Review: The Cardinal

Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon) is a young Catholic priest who, throughout the years must contend with tests of his faith from both external matters (racism in the American South, the rise of Nazism in Austria), and those more close to home. Chief among the latter is his wayward sister (Carol Lynley) who wants to marry a nice Jewish boy (John Saxon!). When her family disapproves (despite Saxon offering to convert to Catholicism) and Tryon finds out she has also had pre-marital sex to boot, Lynley loses her faith, leaves home and takes up with a slimy nightclub act (Jose Duval), before things take an even worse turn that will rock the then Father Fermoyle’s faith to its core. Dorothy Gish and Cameron Prud’homme play Fermoyle’s parents, Burgess Meredith is a frail priest, John Huston and Raf Vallone play Fermoyle’s Catholic mentors, Ossie Davis is an African-American priest looking for Vatican assistance with some local rednecks who destroyed his church, Joseph Meinrad plays real-life Austrian Cardinal Innitzer, and Romy Schneider plays a pretty Austrian student Fermoyle meets whilst taking temporary leave from his duties after a crisis of conscience. In smaller turns we have Arthur Hunnicutt as a redneck sheriff, Patrick O’Neal as a racist bully, and Cecil Kellaway in a cameo as a monsignor.

 

Boasting one of the biggest casts ever assembled, one assumes that if you were a known actor in 1963 and didn’t appear in this film, director Otto Preminger (“River of No Return”, “Anatomy of a Murder”, “Exodus”) clearly didn’t like you. Ghastly overlong, this film is unfortunately not so much a serious epic about a religious figure, but a soap opera of the 1960s variety, in the worst possible way. There’s an awful lot that could’ve and should’ve been cut here (It’s almost three hours long!), and Preminger owes absolutely everything to his excellent supporting cast. However, not even all of the heavyweights in town could cover up the charismatic black hole at the centre of this film: Tom Tryon.

 

Poor Tom Tryon, the guy just never had a chance here. He’s just not up to the challenge of such a big, meaty role as this. Although he had appeared on several TV shows, Preminger must’ve thought he had uncovered the next big thing in movies with Tryon. It didn’t go well. Apparently Preminger was positively monstrous towards Tryon during filming (possibly taking out frustration for not hiring the right actor, on Tryon instead of himself), resulting in the actor losing interest in the profession and later finding more success as an author. There are two things readily apparent in just the opening ten minutes of this film; 1) Raf Vallone has no hair, and 2) Tom Tryon has absolutely no business being in the acting profession. Perhaps in a smaller, less demanding role he might’ve proved competent at least, but here, there’s an awful lot of Christopher Reeve in Mr. Tryon, and sadly only one of these men managed to find the iconic role of “Superman” that fit like a glove (He also had some charisma, unlike Tryon). His very casting here is an act of extreme cruelty by Preminger. Every other actor in this film is better than him. Yes, even John Saxon in a useless role…and a bow tie! Seriously, he looks creepy. Hell, Monty Clift (who had admittedly died by this point) would’ve nailed this role for sure, though given his fragility perhaps keeping Clift as far away from Preminger as possible would’ve been for the best (Though given how great an actor Clift was, maybe Preminger would’ve left him the hell alone).

 

Thankfully, Preminger has surrounded the wooden Tryon with one helluva supporting cast, even if several are wasted. Without question the main standouts are Burgess Meredith (who was robbed of an Oscar nomination in my opinion) and John Huston, the director being in his first acting assignment and knocking it out of the park with apparent ease, and earning an Oscar nomination for his work. Meredith excels in a plum role as a frail, well-respected priest that is surely among his finest-ever turns. He and Huston have a short but wonderful scene together that simply wouldn’t have been as special were any lesser talents/stars involved. There’s a whole lotta Hollywood in that scene and it’s a prime example of what I mean about the supporting cast being the whole show here. There’s also a really interesting role for a young, and as usual wonderful, Ossie Davis as an African-American priest. In fact, his subplot is the most interesting section of the film (mostly because it’s less of a soap opera), even if some of the casting seems a tad off. A young-ish Murray Hamilton manages to surprise in a rare good guy role, but western veteran Chill Wills is the last person I’d expect in this film, cast as a hick monsignor. Slightly more palatable is fellow western veteran Arthur Hunnicutt, mainly because he’s not playing a religious figure but a local sheriff. Less effective is Patrick O’Neal, who I just plain never bought as a racist cracker bully. Cast John Cassavetes in the role and you’ve got yourself a deal, though. Romy Schneider is OK as Tryon’s potential love interest I suppose, but it’s only in her second set of scenes that things get really fascinating.

 

Next to the subplot with Ossie Davis, the section on Tryon’s dealings with the Nazis is probably the film’s strongest. It features an excellent turn by Joseph Meinrad as a hopelessly naïve Austrian Cardinal who thinks it’s his duty to support Hitler. Tryon is sent by his superiors to get Meinrad to state it as a personal opinion, not representative of the Catholic Church’s view. However, this section is also a reminder that this film is full of far too weighty subject matter to have been treated in such lightweight fashion. The stuff dealing with Tryon’s tests of faith in his situation with sister Carol Lynley is really soapy, corny stuff, though the aforementioned Saxon (in spite of the bow tie) and uber-creepy Jose Duval try their best. I just found the material in these scenes too superficial and small-fry, taking up too much time that could’ve been put to better use beefing up the more interesting parts of the film. Meanwhile, how could Preminger take a bonafide acting legend in Dorothy Gish (granted, the lesser Gish) and waste her in the staggeringly passive, miniscule role of Tryon’s mother? Inexcusable. Veteran British character actor Cecil Kellaway gets scant screen time too, but certainly maximises his minutes in inimitable scene-stealing fashion.

 

Far too long and far too superficial, this film was never going to be the classic its director might’ve envisioned, especially with a lead actor way out of his depth. It is solely through several members of its mammoth supporting cast (Burgess Meredith taking top honours) that this one manages to be at least tolerable, if seriously uneven. This one’s just not very good, I’m afraid, though it’s certainly not starved for lovely scenery and architecture. The screenplay is by Robert Dozier (John Frankenheimer’s “The Young Stranger”), from a novel by Henry Morton Robinson.

 

Rating: C+