--- title: "Lilies of the Field" year: 1963 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/lilies-of-the-field" fi1m_score: 70 critics_score: 67 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-09-20T04:14:37.133925+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T04:14:48.381774+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Lilies of the Field (1963) Directed by Ralph Nelson · 1h 34m · MPA NR · Comedy, Drama **Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 67 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* A nun starves a man into building her a church and we were on her side by breakfast > Ralph Nelson’s fable about a drifter and five German nuns in the Arizona desert is slight, sweet and a little too pleased with how easily everyone gets along. Sidney Poitier and Lilia Skala, sparring over wages and God, make it worth the ninety-four minutes. ## Synopsis The Arizona desert. Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier), an ex-GI who lives out of his station wagon and takes odd jobs where he finds them, pulls off the road to fill his radiator at a run-down farm. It belongs to five nuns who have come from East Germany with nothing. Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) puts him on the roof, feeds him a single egg at breakfast, and thanks God rather than Homer for the work. He wants his wages. She has read the verse about the lilies of the field and has decided he is going to build her a chapel. Around them are Sister Gertrude (Lisa Mann) and the other sisters, an English lesson at the kitchen table, and Juan Acolito (Stanley Adams), who runs the cafe down the road where a man can get a proper meal. ## Review Homer Smith drives into the Arizona desert in a station wagon, stops at a run-down farm for water, and is put to work on a roof by a woman who has no intention of paying him. Mother Maria and her four sisters have come from East Germany with nothing, and she has decided God has sent her a builder. James Poe’s screenplay, from William E. Barrett’s novel, is a fable and knows it: one man, one woman, one argument, run for 94 minutes. Ralph Nelson directs it plainly and cheaply, and the plainness is most of its charm. The argument is the film, and the two people having it are well matched. Poitier plays Homer as a man who enjoys his own competence and wants it acknowledged, preferably in cash. He fixes the roof beautifully and then stands there waiting to be told so. Skala’s Mother Maria never raises her voice and never thanks him directly; she thanks God for the roof, in front of him, so that he cannot claim it. The best joke in the picture is that she is always in the wrong and always wins. Homer sits with the nuns after supper and teaches them a spiritual, line by line, and they sing it back in careful, stiff, accented English, getting louder as they gain confidence. We grinned like fools, and then felt slightly embarrassed about how little it had taken. It works because the scene is about the sisters trying, not about Homer performing. The singing voice belongs to Jester Hairston, uncredited, and Poitier mouths it well enough that we did not mind. Jerry Goldsmith builds the score around that one tune, mostly guitar and voices, and keeps it small, which is the right size for a film about a man and a pile of bricks. Ernest Haller shoots the desert in black and white with the horizon as a hard line and the sky washed out to nothing. The farm is a few grey buildings and a fence, and the midday light gives everyone short shadows and squinting eyes. John W. McCafferty cuts scenes off as soon as they have made their point, which suits a script that rarely has more than one point per scene. Stanley Adams gives Juan Acolito, the cafe owner who feeds Homer properly, a cheerful cynicism the film could have used more of. Nelson casts himself as Ashton, the contractor, the only man in the picture who offers Homer paid work. What does not work is everything around the two leads. This is a film about a black man, five German refugees and a Mexican town in 1963, and nobody in it says a hard word to anyone. The sisters’ escape from East Germany is a single line of dialogue. The townspeople exist to be grateful. Homer’s colour is mentioned and then set aside. We do not ask a comedy to be a sermon, but a fable about people who have lost everything ought to let one of them look, for one scene, as if they had. The story is not very believable; the greater trouble is that it is untroubled. The middle stretch also repeats itself. Homer sulks, Maria prays, Homer drives off, Homer comes back. The beat is good the first time and adequate the second, and the film runs it more than it needs to, so that at the hour mark we were fond of everyone and slightly restless. Poe’s script has one idea and one relationship, and 94 minutes is close to the outer limit of what they will carry. It is one of the better gentle, well-meaning pictures of its kind, because the two people at its centre are allowed to be stubborn and petty as well as good. Poitier would go on to sharper and angrier films; this is the sunny one, and not the one to show a stranger who wants to know what he could do. It is the one for a wet Sunday and someone who needs cheering. Bring a cup of tea, and do not expect to remember much beyond the singing, which you will. *Fi1m score 70, published 20 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (5) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, James Powers (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film funny, sentimental, charming and uplifting, praising its intelligence and energy over big budgets, and predicting it will be a great audience picture. They single out James Poe’s screenplay for its economical setup, character development, meaningful detail, and skillful use of humor to make a serious point. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/lilies-field-review-1963-movie-1124442/) - **Empire** (80/100, inferred): The film is an uplifting and likeable story of Sidney Poitier as a handyman helping nuns build a chapel. It highlights his comic sparring with the mother superior without descending into sentimentality. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/lilies-field-review/) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The modest Arizona-shot production succeeds thanks to Poitier’s sharp comic turn as a wandering laborer who meets his match in five East German nuns, restrained direction by Ralph Nelson, and a competent screenplay by James Poe. Diverting scenes include an English lesson with gestures and the group singing “Aymen.” [Read](https://variety.com/1962/film/reviews/lilies-of-the-field-1200420370/) - **The New Yorker**, Brendan Gill (55/100, inferred): The film is apt to be overpraised because of its modest intentions and the scarcity of good American pictures; the story of a construction worker bullied by a mother superior into building a chapel for German nuns in the Arizona desert is not very believable. Intrepid nuns and bullying mother superiors make the critic’s heart sink, but he enjoyed watching Poitier. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1963/10/12/country-pleasures) - **Time Out**, TJ (45/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a gentle but overly audience-friendly liberal drama from the Civil Rights era, with Poitier's Oscar-winning performance seeming lightweight in hindsight, though his portrayal of hard-working decency is noted positively alongside the steely Mother Superior. Overall, it doesn't hold up strongly compared to Poitier's later work. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lilies-of-the-field) ## Details - **Director:** Ralph Nelson - **Director:** Ralph Nelson - **Screenplay:** James Poe - **Novel:** William E. Barrett - **Cinematography:** Ernest Haller - **Editor:** John W. McCafferty - **Music:** Jerry Goldsmith - **Producer:** Ralph Nelson - **Cast:** Sidney Poitier as Homer Smith; Lilia Skala as Mother Maria; Lisa Mann as Sister Gertrude; Isa Crino as Sister Agnes; Francesca Jarvis as Sister Albertine; Pamela Branch as Sister Elizabeth; Stanley Adams as Juan Acolito; Dan Frazer as Father Murphy - **Runtime:** 1h 34m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 1 October 1963 - **Genres:** Comedy, Drama - **Budget:** $247,000 - **Box office:** $7 million ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1964: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Actor (won) - Golden Globes 1964: Best Film Promoting International Understanding (won) ## If you liked this - *In the Heat of the Night* (1967), Fi1m 85: Poitier four years on, in a film that lets the hard words be said. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-heat-of-the-night.md) - *Babette's Feast* (1987): Piety, an outsider and a small community, done with patience and far better food. - *Whistle Down the Wind* (1961): A drifter mistaken for something holy, seen through children, without a note of sugar. - *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86: A stranger arrives with a job to do and the place quietly rearranges him. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) - *Nothing But a Man* (1964): A black labourer in the South, the same year, with none of the comfort. --- © Fi1m Ltd. 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