Murder in the Cathedral (film) Murder in the Cathedral (film) Murder in the Cathedral is a 1951 British drama film directed and produced by George Hoellering and co-written by Hoellering and T. S. Eliot based on Eliot's 1935 verse drama of the same name and starring Father John Groser. The film competed at the 12th Venice International Film Festival and received the award for Best Production Design, given to Peter Pendrey. It was released in the United Kingdom in 1952. Archbishop Thomas Becket (Father John Groser) deals with his temptations before his murder in the Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. "Murder in the Cathedral" premiered at
Murder in the Cathedral Harvard University, Eliot criticised his own plays in the second half of the lecture, explicitly the plays "Murder in the Cathedral", "The Family Reunion", and "The Cocktail Party". The lecture was published as "Poetry and Drama" and later included in Eliot's 1957 collection "On Poetry and Poets". In Series 3, episode 2 (1972), "Monty Python's Flying Circus" used the play as the basis for the weight loss product informercial, Trim-Jeans Theater: In 1982, the play was lampooned by the Canadian/US TV comedy show "SCTV." In a typically surreal SCTV sketch, the play is presented by NASA and "Buzz Aldrin's Mercury