The Robe is a better movie than you would expect. The story is actually about a man dealing with the shame and guilt of being lost in a life without true moral direction. His redemption is when he finds his true path. In the story of The Robe, many viewers miss the hero’s redemption through Jesus as an allegory. Now, that is what I call strong script writing. The advent of television lured people away from theaters. The studio no doubt wanted to hit a large demographic with its new, exciting presentation technique, the height to width ratio nearly twice as wide as a television screen: CinemaScope! I think that’s why The Robe was the first CinemaScope release instead of How to Marry a Millionaire, which completed filming in CinemaScope first. The studio was right. The Robe did well at the box office. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: The Robe was also filmed in the standard “Academy” format for theaters that had yet to be fitted with the new technology. This required separate film takes and set preparations for many scenes. So, there are actually two versions of The Robe circulating out there with different looks and dialog. Odds are that you have only seen the Academy version as that size format fits televisions. Look for a DVD widescreen version of The Robe, and see Richard Burton strut his stuff like you’ve never seen it before.
