Androcles and the Lion

Overview

George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.

Details

Cast

Victor Mature

Captain

Jean Simmons

Lavinina

Alan Young

Androcles

Robert Newton

Ferrovius

Maurice Evans

Caesar

Elsa Lanchester

Megaera

Reginald Gardiner

Lentulus

Gene Lockhart

Menagerie Keeper

Alan Mowbray

Editor of Gladiators

Noel Willman

Spintho

John Hoyt

Cato

Jim Backus

Centurion

Lowell Gilmore

Metellus

Woody Strode

The Lion

Strother Martin

Soldier (uncredited)

Millard Sherwood

Christian (uncredited)