of the unnamed cardinal (Richelieu, to judge from his appearance) was specially written for the film. In the film, Cyrano dies after being trampled by a carriage as part of an ambush rather than by being hit on the head by a falling log as in the play. As with the fight against the hundred ruffians, the fatal attack on Cyrano is shown onscreen rather than taking place offstage (in the play it takes place between Acts IV and V). Previous to the attack, there is a new scene in the film in which his enemies are seen discussing the possibility of his being killed in a so-called "accidental" way. Reception If the film was decried for its low-budget, stagy look, as well as for some of its supporting actors, it was almost universally admired for Ferrer's star performance, in what is acknowledged to be his greatest role. The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther praised Ferrer, stating that he "speaks the poetry of Rostand with richness and clarity such as only a few other actors have managed on the screen." However, he was less than impressed with Powers ("a lovely but lifeless girl"), Prince ("a solemn young dunce"), and Ferrer in his romantic moments, opining that "his maundering and mooning over Roxane is considerably hard to take." Variety stated that "Michael Gordon's direction doesn't always fulfill the romantic, tragic, comedic and action possibilities, but permits a number of players to account for solid moments in a story that, essentially, belongs to one performer, Ferrer." Time also gave the film a mixed review. It called Ferrer "the very embodiment of Rostand's self-sacrificing, self-dramatizing hero" while deriding the play's "soft core of unblushing sentiment, unstinted gallantry, unending heroics". However, it was more kind than Crowther to Powers ("uniformly good support") and Prince ("does well as the tongue-tied Christian"). The movie recorded a loss of $300,000. On Rotten Tomatoes, Cyrano de Bergerac holds a rating of 75% from 28 reviews. Awards and honors The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in these lists: 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated See also List of films in the public domain in the United States References External links 1950 films 1950s romance films American black-and-white films American swashbuckler films 1950s English-language films Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films based on Cyrano de Bergerac (play) Films directed by Michael Gordon Films featuring