User Reviews

This may be the only movie you'll ever see where the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' are recited in their entirety. Humphrey Bogart is the reluctant priest Father O'Shea, whose masquerade at first is tentatively welcomed by a small Chinese village, but who through a series of unforeseen events, winds up becoming their savior. The tip off comes in an opening scene, this priest carries a gun. We're left dangling for a while as the story unfolds, and it's not until well past the half way point that O'Shea's identity is revealed to be that of an American flier who crashed in a remote Chinese province some three years earlier. When the real Father O'Shea dies from a bullet administered by Yang henchman Pao Ching, James Carmody sees a way out of his forced service to Yang by donning the vestments of a priest.

The romantic tension between O'Shea and missionary Anne Scott (Gene Tierney) is broached but never fully played out. O'Shea is familiarly comfortable in her presence, she's entirely ill at ease to find her feelings being tested. The quandary is dealt with in such a way as to make a resolution virtually impossible, and the finale leaves it that way even when she learns of his true identity.

It took a long time for film makers to accept Oriental actors in leading roles. Lee J. Cobb of course is entirely miscast as warlord Mieh Yang, but no more so than Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre or a host of non Asian actors to portray Chinese detectives of an earlier era. Victor Sen Yung proved adequate and believable in a support role as John Wong, the church sexton who challenges Father O'Shea to do the right thing when the situation calls for it. It seemed appropriate that he begin the legend of the Shen-fu after the fate of seven villages is secured via a game of chance.

I found it interesting that Sen Yung and Benson Fong appeared in this film after both saw work in the 1940's as the Number #2 and #3 sons of Charlie Chan. Curiously, they never appeared as brothers together in any story during the series. Admittedly, Fong's role in this one was almost a throw away, as distraught husband Chun Tien whose wife died giving birth to a dead son. For his part, Sen Yung would continue his later career in the employ of the Cartwright's on The Ponderosa.

For sentimentalists, the film's payoff near the end might bring a trickle to your eye. The young Chinese villagers offer their best rendition of 'My Old Kentucky Home' as Bogey's character is allowed to keep his secret by the Bishop's emissaries who replace him. That, along with those incredibly lucky rolls of the dice, might lead you to believe in Hail Mary endings.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** For those who do not think much of this movie -- PLEASE read the book. The movie I give only a 6 of 10, whereas the book is definitely a 10. If the film had followed the formula of the author, William Barrett, it would have been a 10 as well, as was Lillies of the Field, the wonderful movie that was done of Barrett's novella. Barrett wrote them both as entertaining stories -- and as inspirational, spiritual gems. Lillies - the movie remained so. Left Hand - the movie did not.

(spoilers ahead) Bogart as the bogus priest just does not play well. Or maybe he would have worked better if the script had followed the book. But I would rather have seen Charlton Heston, who as Ben Hur lets go of his vengeful anger in the end -- a similar transformation of Jim Carmody/Father O'Shea in Left Hand of God who, in the end, does the right thing after all and is less concerned with saving his own skin than with saving the whole mission community -- at great risk to himself. This comes across so masterfully in the book. Is it Bogey's fault that it does not do so in the movie? Or the stilted dialogue? What were the script writers thinking of??

A good deal of the story's charm is the constant circular thinking of Jim Carmody -- downed American pilot, trapped in China in the early days of communism. The text is full of irony and wit and tension as he ponders dilemmas as they present themselves, cascading upon each other without ceasing. He finally flees by impersonating a murdered priest. This is only meant to be a temporary solution. He knows that his ruthless boss, war lord Meih Yang, will soon figure out how he escaped. (In the movie we do not even get a glimpse of Yang's lamasary. The book better tells why Carmody must escape it, and contains wonderful foreshadowing in his relationship with Mary Yin -- a character nonexistent in the movie.)

Soon Carmody/O'Shea finds himself in a new trap -- the mission itself. If you dress like a priest, you had better act like a priest! The book makes it clear that the transformation of his character occurs not in the final crap-shoot showdown with Meih Yang but long before, in the quiet of the confessional, as he hears the weary sins of those he has no right to listen to. He does not know when he ceases being Jim Carmody and slowly becomes the priest -- if not in actual fact.

