The First Legion

At a Jesuit monastery, a priest bedridden for years suddenly walks. The house takes it for a miracle, word spreads and the sick begin arriving in the town. Father Arnoux, a former lawyer, is sceptical: he thinks there may be a medical explanation and talks to the doctor. What the doctor tells him complicates matters further. The film is not interested in whether the miracle is real. It is interested in the institution needing one: the monastery needs attention, the town needs hope, the priests need evidence of their own belief. The man who knows the truth is caught between speaking and keeping silent. The form is enclosed and talk-driven: monastery corridors, cells, the infirmary. Black and white, with a fixed camera. Douglas Sirk directed. It comes from before his colour melodrama period in Hollywood and stands apart in his filmography for its subject; he described it as one of the projects he chose himself and was able to make independently. Charles Boyer plays Father Arnoux and William Demarest the doctor. Who it is for: viewers curious about argumentative drama built on faith and the lesser-known Sirk. Who it is not for: anyone expecting movement. The film is almost entirely dialogue and its resolution will strike some as evasive.