In an attempt to reprise her Academy-Award nominated performance in From Here to Eternity, Deborah Kerr donned a short blonde hairdo and played a soldier's widow assigned to a tropical setting in the Pacific to help soldiers in WW2 in the film The Proud and the Profane. She's very prim and proper, just as she was before succumbing to Burt Lancaster's charms in 1953, but this time around, she goes head-to-head with a stern, mustached William Holden.
Given their leading lady and similar settings, it's awfully hard not to compare the two films, and From Here to Eternity is much better. I don't really like William Holden anyway, and in this unlikable role, I found him even more difficult to endure. Thelma Ritter plays a volunteer nurse, and she's exactly the same as she is in every movie: cold, rude, argumentative, and abrasive. I tried to separate her performance from the written words of her character to see which I found objectionable, and unfortunately, Thelma Ritter's acting was the problem. Another actress could have put a touch of warmth and compassion in the role, and if she had, the underlying emotion would have added a wonderful layer to her character. Deborah Kerr seems to be the only one who tried to act in the film, and while she does do a good job, the story falls short of From Here to Eternity and South Pacific.
If you like Deborah Kerr, or classic WW2 movies and you've already seen all the good ones, go ahead and rent The Proud and the Profane. It probably won't end up being your favorite, but not every movie you see has to be excellent, right?
Given their leading lady and similar settings, it's awfully hard not to compare the two films, and From Here to Eternity is much better. I don't really like William Holden anyway, and in this unlikable role, I found him even more difficult to endure. Thelma Ritter plays a volunteer nurse, and she's exactly the same as she is in every movie: cold, rude, argumentative, and abrasive. I tried to separate her performance from the written words of her character to see which I found objectionable, and unfortunately, Thelma Ritter's acting was the problem. Another actress could have put a touch of warmth and compassion in the role, and if she had, the underlying emotion would have added a wonderful layer to her character. Deborah Kerr seems to be the only one who tried to act in the film, and while she does do a good job, the story falls short of From Here to Eternity and South Pacific.
If you like Deborah Kerr, or classic WW2 movies and you've already seen all the good ones, go ahead and rent The Proud and the Profane. It probably won't end up being your favorite, but not every movie you see has to be excellent, right?