The love story is gentle -- and pure. How refreshing! Jim Carmody, renegade soldier for the war lord, is definitely flawed and very human. Jim Carmody as Father O'Shea, better but still flawed and still human, has a new dilemma -- how does he handle falling in love with Anne Scott, a mission nurse, and yet maintain his guise as a priest? And what hope for them if he ever does escape China? For Anne is a good Catholic. If she knew the blaspheming "Father O'Shea" was not really a priest, she could never forgive him. And yet, as a priest, she can never love him! The romantic tension between them is exquisite -- in the book. In the movie, it barely exists. I am glad this story comes from an earlier era, because now it would probably be unnecessarily sexualized -- as it no doubt would if a movie were made of it today.

The censors of the time undoubtedly contributed to the movie's flaws. Of all of the scenes they chose NOT to include, the one where the priest goes up to the whore house to try to talk the women into giving up their lifestyle -- prissy beyond belief -- is one that the censorship problem would have been better off leaving out. Sanitizing it adds nothing but confusion. By contrast, the book's dealing with this episode, certainly tame by today's standards, sparks with tension as the ladies do not just stand there senseless, but jeer the priest and throw rocks at him, in but one of the beautifully written ironies -- "Let she who is with sin cast the first stone!"

There is not much to criticize about Gene Tierney as Anne, though she hasn't much to work with. I agree with criticisms that Lee J Cobb should never have been cast as the oriental Meih Yang. Agnes Moorehead comes across as little more than a stick figure -- rare for her. Again, must be the script. What she could have done with the Beryl character from the book! The lonely friendship and camraderie of the mission's only American females, Anne and Beryl, does not come across in the movie. And the tense rivalry between Carmody/O'Shea and the doctor -- so rich in the book -- is stilted and irritating. And where is the warmth and humor between the grumpy doctor and his long-suffering wife Beryl? So frustrating, not to have these wonderful relationships explored. As I write this, I wonder why I even gave it a 6? Must be out of respect and love for the characters as originally conceived by the author, and grief for the movie that could have been, but never was.

The book is no longer in print, but it should be. My much-read copy long since having fallen apart, I did find another in a used book store. In today's era, where pastors and priests are exposed as child molesters, we deserve to hear about one who takes his vows seriously -- even though technically he never TOOK the vows! If you are a fan of Lillies of the Field, you should by all means track down your own copy, forget the movie, and READ The Left Hand of God -- William E. Barrett's forgotten masterpiece.

"The Left Hand of God" is one of these barren efforts and Bogart is the victim of an inconsequential script that find him portraying an American pilot forced down in China during World War II who joins up with a Chinese warlord (Lee J. Cobb). When Bogart decides to escape, he assumes the garb of a murdered priest and finds seclusion in a remote mission...

The role has great potential for suspense as to face one crisis after another as a result of his masquerade, but for some reason his performance is overly restrained and unrewarding...

Gene Tierney worked for an enviable number of great director: Fritz Lang, John Ford, Josef Von Sternberg, Ernst Lubitsch, Otto Preminger, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Clarence Brown... Although her roles were not very often pivotal to their subject, and only a few of her films are among these directors' best remembered works, it all adds up to the intriguing enigma that was this woman's great attraction...

This exotic classic beauty is here a nurse called Anne Scott and she is expecting with Dr. David Sigman (E.G. Marshall) and his wife Beryl (Agnes Moorehead) the arrival of Father O'Shea...

The Story is set in 1947, in a remote province of China disturbed by the civil war...

The film begins with priest, Humphrey Bogart, trekking through the wilds of China until he arrives at a mission eagerly awaiting him. It seems the mission in pre-revolution China has been without a priest for some time and the people are ecstatic to see him.

Now if you are thinking to yourself that there's no way Bogart seems like a priest, then you are much more astute than the Chinese and you have guessed the plot. It seems that Bogey is NOT a priest but is posing as one in order to escape the clutches of a Chinese warlord (played ridiculously by Lee J. Cobb who seems more like Mr. Clean than a Chinese person).

While the whole plot is pretty silly and the film is a very light-weight drama, it IS still worth seeing. Why? Well, in a word "Bogart". Even with silly fluff like this, his presence makes the film watchable and even quite entertaining--provided you don't think too much about the silly plot or Cobb's Brooklyn accent!

