The Power and the Glory

TV Movie
1961
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

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A cynical Catholic priest is sent to Mexico to preach. It's the 1930s and Mexican government sees the church as competition. They send a secret agent to assassinate the priest.A cynical Catholic priest is sent to Mexico to preach. It's the 1930s and Mexican government sees the church as competition. They send a secret agent to assassinate the priest.A cynical Catholic priest is sent to Mexico to preach. It's the 1930s and Mexican government sees the church as competition. They send a secret agent to assassinate the priest.

Director
- Marc Daniels
Writers
- Graham Greene
- Dale Wasserman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

101

YOUR RATING

Director
- Marc Daniels
Writers
- Graham Greene
- Dale Wasserman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 2 nominations total

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Trivia
This play was recorded on tape, not filmed. Despite this, it was transferred to celluloid to enable a (limited) cinema release in the U.K., with a running time of ninety-eight minutes. The resulting reduction of picture quality was universally derided by British reviewers.

Connections
Version of The Fugitive (1947)

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Review

Featured review

5/10

Where are the Mexicans?

"The Power and the Glory" is a made for TV movie that apparently was a big to do back in 1961. This is because the copy I saw on Tubi had both the commercials AND an announcement that several shows were being canceled for the week in order to show this special movie. Sadly, it wasn't all that special.

The film is set in the early part of the 20th century in Mexico. You might be very surprised to learn that this very Catholic nation persecuted priests for a couple decades...jailing and expelling most of them. The story is about one priest (Laurence Olivier) who is a lousy priest...but one who has managed to evade the authorities.

There were two major problems with this film. First, none of the principles in the film were Mexican nor did they seem very Mexican. It was the norm at the time for such casting and I hate it not so much because of political correctness but realism. Seeing George C. Scott and Roddy McDowell, for example, as Mexicans really took me out of the story. Second, the performance by Laurence Olivier was dull and lifeless...surprisingly so. It looked almost as if he didn't want to be in the film it was so sluggish and uninteresting. Overall, a mildly interesting but very flawed film. Worth skipping but not terrible.