Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Fantastic!

Admirable film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Pleasant but hardly exciting. Have two such naive characters ever been put together before? Stars keep it interesting. Maybe Huston was aiming for another "African Queen"! (viewed 11/16)

Excellent movie. Great acting, cinematography, editing, music, script, dialogue. It's got it all.After watching a bunch of low life garbage movies, mostly modern nonsense, this movie is highly welcome.They don't make movies like this anymore. Why? Because the writers don't exist, or if they do they are not given the chance. What we get now days is action nonsense with cliche dialogue.

John Huston actually wanted Marlon Brando for the role of the marine in this film. He turned it down and Robert Mitchum was given the lead. He is a WWII soldier stranded on a Pacific island with a Catholic nun, Angela (Deborah Kerr). He is a rugged, somewhat dim witted lug with a pronounced New York City accent. She is refined and awaiting her final vows to enter into the Church of Rome. This leads to some very funny exchanges between the two stars. He explains that they may possibly be stuck alone together for years. She shows him her ring and explains that she is to married to Jesus in the future and he responds with, I guess it's an engagement ring. He wants to know why such a pretty young woman would want to be a nun. Meanwhile, they hide in a cave during an attack by the Japanese navy. They form a strong emotional bond; but not to worry for all you Catholic viewers out there. The pair never cross the line into any kind of hanky panky at all. A representative of the RC Church was present during filming to make sure everything remained "kosher." Mitchum and Kerr are excellent and I can highly recommend this old fashioned movie.

Although shot in Trinidad and Tobago, this film is a creditable member of the South Pacific-island clade of films. The hand-held CinemaScope photography in the opening sequences augurs Mitchum's arrival on the island from a raft as life-giving. The acting has understated elegance to it even when the storyline is not cliché-free and is not aspiring to numinal heights. The cinematography is inconsistent: one wishes a few more shots had brought out faces of the actors in reflector-lit close-up to venerate the characters. Even so, this is a pleasingly paced story with emotional consistency, noble themes honored by the story arcs, and one that lets the viewer bask in a sustained, stable way in John Huston's able and subtle techniques.