This movie is set in 1947, just after the end of World War II and during the Chinese revolution where the Republicans and the Communists fought over the huge empire. This movie is set in the outer reaches of China in an area that is still controlled by a powerful warlord, Yang, and it opens with a priest, father O'Shea, arriving at a mission.

At the beginning we assume that he is a priest but soon come to suspect otherwise. He has a huge amount of rapour, yet seems reluctant to actually perform any of the duties that he does. Even then, he seems to awaken a spirit in everybody around, going out of his way to help. Things start to come to light when somebody walks into the mission, and he punches him.

O'Shea really isn't a priest but a pilot named James Carmody. He crashed over China and fell into the clutches of the Yang. He worked with him for a while as his second in command, but saw it little more than a prison, so when a priest was murdered, Carmody saw it as an excuse to escape, which indeed he did. Though he is hiding in the villages, he knows that he cannot hide from Yang forever, and even though the church offers sanctuary, he knows that Yang does not abide by those rules.

The title is interesting as it intones that it is different from the norm. The right hand is typically the one in which one's will is enforced. Carmody is not a priest, and doesn't even believe, yet he is able to touch the hearts of those around him. He is not exactly unorthodox, but rather somebody who is not a member of the clergy yet seems to do a far better job than the clergymen do. His different methods appear when Yang threatens the village and Carmody defeats him in a game of dice. The priests are horrified at this, but the truth is that Carmody succeeded, and whether they like it or not, they must admit that he has an ability that not many others have.

I thought this movie was characteristic of the movies made after the 2nd world war, where goodness overcomes evil, Hitler versus the Allies. The simple faith portrayed by the Chinese villagers and the belief in the Christian church where they and the audience knew that god would triumph in the end was charming and a little naive. Humphrey Bogart played a masterly performance using his considerable acting skills to portray the phony priest who is overtaken by the situation he finds himself in and redeems himself by selflessly offering his freedom to save the villages and mission. A strong cast of experienced actors along with the Chinese cast worked extremely well in this movie. If you are a catholic it is everything we want from our church. Simple honest faith, alongside men of conviction who believe without a doubt that Christ would and could intervene if he were asked. This film is a testament to Bogart's enormous charisma and plain speaking charm.

Humphrey Bogart's choice of movies to star in (or be placed in by a studio) didn't always please me. I'm not, for example, usually very "into" gangster pics. And there are a number of Bogart films better than this one ("Sabrina", "The Caine Muitiny", "The African Queen", "Key Largo", "Casablanca", "The Maltese Falcon", and others) . Yet, this is one of my favorites of Bogart's, perhaps because we see a different Bogart. A man who could be kind and gentle, subtle, and even sing...yet underneath there was a strength not very far below the surface. Bogart reportedly was extremely kind of Gene Tierney during the making of this movie; she was suffering from mental illness that led to a long hiatus from the movies following this film. Perhaps that was who Bogie was, as well.

How likely such a plot could be is questionable, but then again, so are the plots of many movies. The plot is not the strength of this film. Rather, the strength is of the characterizations of the principals. Bogart is fine as a fake priest; he knows enough about Catholicism to get by, but he also realizes his limitations...and he can still be the tough guy, when needed. Gene Tierney as the potential love interest is interesting...and lovely. Lee J. Cobb as the Chinese war lord is surprisingly effective (how did they do his eyes?). Agnes Moorehead is appropriately ditsy as a bit of a busybody, albeit a well-intentioned one. E. G. Marshall is good as the mission's doctor, although somehow I didn't think this allowed his talents to shine.

I'm not a particular fan of Bogart's last two films, so this is the film I like to remember as his last really fine performance. And when I watch it, I always wonder what could have been had we been able to enjoy Bogie into his mature late-50s and 60s.

Highly recommended, and when it comes out on DVD, I'm sure it will grace quite a few home film libraries.

First, this movie was based on a novel written by William E. Barrett - for those of you who are familiar with the movie with Sidney Poiter called "Lilies of the Field", this is another treasure that should be seen.

Humphrey Bogart stars in this movie as a priest, the only thing is, he packs a pistol along with his Bible and tends to have his own style in doing things. His character is one of an air force flier, Jim Carmody, downed in China, captured by a warlord and forced to work for him. One of the warlord's men slips up and shoots a priest, sending Bogie over the edge. Since the priest died, Bogie decides to wear the vestments and become "Father O'Shea", as he sees this as the perfect way to escape out from under the control of the warlord. One problem is, when he gets to the mission, he is now torn between the heavy burden of the clergy vestment he now wears and from saving himself, for with the vestment comes duty.

