The sailor and the nun

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Movie
German title The sailor and the nun
Original title Heaven knows, Mr. Allison
Country of production USA , UK
original language English
Publishing year 1957
length 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Huston
script John Lee Mahin
John Huston
production Buddy Adler
Eugene Frenke
music Georges Auric
camera Oswald Morris
cut Russell Lloyd
occupation

The Sailor and the Nun is the title of a US war film from 1957. The novel by Charles Shaw served as a literary model . It is a CinemaScope DeLuxe color film from Twentieth Century Fox .

action

1944 in the South Pacific . The American corporal Allison is drifting towards an island in his rubber dinghy. He cautiously steps onto the bank, but finds only empty huts and log houses and a wooden church with a tower.

Suddenly a nun appears at the church door, Sister Angela. She and a father, who had since passed away, had recently been thrown here in the chaos of war.

Allison is exhausted, hungry. She gives him something to eat, the last of the food. Now they only have what the island offers them.

On a hunting trip, Allison discovers a hidden cave that they use as a hiding place. They want to leave the island as soon as possible. To do this, the dinghy has to be converted and they get to work right away.

But they are disturbed. Suddenly there are airplanes, bombs fall, the Japanese are preparing to land. Everything is destroyed, including the dinghy. Then a warship approaches, the enemy is there.

The two withdraw into their hiding place and from now on have problems with food because they can no longer move freely. Eating fish raw is not Sister Angela's business. Allison sneaks into the Japanese camp and steals tin cans at risk of death.

The corporal and the nun, who are so different after all, are gradually getting closer. She tells of her upcoming vow, he speaks openly of his love for her. Maybe not? "Heaven knows, Mr. Allison." She replies.

Then at night they watch gunfire on the horizon, and heavy machines fly over the island again. The next morning the Japanese disappeared and left shelter and provisions behind. Now the two of them have a roof over their heads again to eat and drink. Nurse Angela finds a bottle of sake and gives it - inexperienced in alcohol as she is - to Allison. He gets drunk, speaks intoxicated of his fear of being trapped for years on the island with her, and suggests a relationship again.

She cannot cope with the situation, flees into the rain and hides in the forest. The next morning, Allison finds her, soaked, sick, with chills. He is very worried about her, asserts that he never wanted to offend her, and carries her into the cave.

Because the Japanese have returned. Sister Angela needs dry clothes. So Allison has to go back to the enemy camp, this time to get blankets. He is surprised and has to kill the soldier, but escapes unseen. He frees the nun from her wet clothes and after three days she wakes up healthy.

The dead has been found, the Japanese are searching the island. Bushes and grass are burned down, the pursuers discover the cave.

Then it crashes, but it's not the search force, Americans attack the island from the air. The Japanese withdraw to their camp. It is evening, the next morning the liberators will storm the island, certainly under great resistance from the Japanese.

But it doesn't come to that. Allison had removed the breech blocks from the Japanese 1.5 guns that night. He was hit by his own bullets during this action, but it's not that bad.

And then it goes home. Lying on a stretcher, accompanied by Nurse Angela, he is brought to the ship while the Marines watch in disbelief. But the sailor and the nun part, each will go his own way.

background

  • “In one scene, Mitchum had to crawl through the grass. Huston made it repeat four times until he liked it. Mitchum then got up, turned around, and was covered in blood from the neck down. He had crawled through tropical nettles. He also cut his foot, sprained his ankle, tore his entire upper body open when he let himself slide down a palm tree. "
  • "When we finished filming, everyone was delighted with each other, Mitchum from Huston, Huston from Mitchum, and this in turn from his co-star Deborah Kerr."
  • At first glance, it is a war film that is full of comedic moments. It's not Billy Wilder's style as in Some Like It Hot with its sparkling dialogues. It is the soft tones, the facial expressions of the actors and the different original milieus of the actors, which also lead to difficulties in understanding.
  • The German title is misleading as Mitchum's role is that of a marine .

Reviews

  • "Mitchum inspires with the way he approaches the nun in a very awkward way with boyish charm." ( Michael Althen )
  • "A great actor film." ( Heyne Filmlexikon )
  • "Nicely played adventure film, which does not go particularly deep, but is good for thought-provoking entertainment." ( Lexicon of international films )
  • "Unique and mighty." ( Los Angeles Times )

Oscar

The film received two Academy Award nominations in 1957 :

Deborah Kerr lost to Joanne Woodward ( Eva with the three faces ), and the Oscar for "Best Screenplay" went to Pierre Boulle ( The Bridge on the Kwai )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michael Althen: Robert Mitchum. His films - his life . Heyne Film Library No. 101. Heyne, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-86103-5 .
  2. ↑ The sailor and the nun. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used