Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Michael Neumann For this bubblegum biography of Saint Francis of Assisi, director Franco Zeffirelli wears his heart on his sleeve, but his head is full of flowers, butterflies and birdsong, enough to turn even the most stubborn romantic into a hardened cynic. Pandering shamelessly to the wide-eyed innocence of an audience just then learning how to make love and not war, Zeffirelli presents the young Saint-to-be, somewhat anachronistically, as the world's first counter-culture dropout. In the same late '60s spirit most of the film leans toward unforgivably trite platitudes: witness the ludicrous scene between Francis and a tearful Pope Innocent III, played by Alec Guinness like he was anticipating his future role as Obi Wan Kenobi. Fortunately the director's eye for imagery is stronger than his ear for dialogue (or music: nothing dates the film more than the Donovan guitar ballads on the soundtrack). The best antidote for anyone watching the film at home would be to simply mute the volume and enjoy the scenery.

T Y While a step forward from the decidedly rotten Bradford Dillman biopic (a very iffy step), the tone of this simpering version of the life of St Francis is credulous and irritating. It was clearly intended to bridge the chasm between biblical times and the summer of love. Zeffrelli mounts a paean to his Catholic faith, while attempting to one-up the ersatz/medieval glam of Camelot ('67). It benefits from Zeffrelli's usual attention to design and architecture, and he's intriguingly modern even when filming historical material; but it's harmed by its design fussiness also. 1973 was apparently the final year you could push the flower-picking, bug-admiring dippiness of the 60s flower child movement. Since it's moment under the sun was past, the culmination here reaches an almost impossible level of silliness.If all that wasn't enough, the movie also features mewling, didactic, simpleton songs about the glory of God's earth by Donovan, who clearly didn't understand that 100 percent gentle sincerity is absolute pap. But then the "rock" group Bread from the same era never figured that out either. BSSM is almost as full of irritating saps, as Godspell (which is the worst movie ever made).

zetes Francis of Assissi depicted as the first hippie. That's not really a ridiculous comparison. After all, Godspell depicts Jesus and the Apostles as hippies, as well, far more annoyingly, I may say, than Zefferelli depicts these characters. I actually started off really enjoying this picture. I thought it was sweet, lovely, and beautiful. It helps a lot if you like Donovan. I know that he's kind of dopey, but I've always found his mellowing tunes quite pleasant. None of his songs here are among his best (in fact, not a one appears on the anthology I own, which contains other work on soundtracks), but they're pretty good. Unfortunately, the film never really goes anywhere. It plateaus early and only reaches a little further in its climax, when Francis and his followers ask the Pope (Alec Guiness, in what amounts to a cameo) to bless their order. The only really good Francis of Assissi movie I've seen is Roberto Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis.

karl_consiglio Good acting, some nice cinematography, all in all good considering it an old film but I must say it was way too spoonfeeding for my tastes and a lot of the life of St Francis was left out. This is the same director that shot Jesus of Nazareth, the Monthy Python boys could easily have spoofed this as they did with that due to this very spoonfeeding I am on about. I think I much preferred the movie "Francesco" with Mickey Rourke, although not even that made me feel as engulfed as the book I read about the man and saint, definitely one of my favorites. St Francis was a downright rebel, this is not documented well enough here and when they dare to I must say there are some cheesy and unconvincing moments. Another thing to point out and i am glad they don't do it anymore is when you get them Italian characters being played out in the cleanest English. Now don't get me wrong the man and his story are so great that even this version is worth a watch. There is a lovely part about the stones. Oh and the music to this film is truly special and adequately most poetic.