The Silver Chalice

Paul Newman made his screen debut in the gloriously nonsensical costume epic The Silver Chalice. Freely adapted from a novel by Thomas B. Costain, the film casts Newman as Basil, a first century Greek sculptor who is sold into slavery by his wicked uncle. Transported to Rome, Basil manages to enjoy ...more

Paul Newman often bemoaned his debut screen performance in The Silver Chalice -- and with good reason. One of the screen's most talented actors, Newman is simply dreadful in a part for which he was fundamentally unsuited. While he undeniably looks great and, even at this early stage, knows how to play to the camera, the part calls for an actor at home in historical epics and comfortable with the kind of melodramatic mush that fills most such screenplays. Newman is simply dull -- unlike the ...more