Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (screenplay) and
John Huston (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 March 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

Plot:

A Marine and a Nun, both shipwrecked on a Pacific Island, find solace in one another as the two wait out the war.

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Japanese Army | Church | Game Of Go | WWII

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Deborah Kerr	...	Sister Angela
Robert Mitchum	...	Cpl. Allison, USMC

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound Recording) | 4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #18380) | Canada:PG (video rating) | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The director and the explosives expert were reportedly left hanging onto an elevated platform on location--uninjured--after a short-circuit in explosives-effect wiring unexpectedly set off all of some 30 planted detonation devices at one time.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Robert Mitchum is shown throughout the movie wearing a metal expansion bracelet for his wristwatch. Such bracelets were introduced by Speidel in the 1950s.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Cpl. Allison, USMC: Let's just keep it quiet, ma'am. You speak English?
Sister Angela: Yes.
Cpl. Allison, USMC: Are there any Japs around?
Sister Angela: You're... You're an American.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Sopranos: For All Debts Public and Private (#4.1)" (2002)

Huston's treasure island.

One of Huston's buried treasures,this offbeat tale of a nun and a marine stuck on an island.They say it was to be directed by Wyler,but he turned it down and went to make "desperate hours".

Deborah Kerr had already played a nun in Powell-Pressburger's excellent "Black narcissus",and the part was tailor-made for her.The same goes for Robert Mitchum as a crude,simple,but with a golden heart marine.People cannot help but be struck with the analogies between "heaven" and "African queen" :both feature an odd couple,in jeopardy;that's why the former is overlooked today which is totally unfair.

The two characters are extremely endearing and,when the movie is over,it seems we've always known Sister Angela and Corporal Allison.I dig the line:"it's a gourmet's dish" when the nun is eating turtle soup.I love the way the scenarists show the analogies between a nun's and a marine's lives.The Garden of Eden metaphor is obvious,but the story subtly progresses,and the Snake's temptation happens late in the movie.

The cinematography is splendid,with a superb use of cinemascope,and Georges Delerue's score deserves admiration.Yes "heaven knows..." is certainly one of Huston's sleepers.But I wonder what Luis Bunuel would have done with such a screenplay.