"Lilies of the field" is one

of the few films I saw when I was growing up. We lived too far away from the closest picture theatre to think about going on a regular basis. It was also too expensive to take us very often. Add to that the fact that people could smoke in the theatre kept us children well and truly away from films most of the time. 

I can remember seeing "Snow White" and hating it. I was bewildered by the first Beatles film (the only one I have seen) and I have explained about that elsewhere. There are a few other films I can remember but I don't have the vast knowledge of so many of my generation.

But I do remember "Lilies of the field" better than most. Unusually I went to see it with a church youth group. I suppose it was considered suitably "religious" by the youth group leaders.  I don't really remember too much about what the others in the group thought of the film.  Now teens would probably consider it to be very tame and rather dull but I think it was the first film I saw where I was actually conscious of outstandingly good acting. 

 It was not what Poitier was actually saying that had such an impact on me as the way he sometimes actually said no words at all and still said so much.  Between them he and Lilia Skala (who acts the Mother Superior) "say"  far more than the script asks of them. I am not much interested in "the Oscars" but if they are to be given for outstanding acting then there is acting worthy of more than one in that film. 

I wonder what a group of teens would make of the film now.