Word: conventions
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...rest there in hermetically sealed sarcophagi, and the tombs were untouched until the Napoleonic invasion of 1808, when French troops drove out the nuns and turned the cloister into a barracks. Later, when Wellington's troops in turn drove out the French, the nuns returned to their desecrated convent to find a ghastly spectacle: tombs torn open, their occupants (whose bodies the nuns regarded as sacred) sitting up or falling out haphazardly, valuables gone. The shocked nuns hastily replaced the bodies as best they could, and without outside help replaced the heavy lids of the sarcophagi. For another century...
Queen Eleanor, whose domestic difficulties resulted in the convent's foundation, still lay in her royal robes, her hand still covered by a white calfskin glove embroidered in green silk. From other tombs came exquisite brocade bonnets. The colors of the silks were as bright as though dyed yesterday. There was even a bunch of tiny withered roses, a token of personal tenderness 700 years...
...bodies of Castile's ancient rulers are now back in their tombs, dressed this time in the white robes and black hoods of the Cistercians. Their clothes and accouterments, displayed in 18 glass cases, are open to the study of a few visitors, who enter the convent discreetly through a door that the nuns leave "unguarded." Sexton Garcia is pleased with the fruits of his nocturnal curiosity. Says he: "This museum should really bear my name...
Each one of these additions has aided a play which was basically good from the start. Miss George, whose last appearance, was with C. Aubrey Smith in "Spring Again" makes a triumphant return. As the Mother-general in a convent she is warm, intimate and personable. Regardless of whether she is talking, pacing the stage, or merely sitting in on a conversation, the audience is aware of her quiet, gracious presence...
McClintie's direction achieves maximum tension as Miss George struggles to keep a young professor with liberal ideas (James Noble) in the convent despite the protests of a misled bishop (John Williams). There are very few superfluous scenes. The ability of the director to achieve relief humor in an especially tense situation is typified at one point when Miss George must interview the resolute bishop for 20 minutes without giving him a chance to dismiss the professor...