The Cardinal  The Cardinal is a 1963 American drama film which was produced independently and directed by Otto Preminger, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel of the same name (1950) by Henry Morton Robinson. Its cast featured Tom Tryon, Romy Schneider and John Huston, and it was nominated for six Academy Awards. The film was shot on location in Boston, in Stamford, Connecticut, and in Rome and Vienna. The music score was written by Jerome Moross. "The Cardinal" featured the final appearance by veteran film star Dorothy Gish as well as the last big-screen performance of Maggie McNamara. Robinson's novel was based on the life of Cardinal Francis Spellman, who was then Archbishop of New York. The Vatican's liaison officer for the film was Rev. Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI. The story touches on various social issues such as interfaith marriage, sex outside marriage, abortion, racial bigotry, the rise of fascism and war. The film is shown as a series of memory flashbacks during a formal ceremony where the protagonist is instituted as a cardinal. A newly ordained Irish Catholic priest, Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon), returns home to Boston in 1917. He discovers that his parents are upset about daughter Mona (Carol Lynley) having become engaged to marry a Jewish man, Benny Rampell (John Saxon). Mona seeks Stephen's counsel as a priest. Concerned about the young priest's ambition, the archbishop (John Huston) assigns Stephen to an out-of-the-way parish where it is hoped he will learn humility. There he meets the humble pastor, Father Ned Halley (Burgess Meredith), and Fermoyle observes the unpretentious way he lives his life and treats his parishioners. Father Halley is very sick with multiple sclerosis. Fermoyle learns humility from him and his housekeeper, Lalage (Jill Haworth). Stephen and his Irish Catholic family will only permit Mona to marry her Jewish fiancé Benny if he becomes a Catholic or agrees to raise any children as Catholic. Benny does not agree and leaves to serve in World War I. Mona runs away and becomes promiscuous. She becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Stephen, his brother, and Benny find Mona in agony because her pelvis is too small for a large baby. She is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells Stephen that it is too late to perform a caesarean operation and in order to save Mona the head of the baby must be crushed to save Mona.