The Silver Chalice (film)

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The Silver Chalice
An early VHS cover for the film
Directed by	Victor Saville
Written by	Thomas B. Costain (novel), Lesser Samuels (screenplay)
Starring	Virginia Mayo Pier Angeli Jack Palance Paul Newman (debut)
Music by	Franz Waxman
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 20, 1954
Running time	135 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

For other uses, see silver chalice.

The Silver Chalice is a 1954 historical epic film from Warner Bros., based on Thomas B. Costain's 1952 novel of the same name.

It marked the début of Paul Newman as an artist named Basil (né Ambrose), who was given the task of making a silver chalice to house the Holy Grail. It also featured Virginia Mayo as Helena, Pier Angeli as Deborra, Jack Palance as Simon Magus, the villain, Joseph Wiseman as Mijamin, Alexander Scourby as Saint Luke, Walter Hampden as Joseph of Arimathea, Lorne Greene as Peter, and an appearance by Natalie Wood, who plays Helena as a child. Victor Saville was the director.

Apart from being Paul Newman's first film, this artistically and visually beautiful film, intended to be a Biblical epic, is remembered chiefly for the curious domes in the unusual set designs, resembling something that might be seen in a sci-fi film; and for its film score by Franz Waxman, which was nominated for an Academy Award. The film had its world premiere in the small town of Saranac Lake, New York, which won a competition selling small trinkets. Saville, Mayo, Angeli and Palance attended, and participated in, a parade around the time of the town's annual winter carnival. The premiere itself was hosted by television personality Art Linkletter.

Paul Newman was apparently not proud of his performance. When the film was broadcast on television in 1966, he took out an advertisement in a Hollywood trade paper apologizing for his performance, and requesting people not to watch the film. This backfired, and the broadcast received unusually high ratings. The film is sometimes referred to as Paul Newman and the Holy Grail. Newman has allegedly called the film "the worst motion picture produced during the 1950s".

So far, Warner Home Video has only released Chalice on VHS format; no plans for a DVD version have been yet announced.