Religion: Becket on the Screen

The title of the movie for a Venice Film Festival world premiere last week was Murder in the Cathedral, and a lot of people who bought tickets expected a detective story. When it turned out to be 2½ hours of Poet T. S. Eliot's darkling verse—and on a religious theme at that—a good many disgruntled souls went off to a nearby gambling casino. Those who stayed saw one of the most unusual films that moviemakers have attempted in a long time. Its story: the murder of Thomas à Becket, 12th Century Archbishop of Canterbury, for refusing to compromise...