“Dear Lord, let me have patience and forbearance where now I have anger. Give me humility, Lord. After all, it was only thy merciful goodness and they divine providence that saved the boy. But they are ungrateful and you know it!”
Fox continues its line of Studio Classic with the second film of some fella called Gregory Peck. It would also mark the first time that he was nominated for an Academy Award.
Father Francis Chisholm (Gregory Peck) is an elderly priest about to be forcibly retired from the church. The Monsignor (Cedric Hardwicke) has arrived to do just that, but finds Francis’ journal and begins to read of his life. We begin an extended flashback. We see Francis as a young boy (played by Roddy McDowell) and how his parents are killed while trying to cross a raging stream.
As an adult (now played by Peck) he and his friend Angus Mealy (Vincent Price) are heading off to seminary and are sent off at the train station by their friend Willie Tulloch (Thomas Mitchell) and Francis’ girl Nora (Jane Ball). At seminary, Francis is seen as having controversial ideas (such as respect for all religions) but is well-liked by Father Hamish MacNabb (Edmund Gwenn). Father MacNabb is a bit controversial himself since he believes that a day of fishing can also be interpreted as worshiping God. Francis returns home only to be told by Willie that Nora has died. Francis throws himself into his studies and becomes a priest.
The now Bishop MacNabb decides to send Francis to China to establish a mission there. He finds that the natives are not at all glad to see a Catholic priest in China, the mission is rubble, and the money sent to repair the mission embezzled. He only has one true Christian convert in the faithful Joseph (Benson Fong). The rest were rice-Christians or only Christians as long as the rice is available and Francis has no rice.
Forgive me Father Francis
One day, Mr. Pao (Philip Ahn) arrives to bring Francis to see if he can cure the son of the wealthy Mr. Chia (Leonard Strong). All of the traditional methods have been applied to the boy and he is still not getting better. Francis uses the wonders of Western medicine to cure the boy. Mr. Chia comes to see Francis to become a Christian, however he is only doing it out of gratitude and does not truly believe.
Francis does not accept his conversion, but Mr. Chia has a better idea and gives him a large parcel of land and the manpower to build his mission. The mission is nearly complete when the blessed day comes that the sisters arrive (nuns to you and me). Francis expects them to share his ideas but Reverend-Mother Maria Veronica (Rosa Stradner – later Mrs. Joseph L. Mankiewicz) is rather cold to him and his ideas and relays her disgust to her superiors. However, over time she comes to see how devoted he is to the mission and softens in her views toward him.
Dr. Tulloch arrives and helps out the mission during the Chinese civil war and ends up paying dearly for his participation. Another old friend arrives in the form of Monsignor Angus Mealy, but he has become pompous and has not had to fight for his place as Francis has. He even faces another threat, though more of a congregational one, from another American Christian organization led by the Reverend Dr. Wilber Fiske (James Gleason). The elderly Father Francis returns to his homeland and when end the film where we began it. Will the Monsignor kick out Father Francis?
Keys of the Kingdom is a very good film in my opinion. Peck provides a solid performance and we would see many more out of him throughout his career. There’s some fine supporting roles in the form of Mitchell, Gwen, and Price, but it’s all Peck’s show. The movie is surprisingly tolerant for it’s time. Usually such fare would show a somewhat forceful conversion of the “heathen.”
However, Peck’s Father Francis is somewhat more tolerant of the beliefs of others. We can imagine that in another movie the conversion of Mr. Chia would be played over with harp music and it really wouldn’t matter that Chia is only doing it out of gratitude. It would be seen as a triumph of the Holy Spirit.
Father Francis sees this as somewhat of a blasphemy and tells Mr. Chia that he will only accept his conversion only if he truly believes. Kenneth Geist mentions this on the commentary, but the bookends of the film seem out of place. It might’ve been better to end on Peck’s dockside speech than to end up back with the Monsignor dilemma.
Keys of the Kingdom is presented in fullscreen as it was originally shown. Special features include a commentary by author Kenneth Geist and screenwriter Mankiewicz’s son Chris Mankiewicz. The two were recorded separately and unfortunately there are some gaps of silence. I found Mankewicz’s commentary the more compelling of the two since Geist mainly just provides biographical sketches as players appear on the screen.
The pompous Bishop Mealy
Mankewicz has some good anecdotes to relay, even one about how he himself blew a scene by shouting “there’s my mommy” as his mother Rose Stradner came into the scene. The other features are the film’s theatrical trailer and the Gregory Peck Theater (trailers for The Bravados, David and Bathsheba, Gentlemen’s Agreement, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, The Omen, Twelve O’Clock High, and Yellow Sky).
Keys of the Kingdom is a fine religious film and shows one man’s faith in God. Peck is wonderful in the role and fans of his and religious films will want to add this one to their collections.
Keys of the Kingdom is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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