Androcles and the Lion

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

Jan 9 1953 Approved 1h 38m
Adventure, Comedy

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.

Plot

Androcles is a Christian who follows that religion's teachings even as they apply to the treatment of animals. Seeing a lion in pain, he removes a huge thorn from the beast's paw, creating a friend for life. Androcles and a number of other Christians are evenutally arrested and condemned to death in the arena. They are to die by being eaten by lions. Is it too much to hope that one of the lions may have a paw that has healed recently and might remember who helped heal it?

Written by

Chester Erskine, Ken Englund, George Bernard Shaw

Directed by

Chester Erskine, Nicholas Ray

Cast

Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Alan Young

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

RKO Radio Pictures

Languages

English

Awards

N/A

Scores
# of Votes
1,115
Average Rating
6 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA