Androcles and the Lion (1952) Watch Online Trailer

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. And Pascal's final Shaw production plays it broadly, casting comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He's ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.



Androcles and the Lion (1952)
Released: 09 Jan 1953
Runtime: 98 min
Rated: APPROVED
Director: Chester Erskine, Nicholas Ray
Writer(s): Chester Erskine (adaptation), Ken Englund (adaptation), George Bernard Shaw (play)
Actors: Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Alan Young, Robert Newton
IMDB Ratings: 6.2



Plot: Androcles is a Christian who follows that religion's teachings even as they apply to the treatment of animals. Seeing a lion in pain, he removes a huge thorn from the beast's paw, creating a friend for life. Androcles and a number of other Christians are evenutally arrested and condemned to death in the arena. They are to die by being eaten by lions. Is it too much to hope that one of the lions may have a paw that has healed recently and might remember who helped heal it?