Actors - Lilies of the Field

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Lilies of the Field

	Actors - Lilies of the Field

Lilies of the Field is a 1963 film which tells the story of an African-American itinerant worker who encounters a group of nuns who feel he has been sent to them, by God, to help them build a new church. It stars Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Pamela Branch, Stanley Adams and Dan Frazer. The movie was adapted by James Poe from the novel by William E. Barrett. It was produced and directed by Ralph Nelson. The title comes from Matthew 6:28, in the New Testament.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Actor (Sidney Poitier). The win for Poitier was the first time an African-American actor won an Academy Award for Best Lead Actor. The film was also nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lilia Skala), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Homer Smith is an itinerant handyman/jack-of-all trades who stops at a farm in the Arizona desert to replenish his water supply. He is persuaded to do a small roofing repair and stays overnight, believing that he will be paid in the morning.

In fact, the nuns have no money and subsist only by living off the land (what vegetables the arid climate will provide and some milk and eggs). Even after being stalled/stonewalled when asking for payment, and after being persuaded to stay for a meal, Smith, against his better judgement, agrees to stay another day to help them with other small jobs, always with the faint hope that Mother Maria will settle with him.

As Smith's strength and many construction skills, and tools, are revealed to the small order of nuns as he finishes the repairs needed, they come to believe that he has been sent by God to help them in their dream of building a chapel for the nearby townsfolk.

Soon, the weekend is upon them and Smith offers to give the nuns a ride to Sunday service so they do not have to make the long trip on foot as they usually are required to do. He is invited to attend the Catholic service but he declines because he is a Baptist. Instead, he takes the opportunity to get proper breakfast fare from the the service station/cafe/store adjacent to where the religious service is held. In talking to the proprietor, Juan (Stanley Adams), Smith learns about the hardships that the nuns, led by the unyielding Mother Maria, (Lilia Skala) overcame in order to emigrate from Eastern Europe -- over the Berlin Wall -- only to barely scratch out a meager living on the farm which was willed to their order.

Despite the unlikelihood of his ever getting paid for his work and partly out of respect for all the order has overcome, Smith stays longer and finds himself driven to work further on at least clearing the construction site for the chapel. He rationalizes that it would be too hard for the women of the order to move the heavy beams and so he is willing to do at least this much for them.

At one point, after losing a bible quoting duel with Mother Maria where he attmepted to prove the point that she should settle with him, he confesses that he had always wanted to be an architect, but couldn't afford the schooling, and this impels him to finally agree to undertake the job of building them a chapel.

To earn money to buy some "real food" to supplement the spartan diet the nuns are able to provide him, Smith gets a part-time job with the nearby construction contractor, Mr Ashton, who is impressed that Smith can handle nearly every manner of heavy equipment he owns.

To pass the evenings, Smith teaches the nuns some basic English and even joins them in singing. They share their different musical traditions with one another -- their Catholic chants and his Southern Baptist hymns. At one point he sings the song "Amen" by Jester Hairston, which was dubbed by Hairston.

Smith, determined that the building will be constructed to the highest standards, insists that work be done by him and only him. As word spreads about the endeavor, locals begin to show up to give materials and to help in construction, but Smith rebuffs all offers of assistance in the labor. After a long interval of Smith gaining a larger and larger audience for his efforts, the locals, impressed with his determination, but no less dogged than he, will content themselves no longer with just watching but find miniscule ways to lend a hand which cannot be easily turned down - the lifting of a bucket or brick to an elevated Smith for example. Once the camel's nose is in the tent, they end up doing as they intended and as Smith tried in vain to resist -- assisting in every aspect of the construction in addition to just contributing materials. This greatly accelerates the progress, much to the delight of everyone but Smith.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lilies of the Field ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Lilies of the Field; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay