Lilies of the Field

Director: Ralph Nelson
Year Released: 1963
Rating: 2.0

A group of lily-white German nuns abuse the help of free-spirit Sidney Poitier in this sanctimonious film, which seems to lift some people's spirits but is, to me, a bad case of wishing for something to happen instead of actually taking the initiative to get it started (the nuns pray to God for mercy ... and being always fair and always right, He always replies). I couldn't get past the nuns' manipulative nature, which basically uses Catholic Guilt to get Poitier and other minorities to build their Chapel; also couldn't get past Poitier's sporadically hammy acting. Did the Catholic League fund the production?