Lilies of the Field

One of the best movies ever made. Great with popcorn and cuddles with your partner.

Loved this show and wanted to purchase it for our own home DVD library. Sidney Poitier and Lilia Skala are awesome in this movie!

Saw this movie as a kid. Decided to buy it and see it again. It is filmed in black and white which lends itself to the time period. Sir Sidney Portier is outstanding. As the story goes, the film was made in Sabino Canyon in Arizona in something like 14 or 17 days! Unheard of in this day and age. Greatly recommend "Lillies of the Field" for any age!

This was the star-making turn of a young Sidney Poitier earning him an Academy Award as best actor. It's an uplifting story of faith and the power of belief not only in God, but in our fellow man. Poitier plays Homer Smith, a handyman living out of his car and traveling the country looking for work. He agrees to help a group of German nuns for a day's wages, but Mother Superior, as played by Lilia Skala, sees him as her deliverer sent to build them a chapel. Soon he is caught up in the nuns' expectations while at the same time, perhaps finding his own sense of purpose in their chapel. The story is simple, and in lesser hands than Poitier's might fail to hold our interest, but his charisma on-screen is undeniable. I watched this movie first in the theater as a child and now as retiree, and it's never failed to move me. If you've tired of all the special effects and car crashes of today's movies, this is a clear throwback to when movies relied on story and actor to enthrall their audiences. A real treat to watch again and again and at such a cheap price well worth owning.

Excellent in every sense of the word!!!!

A film about faith, and judging people on their character, with many humorous moments along the way. Best scene: an itinerant handyman volunteers to teach five German nuns to speak English, replacing the record and phonograph method they've been using. They point to the phonograph, and he responds, "phonograph," which they repeat. He holds up the record, saying record, which they repeat. He touches the old wood burning stove, saying stove, and again they repeat. He says that the phonograph, record and stove are black, which they repeat. Then Sydney Poitier rubs his bare forearm, saying, "My skin is black." They repeat, as they touch their hands. To correct them, he points to one of the nuns, saying, "HER skin is white. MY skin is black." They sit silently, with no idea what the difference is. Finally, Mother Superior recognizes the similarity between the German and English words for white. While Look Who's Coming to Dinner, also starting SP, is usually heralded as the 60s breakthrough movie about prejudice, it hits the viewer over the head with a bat. This movie has a story to tell, subtle lessons taught one-on-one, that we would all do well to learn. May we all someday fail to notice skin color because we are too busy looking at character.

Lillies of the Field is really Sidney Poitier's show. It's about his character (Homer Smith), who is a jack-of-all-trades, that meets nuns who speak very little English on a farm in Arizona. The nuns believe he has been sent to them by God to build a chapel. Smith gradually becomes engrossed in the challenge of doing so, and does, with the help of several Mexican local townspeople. Smith's rise to the challenge, for the love of the task and to help, as the nuns don't have money to pay him, is inspiring. He also buys them food, after taking a part-time construction job, and gives them English lessons. The head nun, Mother Maria, is unyielding and offers no encouragement to Smith throughout, but Smith does an admirable job of not letting her get him down. After the chapel is built, it is a relief to see Smith drive off hopefully to a better life, though he can be proud of all he did on the farm. Poitier himself is up to the challenge of having the film heavily focused on his character, and his acting ability makes what could have been a so, so movie a great one.

Sidney Poitier was born for this role. Some lessons to be learned from this movie, especially that blessings come from where you least expect them. And how to except help, and how to thank God, and the ones that He sends your way to help.

Beautiful film with an amazing cast.

Great movie, love Sidney Poitier! DVD arrived quickly and in good condition. Happy with this purchase 😁

Saw this on tv as a film many years ago and liked it. When I saw it listed, had to have it as it is charming,moving but not too serious(there are touches of humour). Generally a feelgood film, no harm in that, something you don't get too much of these cynical times. Poitier deserved his Oscar for it. He can usually be relied on to give a good performance. It showed in the developing relationship with the nuns especially the wiley Mother Superior and the Anapabtist Poitier character.

Ordering process was easy and delivered in good time. An excellent film with superb acting by a great actor of his time!

This is a fantastic film. One of the few an entire family can watch. Academy Award winning performance which is well deserved. Every supporting role superbly played. This film now gets the anamorphic widescreen transfer that was lacking in the MGM release. Rarely does a film get you to think about the big picture, but this one does it in a wonderfully subtle way. Agree or disagree with the religious subject matter, you can't go away not feeling good after watching this low budget masterpiece. Just goes to show that big $$ does not necessarily equate with quality. Hollywood...are you listening??