To make matters more complex, Gene Tierney, plays a nurse who is falling in love with this no-nonsense priest.

There are 2 other reluctant missionaries, a doctor and his wife - they tend to try to tell Father O'Shea to close the mission, but Fr. O'Shea will have none of that.

Fr. O'Shea is certainly making a name for himself in the small section of China he is in. From rattling off his sermon in English to the sleepy Chinese who do not understand, to reciting the sermon in Chinese and watching every Chinese person in attendance awake and hear the words as if for the first time.

A great scene with such give & take, is that where Fr. O'Shea meets the oldest man in the village. The old man asks for a blessing and Fr. O'Shea delivers, and then humbles himself to receive a blessing from the old man. Poignant and beautifully carried out.

Trouble ensues when one of the warlord's men track Carmody down to the mission and we all know this spells trouble for Fr. O'Shea. Will he run, or will he stay?

This is a wonderful movie that instills a sense of duty over personal goals.

During the filming of this movie, Bogart was suffering from back pains and illness, but it does not show up in the movie - a constant actor, he pulls off the role of reluctant priest very well.

And, Tierney was on the verge of a breakdown, but both portrayed their characters wonderfully. The whole movie is warm.

This movie will appeal more to those with Christian values, as it is easier for one to accept and understand as to why Carmody makes the decisions he makes. A priest you can respect.

It's really a shame this movie is not yet on DVD. Also, a shame that it isn't shown more.

"The Left Hand of God" is set in China, in 1947, during the civil war between Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomintang and Mao's Communists. A priest, Father O'Shea, arrives at a remote Catholic mission station where he is welcomed with open arms as the mission has been without a priest for some time since the death of his predecessor,. O'Shea proves a popular and inspirational pastor, but he is hiding a guilty secret. It turns out that he is not a priest at all, but an American pilot named Jim Carmody who crashed his plane during World War II. Carmody was rescued by a local warlord, General Yang, and became his trusted adviser, but decided to desert the General's service after witnessing atrocities carried out by his men. An additional complication comes in the shape of attractive mission nurse Anne Scott, with whom Carmody has secretly fallen in love. The climax of the film comes when General Yang arrives, insisting that Carmody rejoin his army or else he will burn down the village.

The film can be seen as both a physical and a spiritual drama. Carmody is a lapsed Catholic, and this is an important plot point; were the character to have been written as a lifelong atheist the film would have been a very different one. (An atheist, for a start, would probably not have had the knowledge of the Catholic faith to enable him to impersonate a priest convincingly). Carmody finds that his faith is beginning to return, and finds himself in a dilemma. For a layman to impersonate a priest is, in Catholic eyes, a serious sin, for which Carmody stands in need of absolution. Yet can he confess his imposture without destroying the faith of his congregation, who have come to trust in him and who have derived genuine spiritual comfort from his bogus "ministry"? Carmody may not be a priest, but as he says he has started to find in himself some of the qualities that a man would need to be a priest.

I have never read the original novel by William Edmund Barrett, but I understand that the author was a practising Catholic and the film has some similarities to the works of another Catholic author, Barrett's British contemporary Graham Greene. Like a number of Greene's novels, it takes place in an exotic setting, and the theme is characteristically Greeneian. It reminded me somewhat of Greene's "The Power and the Glory", where the hero is a genuine priest, but in his own eyes an unworthy one.

By 1955, Humphrey Bogart was already seriously ill with the cancer that was to kill him two years later, and "The Left Hand of God" was one of his last films; he was to make only two further movies. Yet even towards the end of his life he was still keen to expand his range by taking new and challenging roles, as in "The Barefoot Contessa", "Sabrina" (a rare venture into romantic comedy) and "The Caine Mutiny" in which, unusually, he gets to play a weak, emotionally vulnerable character. ("The Caine Mutiny" and "The Left Hand of God" were made by the same director, Edward Dmytryk).

