dir: Richard Thorpe
THE PRODIGIOUS
MAD #26, November 1955
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Wallace Wood
A young Hebrew named Micah (Edmund Purdom), unsatisfied with his father's rural life, demands his inheritance so he can try his luck in the city. Once in the city he falls under the spell of a beautiful pagan priestess named Samarra (Lana Turner) who induces him to squander his money and betray his faith, and he is cheated by the High Priest (Louis Calhern). Only after many trials and tribulations does Micah recover his senses and return home to his forgiving father.
A bit of trivia: this movie was an expensive flop, and the studio wouldn't even have bothered to finish it if they hadn't sunk so much money into set design early on. If the matte paintings at the end look cheap, that's likely why. Lana Turner hated it from the outset, and tried to compensate for the goofy script by cutting her costumes down to be as skimpy as she could get away with.
ReplyDelete