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The Robe (1953)

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Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 17
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 11

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1

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Movie Info

Historically important as the first CinemaScope feature film, 20th Century-Fox's The Robe is fine dramatic entertainment in its own right. Based on the best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, the film stars Richard Burton as the wastrelly Roman tribune who is assigned by a weary Pontius Pilate (Richard Boone, who spends the whole of his single scene washing his hands) to supervise the crucifixion of Christ. After the Seven Last Words, the jaded Burton wins Christ's robe in a dice game.

G, 2 hr. 13 min.

Drama, Classics

Directed By: Henry Koster

Written By: Lloyd C. Douglas, Gina Kaus, Albert Maltz, Philip Dunne

In Theaters: Sep 16, 1953 Wide

On DVD: Oct 16, 2001

20th Century Fox

The Robe Trailer & Photos

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Critic Reviews for The Robe

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (12) | DVD (15)

The performances are consistently good.

January 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Pious claptrap.

January 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment (1)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Tthe mightiness of masses and the forms of heroes have never loomed so large as they do in this studied demonstration, projected by CinemaScope. But an unwavering force of personal drama is missed in the size and the length of the show.

March 25, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Top Critic

Overblown melodramatic biblical nonsense.

January 30, 2012 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Everything, including performances, is turned up to eleven, and what it lacks in finesse it more than makes up for in sheer spectacle.

January 30, 2012 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

Important historically as the first CinemaScope feature film.

July 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment (1)

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Insufferably wooden.

April 2, 2009 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com

| Comment

David Cornelius

DVDTalk.com

hackneyed Golden Age hokum

March 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Bill Gibron

Filmcritic.com

Had it not been the first film shot in CinemaScope, very few people would probably still be talking about The Robe.

March 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk

| Comment

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Stick with The Ten Commandments, or try watching Fellini Satyricon instead.

January 11, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Artistically, this historical epic, the first to be released in CinemaScope is mediocre due to Kostler's pedestrian direction.

December 31, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Turgid direction, probably not helped by a necessarily cautious approach to framing, is married to creaky dialogue and stiff performances to render this of purely historical interest.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

an interesting film that compels viewers to consider how they would act in such times

April 18, 2003 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews

| Comment

John A. Nesbit

Old School Reviews Source: Old School Reviews

Among the interesting qualities The Robe has to offer, its sense of social transcendence ranks among the worthiest, alongside the film's demystification of religion, and decentralization of its protagonists.

December 12, 2001 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

| Comment

Jon Lap

Apollo Guide

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Audience Reviews for The Robe

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The Robe is best remembered historically important as the first movie shot in Cinemascope. Grand and sweeping, the mere spectacle is enough to make it worth seeing, and helped usher in more than a decade's worth of lavish Biblical epics.

March 20, 2009

Constanza Boutter

Super Reviewer

When I first saw this film, I loved it. It was a perennial and I could not wait for Easter time to see it.Of course, in retrospect, as I drifted away from the Church, the film began to take on a silliness. I still like it, but not as much.

May 5, 2007

Timothy O'Brien

Super Reviewer

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