Directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Maximilian Schell and Ricardo Montalban, this unique faith-based drama recounts the story of Giuseppe Desa aka Joseph of Cupertino (Italy), a Catholic Priest that was ordained in 1628 and was canonized some 100 years after his death. Other than being a simple uneducated man that achieved this position in the church, Giuseppe is chiefly known today for levitating during Mass!
In the film, Giuseppe is played by Schell, one year after the actor won his Best Actor Oscar in Judgment at Nuremberg, and Montalban plays a skeptical priest - Don Raspi, who even exorcised Giuseppe before witnessing the flying feat himself. Lea Padovani is marvelous as Giuseppe's mother, who bullies her brother Father Giovanni (Harold Goldblatt) to offer his nephew a place to live and work in the stables at the monastery. Akim Tamiroff plays a Bishop who's in large part responsible - along with a little serendipity related to Luke 15 (The Parable of the Lost Sheep) - in Giuseppe's progress from simpleton to priest.
The tone of the film is light and airy as opposed to overly serious or too comedic; the story is treated with respect. The audience is led to sympathize with Giuseppe who is teased by his younger peers, having taken until adulthood to earn his diploma despite being barely able to read and write. He's a sweet 'boy' with a tender heart, especially for animals. His father is a lazy alcoholic that avoids his overworked wife, and she's determined not to be responsible for Giuseppe anymore, having supported both of them thus far. That's when her brother, a Father at the monastery, visits and she jumps at the opportunity for Giuseppe to be put to some use, doing chores there.
At the monastery, Giuseppe is fairly useless at doing much of anything besides sleeping and befriending the animals; he's even kicked out for breaking a 200-year-old statue of the Madonna. But Mother will have nothing to do with her son's return and, reminding her brother of how much trouble he was when he was Giuseppe's age, forces him to accept her son back into the monastery. Then, Giuseppe finds his place tending to the animals in the stables. Shortly thereafter, the Bishop visits and it's his country background and fondness for some newborn sheep that helps to forge a bond between he and Giuseppe, which leads to the simple man's ordination and eventually the supernatural occurrences.
In the film, Giuseppe is played by Schell, one year after the actor won his Best Actor Oscar in Judgment at Nuremberg, and Montalban plays a skeptical priest - Don Raspi, who even exorcised Giuseppe before witnessing the flying feat himself. Lea Padovani is marvelous as Giuseppe's mother, who bullies her brother Father Giovanni (Harold Goldblatt) to offer his nephew a place to live and work in the stables at the monastery. Akim Tamiroff plays a Bishop who's in large part responsible - along with a little serendipity related to Luke 15 (The Parable of the Lost Sheep) - in Giuseppe's progress from simpleton to priest.
The tone of the film is light and airy as opposed to overly serious or too comedic; the story is treated with respect. The audience is led to sympathize with Giuseppe who is teased by his younger peers, having taken until adulthood to earn his diploma despite being barely able to read and write. He's a sweet 'boy' with a tender heart, especially for animals. His father is a lazy alcoholic that avoids his overworked wife, and she's determined not to be responsible for Giuseppe anymore, having supported both of them thus far. That's when her brother, a Father at the monastery, visits and she jumps at the opportunity for Giuseppe to be put to some use, doing chores there.
At the monastery, Giuseppe is fairly useless at doing much of anything besides sleeping and befriending the animals; he's even kicked out for breaking a 200-year-old statue of the Madonna. But Mother will have nothing to do with her son's return and, reminding her brother of how much trouble he was when he was Giuseppe's age, forces him to accept her son back into the monastery. Then, Giuseppe finds his place tending to the animals in the stables. Shortly thereafter, the Bishop visits and it's his country background and fondness for some newborn sheep that helps to forge a bond between he and Giuseppe, which leads to the simple man's ordination and eventually the supernatural occurrences.