Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Ian (Flash Review)This film paints a picture, pun intended, of the process for how the Sistine Chapel got painted. Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo, who was primarily a sculpture, to tackle this impressive frescoes task. Amusing to think Michelangelo's 2nd best trade was painting vs chiseling figures from stone! During the project the two men banter back and forth upon the direction of the frescoes, time it is taking and compensation, which is actually mildly amusing. Pope Julius II is a beast, odd way to describe a Pope, as he still fought in battles on a horse while wearing battle armor. Overall, it doesn't feel as long as it is while it has an epic feel to it. It has some nice historical scenes of the wax and paint dripping in Michelangelo eyes and face and the exhaustive toll it takes on both men. Additionally, the first 15-20 minutes of the film was an actual documentary of the historical Italian art and artists to set the stage for how magnificent the Sistine Chapel truly is.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 7 October 1965 by International Classics (a wholly-owned subsidiary of 20th Century-Fox). Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at Loew's State: 7 October 1965. U.S. release: 7 October 1965. U.K. release: 4 June 1966. London opening at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road: 27 October 1965. Sydney opening at the Paris: 12,568 feet. 140 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Witty, urbane, querulous, pragmatic yet charismatic soldier-pope commissions quarrelsome, rebellious sculptor to paint a ceiling in his Vatican chapel.NOTES: Nominated for five Academy Awards: Color Cinematography (only Shamroy was cited) (lost to Dr Zhivago); Color Art Direction (lost to Dr Zhivago); Sound Recording (lost to The Sound of Music); Original Music Score (lost to Dr Zhivago); Color Costume Design (lost to Dr Zhivago). Negative cost: $12 million. Initial domestic rentals gross: approx. $4 million. Second to The Eleanor Roosevelt Story on the National Board of Review's list of the Ten Best in English for 1965. Filmed from 1 June 1964 to mid-September 1964 in Rome and at locations including Canale de Monterano (for battle sequences) and Todi (for St Peter's Square).COMMENT: What would have been a good film, has been unmercifully padded out to 139 minutes. The fault probably lies not with screenwriter Philip Dunne (who has shown a big improvement of late, cf. Blindfold, which he wrote and directed), but with Irving Stone's original novel. This is evidently aimed at the lowest level of literacy. It depicts Michelangelo as a stubborn, yet dithering iconoclast, who has no interest in his times or the people in it. Therefore, the script displays a corresponding lack of interest. Michelangelo wasn't interested in girls, either. But this would never do for the Italian film industry. And so we are shown Diane Cilento pursuing the hero and his rejecting her for scene after scene after scene of excruciating boredom. Miss Cilento flounders hopelessly in her tawdry lines and ALL her part should be eliminated. This done, the film would receive at least a 75% mark: for Rex Harrison gives a very good performance and Piero Portalupi's beautiful second unit photography is up to his usual high standard. As it stands, however, producer/director Sir Carol Reed (The Third Man, Odd Man Out, A Kid for Two Farthings, Outcast of the Islands) should be ashamed.

Kirpianuscus like many historical films from the same age of Hollywood, the word "impressive" is the first to say. not only for its status of epic drama, costumes and the translation in image of a period. but, maybe , more important, for the admirable clash between Rex Harrison and Charlton Heston. and for the feel than a great story has its right and fair adaptation. because something impose "The Agony and the Ectasy" as special. not the biography of a great artist - and the admirable virtue is to know than Heston is Michelangelo not only act him - but the chance to discover yourself. the film, like the book, it is a beautiful eulogy to the life. using a genius as character of a kind of parable about art, proud, honesty and desire. so, just impressive. in this case - a word with deep roots.

lasttimeisaw The film is an epic grandeur feature of a interpersonal tug-of-war between the maestro Michelangelo and Pope Julius II.I cannot help being shell-shocked to see the reconstruction of the magnificent ceiling though recognizably most of which is the trickery of montage (not in the real the Sistine Chapel, the location was inside Cinecitta Italy instead), but bathing under the glamour and solemnness of the visual wonders, I am stunned to exude my admiration and awe!The two leads conspicuously stimulate a Moses versus Caesar confrontation, Charlton Heston seems to be more boorish than artistic to manifest a struggled Michelangelo, may God doesn't distinguish his people by their looks. The "agony and ecstasy" is watered down to an underwhelming stalemate thanks to Charlton's outlandish incarnation as the most eminent artist of that time. Rex Harrison, is by far and large worthy another Oscar nomination for his arresting devotedness, which is apt to impress the audience with a mind-blowing bi-polar characterization while good and evil coexist at the same time.The film was a grave box office fiasco when it came out in 1965, however, judging by my appraisement, its merits still can be appreciated by our generation (a well-balanced script, the haunting original score and all the props and settings). However, the film entirely skipped Michelangelo's sexual orientation and awkwardly ploys a portentous conversation between Michelangelo and his admirer Contessina de'Medici (a over-wise Diane Cilento), which unveiled its cowardliness and helplessness.My final remark is that as time goes by ruthlessly, art stands still and never fades away, so lucky enough cinema is yet a part of it.