--- title: "The Robe: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-robe/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-robe" critics_score: 52 critics_reviews: 7 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." --- # The Robe (1953): what the critics said Critics' score 52 from 7 reviews: 3 positive, 1 mixed, 3 negative. The critics are split, and the split runs along the calendar. Almost everyone agrees the film is a spectacle first: the CinemaScope frame, the sets for Rome and Jerusalem, and the sheer size of the pageantry draw praise from the warmest and the coldest reviews alike. The notices from its original release find the performances consistently good, with Jean Simmons, Richard Burton and Victor Mature singled out, and treat the scale as an achievement in its own right. Later critics see something else. Empire calls it pompous schlock, and Time Out and Collider find the direction turgid, the dialogue creaky and the whole thing preachy and slow, of interest mainly as the first CinemaScope production. Even The New Yorker, writing in 1953, complains that some scenes take far too long to end. The spread is wide, from 90 down to 20, and the pattern is plain: the closer a critic sits to 1953, the more the spectacle covers for the rest. ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1952. The film is a big picture in every sense, with magnificent scenes unveiling the splendor of Rome and turbulence of Jerusalem under the new CinemaScope technique. Performances are consistently good, with standout work from Simmons, Burton and Mature, and impressive set pieces throughout. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1952/film/reviews/the-robe-1200417355/) ## Los Angeles Times — Mark Chalon Smith Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 6 April 1994. The Robe is a testament to Hollywood storytelling and an icon of big-studio showiness combining CinemaScope and Technicolor, with earnest performances especially from Victor Mature. It is well-meaning but not art, with grandiloquent gestures and excesses that would not offend even a zealous fundamentalist. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-06-ca-42776-story.html) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 17 September 1953. The picture is essentially a smashing display of spectacle on the new giant CinemaScope screen, with magnificent panoply of Rome, Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Performances are remarkably good given the emphasis on physical action and spectacle over intimate drama. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1953/09/17/archives/the-screen-the-rose-shown-in-cemascope-movie-based-on-douglas-novel.html) ## The New Yorker Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 19 September 1953. The launch film for CinemaScope is an adaptation of Lloyd Douglas's pious novel about a Roman tribune's conversion, but it takes an unconscionable length of time to get through some scenes. It is at its best in standard movie routines like duels and chases, which remain effective on the wide screen. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1953/09/26/1953-09-26-138-tny-cards-000048218) ## Time Out — DT Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic notes that The Robe has receded into the lost genre of religious epics and describes its direction as turgid, with creaky dialogue and stiff performances, rendering it of purely historical interest due to its pioneering CinemaScope use. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-robe) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 21 March 2007. The critic calls it pompous schlock that typifies the worst aspects of the Hollywood Christian epic, with stiff or demented performances, enormous but inert pageantry, appalling dialogue and a stultifying religiosity that kills any camp appeal. The film is dismissed as overblown melodramatic biblical nonsense. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/robe-review/) ## Collider — Andre Dellamorte Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 26 March 2009. The critic finds the film itself stagey, preachy and boring, though the first CinemaScope production has historical interest. Production design and cinematography, particularly the innovative anamorphic framing, are singled out as the main points of value. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-robe-bluray-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-robe.md