I last saw this film as a child some 50 odd years ago. I remember after all these years, watching Alan Young, Mr. Ed's owner, waltzing with a lion in the Coliseum in Rome. I also remember knowing that the Romans did not treat the Christians very well in this setting. Shame on you George Bernard Shaw. Mr. Young, who apparently just turned 96 years old, a character actor of some merit, plays an insipid man who, in a most dingle-jolly way, is taken with a group of Christian prisoners to provide entertainment. He is docile and so trusting with those big eyes. Even a man who lives in a kind of la la situation would recognize that pain and death were just around the corner. He tries to inspire the others who are all giddy with their heads in the clouds. They somehow have learned Hymns that were written at least 700 years later. I guess this is supposed to be a comedy. The Roman soldiers are a bunch of silly Teddy bears, sort of like Sergeant Schultz on Hogan's Heroes. A laugh fest in a German prison camp. It also has Victor Mature, one of the most one dimensional actors of all time. Why the pretty young Christian girl played by Jean Simmons would want anything to do with someone so boring, I don't know. There is a fine line between comedy and tragedy. Making the Romans straight men who would never have fawned over those who were anathema to them was insulting. Watching the emperor chased by the lion was the final touch in a marvelously forgettable film.
Review of Androcles and the Lion
