Lilies of the Field, a 1963 film adapted from the 1962 novel with the same name

Lilies of the Field (novel)

Lilies of the Field is a 1962 semi-fictional novel by William Edmund Barrett that is based on the true story of the Sisters of Walburga. It was later adapted into the film Lilies of the Field, and for the musical stage with the title Look to the Lilies.It tells the story of a black itinerant worker...

 by William Edmund Barrett

William Edmund Barrett

William Edmund Barrett was an American author.Born in New York City, he studied at Manhattan College. He married Christine M. Rollman on February 15, 1925. He worked as an aeronautics consultant with the Denver Public Library from 1941 on. He received a citation from Regis College in 1956...

, starring Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

, Lilia Skala

Lilia Skala

-Early life:Skala was born Lilia Sofer in Vienna, Austria. Her mother, Katharina Skala, was Catholic, and her father, Julius Sofer, was Jewish and worked as a manufacturers representative for the Waldes Koh-i-noor Company. In the late 1930s, she was forced to flee her Nazi-occupied homeland with...

, Stanley Adams

Stanley Adams (actor)

Stanley Adams was an American actor and screenwriter.-Career:Born in New York City, Adams had his first film role in 1952, when he played the bartender in the movie version of Death of a Salesman...

, and Dan Frazer

Dan Frazer

Dan Frazer, is an American actor best known for his role as Capt. Frank McNeil, the supervisor of Telly Savalas's character, in the 1970s TV cop show Kojak. Frazer has been playing character roles in various TV series and films since the 1950s...

, was adapted by James Poe

James Poe

James Poe was an American film and television screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the movies Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Lilies of the Field, Around the World in 80 Days and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.He also worked as a writer on the radio shows Escape and Suspense, writing the scripts...

 from the novel. It was produced and directed by Ralph Nelson

Ralph Nelson

Ralph Nelson was an American movie and television director, producer, writer, and actor.-Life and career:...

. The title comes from a portion of the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and its parallel scripture from . It also features an early film score by prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....

.

It tells the story of an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 itinerant

Itinerant

An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....

 worker who encounters a group of East German nun

Nun

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

s, who believe he has been sent to them by God to build them a new chapel.
Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

) is an itinerant handyman/jack-of-all-trades who stops at a farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

 in the Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 desert to obtain some water for his car.