

01/12/1952
George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.

Victor Mature
as Captain

Jean Simmons
as Lavinina

Alan Young
as Androcles

Robert Newton
as Ferrovius

Maurice Evans
as Caesar

Elsa Lanchester
as Megaera

Reginald Gardiner
as Lentulus

Gene Lockhart
as Menagerie Keeper

Alan Mowbray
as Editor of Gladiators

Noel Willman
as Spintho

John Hoyt
as Cato

Jim Backus
as Centurion

Lowell Gilmore
as Metellus

Woody Strode
as The Lion

Strother Martin
as Soldier (uncredited)

Millard Sherwood
as Christian (uncredited)
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