Peace Prayer

The first thing that strikes is how incredibly good-looking this film is: medieval Italy is a riot of colour, with a great deal of attention being paid to settings and locations. The problem is with the subject matter - prayer and meditation are not hugely telegenic, and so dramatic interest must be manufactured through minor characters such as that played by Stuart Whitman, which isn't terribly satisfactory. The film has a good, but rather redundant, leading lady in the lovely Dolores

Hart, who, in a wonderful case of life imitating art, quit the screen to become a nun a few years afterwards. So we get edited highlights - the peace prayer, the interview with the Pope, the sacking of Jerusalem, etc., but in the end, it doesn't seem to add up to much. Some beautiful work in parts, but the parts are greater than the whole.