Conference bookie::movies

91.0. "Androcles and the Lion" by DSSDEV::RUST () Mon Mar 22 1993 21:05

    Yet another film that I've noticed in the listings, etc., but never
    bothered to watch - and it's the perfect thing for a lazy afternoon.
    While the screenplay's based on Shaw, I fear it's had a few teeth
    pulled; still, enough biting remarks got through that I was very much
    surprised.
    
    This, you see, is a sort of pastiche on all the Biblical epics (most
    specifically, "The Robe," as it includes Victor Mature and Jean Simmons
    reprising - more or less - their roles from that picture), blended with
    the fable of the title. Androcles is played by a very, very amiable
    (and a bit silly) Alan Young; the lion is played mostly by a real lion,
    sometimes by a stuffed lion, and - in at least one notable and highly
    astonishing scene - by somebody in a lion suit.
    
    There are Romans and Christians and gladiators and so forth, all of 'em
    slinging epigrams at every opportunity. When one of the Christians
    decides he doesn't quite have the nerve to be martyred _today_, and
    flees madly down a corridor offering to sacrifice to any altar that's
    desired, he winds up dashing into the lion's den by mistake - "A
    martyr in spite of himself," as his erstwhile comrade intones. (He also
    ticks off the beastmaster, who complains that "that lion won't want
    another Christian for a whole week!")
    
    It wasn't a complete laff-riot, but I found it sufficiently whimsical
    and snide to be enjoyable.
    
    -b