals, Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon), a newly ordained Catholic priest, is confronted with family, personal and social crises that cause him spiritual turmoil. First, his sister (Carol Lynley) conceives a child out of wedlock; then he is tempted away from the Church by a woman (Romy Schneider) ; later he contends with racial bigotry within the Church and encounters Nazism in Austria. Will Stephen overcome his trials and reach the rank of cardinal?

Director: Otto Preminger
Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenwriter: Robert Dozier
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Otto Preminger Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 12, 1963, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Runtime: 2h 55m

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