Bogart was always a good actor, but in some of his early films, such as "Dark Victory", he could seem unconvincing when he ventured outside his familiar territory of film noir and crime dramas. In his later films from the fifties, however, he showed that he was more than just a good actor within a limited range, and became a genuinely great one. His performance in "The Left Hand of God" is one of great power and subtlety; he is, paradoxically, convincing both as a genuine priest (which is what we at first believe him to be) and as a bogus priest when his secret is unmasked.

The other characters, however, are not so good. Gene Tierney as Anne, a relatively minor role, has little to do except look decorative. Lee J. Cobb is poor as General Yang, making this menacing Chinese warlord seem neither Chinese nor menacing. In the fifties there was something of a tradition, now fortunately defunct, of white actors playing Oriental characters (Jennifer Jones in "Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing", Curd Jurgens and Robert Donat in "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness", etc.), but like most such portrayals Cobb's is unconvincing, especially as all the other Chinese roles in this film were played by ethnically Chinese actors. Cobb's failure to seem sufficiently menacing is surprising, given that he could seem very menacing indeed, as in "On the Waterfront" or "Twelve Angry Men", but here Yang comes across as too relaxed and urbane.

For this reason I would not rate this film as highly as "The Caine Mutiny". In that film Bogart received excellent support from the rest of the cast, such as Fred MacMurray and Van Johnson, support which is lacking here. Moreover, I suspect that most people today, regardless of their religious convictions, will not accept the film's strong implication that the incident in which Carmody wins his freedom and the safety of the villagers from Yang was a genuine miracle. Einstein famously said that God does not play dice with the Universe. This film would seem to suggest that He does. 7/10

When you see in the credits that the Chinese villain, Yang, is played by Lee J. Cobb, and the hero's girl friend, Yin, is played by Jean Porter, you know at once you're in trouble. When you see Bogart show up in a priest's outfit, any lingering doubts are dispelled. When we get around to the dozen cute native children singing "My Old Kentucky Home" first in English, then in Chinese, you realize you should have followed the advice of the Roman philosopher Seneca and always expect less than you expected to get.

Actually, Bogart is not a priest but a pilot for some unnamed Air Force who has been pressed into the service of some Chinese warlord and was only able to make his escape from forced servitude in disguise. At the end, he risks his own life for the safety of two villages (one Protestant, one Catholic) by playing dice with the Chinesed-up Lee J. Cobb. It's a big risk. But the atheistic Bogart is warmed by a feeling of luck being on his side. In other words, he has found "faith". Yes, it's an epiphany. Bogart at once joins a Trappist monastery in Tennessee and takes vows of silence, poverty, and celibacy. His only problem is that he doesn't want the usual monk's tonsure because he claims all he needs to do is remove his toupee. But his commitment pays off. Later he is canonized in the Korean war.

They turned Malibu canyon into China, and it looks alright, though of course the hills of the Coast Range crowd the horizon, blocking off the traffic on the Coast Highway. The director, Edward Dmytryk, had given us some challenging films earlier in his career -- "Sniper," "Crossfire", "The Young Lions" -- but by this time in his career, after some difficulties during the McCarthy era, he seemed pretty fagged out. Humphrey Bogart more or less walks through the part. His mind may have been elsewhere; he was dying. But the part isn't really exciting anyway. Neither is Gene Tierney's, as Bogart's love interest. She was having serious psychiatric problems. Bogart urged her to get professional help and she went through shock treatments at one of the oldest mental health facilities in the country, where I once gave a lecture, come to think of it. For a Chinese villain, Lee J. Cobb is pretty chilled. Smiling, relaxed, smoking a cigar. He never gets overwrought as he did in "Twelve Angry Men," although the role would have permitted it.

All in all, a feeling of pattern exhaustion pervades the movie. It doesn't look as if anyone was having much fun, American OR Chinese. Well, maybe Philip Ahn liked the paycheck, but he's Korean.

You know, I just realized something. The two most prominent "Chinese" roles are named Yin and Yang. Are they kidding?

I saw this movie many years ago and it has resonated with me ever since. I am not qualified to analyze this movie in any scholarly way. I only know i personally believe in the central message revealed at the end of the movie that 'every man has something of what it takes to be a priest in him'. But beyond the religious statement i have always accepted the broader humanistic interpretation to that statement; that being 'that most men have the capacity for good however small'. This is is a message that i feel is timeless and bears constant repeating and if a movie contains this message in its structure it to also deserves to be timeless and so this movie is with me.