User Reviews

Lee Ashley, a woman who had lost her husband in the WWII conflict, enlists in the Red Cross in order to help. She is sent to the South Pacific to an American base that served to treat the wounded men from different parts of the Pacific theater. Lee, who comes from a genteel background, meets the arrogant Lt. Col. Colin Black, a marine who is a self-made man.

Her reaction, at first, is not a happy one because she doesn't approve of the way he treats his own people. That, in time, turns into love, and later on, into hatred because she feels betrayed upon knowing he is married. She becomes pregnant and because of Black's action, she ends up miscarrying. In the end she gets the satisfaction of knowing that Black loved her all along and now, wounded and in bad shape he asks her to forgive him.

George Seaton directed this Paramount release of 1956 that brought together two of the most talented actors of the time, William Holden and Deborah Kerr. The film, an adaptation from a novel, doesn't hold any surprises as the viewer feels where it is going. It was a miracle the censors didn't make the filmmakers strike the pregnancy issue, but it was all right as they compensate by killing Black's wife, who is a drunk and a low life. Thus the censors and the studio make a point about the moral aspect of the resolution.

Deborah Kerr was at the height of her career. She was always effective no matter what she was asked to play. William Holden, sporting a mustache, didn't have to shave his chest this time as he did in "Picnic". Mr. Holden didn't fare as well in the movie. The irrepressible Thelma Ritter shows as a nurse with a heart of gold, her specialty. She was always a joy to watch, as she proves in the film.

There's no question about Deboarah Kerr's beauty. It has an ethereal quality, as if she weren't made of flesh at all but wisps of rose-scented smoke. Her appearance is enhanced by a certain wistful quality. Her voice has a mild but constant tentative tremor, even when she's P'd off.

But Noumea and Guadalcanal in 1943 is no place for a girl like this. She's enlisted and comes to Noumea in search of someone who knew the circumstances of her husband's death, killed on Guadalcanal. He was and officer with an elite group of paratroopers in the Marines. (They're never buck privates.) Yet no one seems to remember him. And here she is, at the primitive but combat-free base on Noumea, impelled to greet the wounded debarking from a ship from Guadalcanal. She feels helpless. What can she do -- offer a stick of gum to a soldier who has just had an arm amputated? And at her first encounter with a victim of combat fatigue, she runs off and pukes.

The driving force behind Kerr is Thelma Ritter as the seasoned veteran, nurse, guru, mentor, wisecracking New Yorker. Every scene she's in belongs to her.

But -- cherchez l'homme. William Holden is some kind of commanding officer with the returning troops. The first shot of him, with military mustache, shows us a stern, frowning, hard charger holding a swagger stick. And we know this is one highly principled and dedicated Marine officer. We know he's tough and has little room for romance. We know, too, that there will be romance anyway because William Holden is a star and so is Deborah Kerr.

It helps to know that the story is from a novel by Lucy Herndon Crockett. We can anticipate almost everything that takes place -- the growing attraction, the doubt, the open conflict of sensibilities, the tears, the resolution. Not just because Lucy Herndon Crockett is a woman novelist but because she has three names. And, after all, if the delicate Deborah Kerr could turn into a slut at the first whiff of Burt Lancaster's pheromones three years earlier in "From Here to Eternity", why not do it again? Holden strides purposefully down the gangway and Thelma Ritter stops him, asking "Colonel, is there anything more we can do for your boys." He brusquely replies, "Yes, don't call them boys and leave them alone." Then he marches away without another word.

Not for long though. After the usual preliminaries, Kerr finds herself preggers and when she tells Holden, he accidentally knocks her down and the baby is lost. He's disturbed. She's almost destroyed. She won't forgive him. He humbles himself. She forgives him.

Not much new here but it's enjoyable to see the stereotypes animated again: horsey, aristocratic, haughty woman; part-Indian slum kid who advances through the Marine stratosphere because of hate. Both of them too full of pride because they've been hurt, but both come together at the end as the love theme swells in the background and the image of Kerr's face, radiant with hope, fades and we see the Paramount Studios mountain.

I had difficulty getting through this movie. I love these old Black and Whites. However, I am not a big fan of either Mr Holden nor Ms Kerr.

Both of them kinda rubbed me the wrong way in this movie. Mr Holden ( Colonel Black) is part Blackfoot Indian, and is not at all proud of his heritage. He is also uncouth, abusive, inhumane. He hated his parents because they were poor hardworking people.

Ms Kerr (Lee), a Red Cross worker, was not convincing as either a Red Cross worker or as Colonel Black's lover. Even in her Red Cross uniform, she looked like she was prepped for a photo op. But, surprise! She wasn't there to be a Red Cross worker anyway. She was there to find out what was going through her husband's head the day he was killed in Guadalcanal, and if he died courageously. Weird. But she falls in love with the irresistible (sarcasm) Colonel. One wonders how such a delicate woman, who was married to a delicate man, falls in love with a brute.

Thelma Ritter (Kate), the supervisor of the Red Cross canteen, did not disappoint. She was the lovable, charming and charismatic character as always. She is delightful to watch.

In the end, we do see Lee buckle down and do some real Red Cross work.

This movie did not meet my expectations at all. I thought with two of the best of the best of actors back in those days, this movie would touch some emotion in me. It didn't. The lead actors had no on screen chemistry. They just seemed to be going through the motions. They shared one kiss in the movie and they looked like statues. There was no passion. This is a contrived and unromantic "love" story.