Instant Favorite.

Fantastic!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

NOTES: Australia's number one box-office attraction for 1955. Oddly, the outstanding success of "A Man Called Peter" in Australia was duplicated neither in the United States (where the picture was made and mostly set), nor even in Scotland (where Peter Marshall was born and raised). Lipstein was nominated for an Academy Award for or his Color Cinematography, losing to Robert Burks for "To Catch a Thief". Fox's 27th CinemaScope release.COMMENT: This is a true story adapted for the screen from Catherine Marshall's biography of her husband. Henry Koster was one of CinemaScope's foremost enthusiasts. He had the distinction of directing America's first CinemaScope production "The Robe". Subsequently, he directed "Desiree", "A Man Called Peter" and "The Virgin Queen". With CinemaScope, Koster maintains he no longer has to worry so much about camera positions. Now he can place his camera in a central spot and forget about it. Now he is free to concentrate on the chief task of drawing superb performances from his players. In "A Man Called Peter" then, the camera itself moves very little. Richard Todd in the title role of Dr. Peter Marshall, gives one of his greatest performances. It is surely an outstanding tribute to Koster's skill, that Todd maintains interest through considerable excerpts from five sermons — one of them lasts 8½ minutes. Marshall had a forceful personality. He was a robust, energetic, hearty, fearless, sympathetic, ambitious innovator, a powerful preacher, a man who had immense faith in God.One of Koster's admirable touches is the way Marshall's Scotch accent gradually disappears with the passing of time — as we would expect it to.Although the film deals with a Presbyterian Minister, it is not in the least offensive to other Faiths. Indeed, one wouldn't know Marshall was a Presbyterian, except for the headlines on the film's newspapers. There is not one other clergyman in the whole picture and no direct references are made to any religion at all. Even the sermons have been very skilfully written. They raise no contentious theological issues, because they exclusively embody material that is common to all Christian sects.Jean Peters is extremely pleasing in the role of Peter's sympathetic wife, Catherine. Her speech at the Youth Rally is superbly executed. Prominent in the supporting cast, are Marjorie Rambeau as Miss Fowler, a vain, snobbish, aristocratic prude; Jill Esmond as the light- headed yet kind-heart-ed Mrs. Findly; and Les Tremayne as the frightened, puppet-Senator Harvey. I might mention that the characters of Miss Fowler and Senator Harvey develop as the film progresses.Koster is very particular about acting. He realizes that in a CinemaScope film, the extras must be able to act too. No longer are they indistinct blurs in the background. In this film, I call your attention particularly to the shots of the restless teenagers at the Youth Rally. Koster also places a great deal of emphasis on pictorial effectiveness. Tied in with this, is his love of picturesque backgrounds, illustrated in the film, by the location shots at Washington D.C., and by the scenes on the beach.Koster's one defect seems to be his inability to direct children. Billy Chapin, as Marshall's son, is somewhat poor.To Sum Up: This is a really first-class film. It is sincere and genuinely moving. And although it runs for 119 minutes, it is always interesting — due chiefly to Koster's brilliant direction and Todd's forceful acting. In fact, I would describe it as an astonishingly interesting film, perhaps because its sermons and lack of action are so well suited to the peculiarly static theories of director Henry Koster who anticipated today's TV style of directing by hailing CinemaScope as a process that enabled the director to forget about the camera and even editing, so that he could concentrate on drawing great performances from his players. Certainly Todd, in the title role here, gives the finest portrayal of his career.

Some of the reviewers here say it's a film made by Christians for Christians . This is entirely true . It follows the life of Scottish born preacher Peter Marshall who emigrates from Coatbridge to America and eventually becomes Chaplain of the US Senate . That's the story and in order to pad out the run time we're many , many sermons from Marshall . Apparently the screenplay is adapted from the biography written by Marshall's wife Catherine . Knowing this you become reminded of the quote from the avowed atheist George Orwell - and forgive me for paraphrasing - that " An ( Auto) biography is only worth reading if it contains something disgraceful " and unfortunately there's nothing disgraceful at all . In fact I doubt if I've never seen anything so inoffensive in the history of cinema which while it's not necessarily a criticism in itself means there's no dilemmas , no plot and no drama . This won't be the case when we get biopics on obnoxious little bigots like Phelps , Robertson and Falwell no matter how biased a picture is painted of them This goes to show that it's a waste of time making books and movies on nice guys . There were a couple of things that peaked my interest . I guess the reason I watched is down to there being an empathy for someone from Scotland even if we have totally contradictory views on religion . It's interesting to note that Marshall , a protestant lived in Coatbridge , a Scottish town with a (in)famous reputation for being devoutly Catholic . It's also interesting that the Scottish characters do not speak with a West of Scotland accent , more of wishy washy fake Highland one . Richard Todd was always good at playing nice guys so he's well cast as Peter Marshall . The stand out achievement of the film however is the cinematography by Harold Lipstein . which is gloriously rich and held my interest in a film where nothing really happens

Just caught this movie been shown on Film 4 in the UK. Brilliant - I being a Brit, and not Scottish, I had never heard of Peter Marshall. I saw the title in the on screen TV guide and assumed it may have been about Peter, Jesus' disciple - so being a Christian, I thought I would take a look - Well my assumption was sort of right - the man on the film was called Peter and he was definitely God's disciple - he just lived about 2000 years later than the 'original' I missed the start of the movie by about 15 mins and was sort of half watching it upto the point where Dr Marshall delivered his first sermon in Washington, where he referred to Jesus being a 'man of the people' - from that moment on I was hooked.What a great movie for its time - made by a major studio - where, arguably, the best scenes are when a Scottish Presbaterian minister is giving Christian sermons from the pulpit - I think that was a brave move on behalf of the director, even back in the more 'cosy' '50's - but what sermons - and how brilliantly delivered by Richard Todd - up to now I have always regarded him as a bit of a 'lightweight' but this performance totally has changed my view. A real study in biographical acting - apparently he looked nothing like Marshall but his vocals were spot on, according to his wife. The scene in the basement where he is questioning God about himself was truly moving, as was the simple scene where he is been taken to hospital for the last time and looks up from the stretcher to his wife and says "See you in the morning". You have to see that bit to understand why it is so touching - in writing here it looks nothing.I am writing this after seeing the movie for the first time this afternoon - I have since spent some time on the internet, learning about this man and will be ordering the DVD asap, just so I can hear his voice for real as a recording of one of his sermons comes as an 'extra'This film immediately comes into my 'Top Ten' as one of the best films I have ever seen.

It's refreshing to see a film about faith without all the dogmatic posturing and self-righteousness so prevalent among today's more evangelical "clergy".This is a good film biography of a remarkable man, whose true calling to the ministry influenced so many lives. His inclusive message of the all-encompassing love of God and the Christ spirit seems more meaningful today than in its own time.The best part of the film are Marshall's own concise and lucid sermons, lifted straight from the page and thrillingly delivered by the actor Richard Todd. The actor listened carefully to recordings of Marshall's speaking style and the memories others had of it and carefully replicated it. One doesn't hear public speaking like THIS anymore, without a microphone, the text delivered with style and passion.This film changed my life as a teenager, forty years ago, introducing me to the spiritual life. I then read the book from which it derives (even better than the picture), all the collections of Marshall's sermons and prayers then in print (the prayers even more wonderful than the sermons!) and these books carried me through many bleak times in my life, as did the subsequent books by Peter's wife.I hope this film can do the same for you.