Satan Never Sleeps (1962)

A priest (William Holden) arrives at a mission-post in China accompanied by a young native girl who has joined him along the way. His job is to relieve the existing priest (Clifton Webb), ... See full summary »

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Claude Binyon (screenplay), Leo McCarey (screenplay),

Stars:

William Holden, Clifton Webb, France Nuyen

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Holden	...	Father O'Banion
Clifton Webb	...	Father Bovard
France Nuyen	...	Siu Lan
Athene Seyler	...	Sister Agness
Martin Benson	...	Kuznietsky
Edith Sharpe	...	Sister Theresa
Robert Lee	...	Chung Ren
Marie Yang	...	Ho San's Mother
Andy Ho	...	Ho San's Father
Burt Kwouk	...	Ah Wang
Weaver Levy	...	Ho San (as Weaver Lee)

Storyline

A priest (William Holden) arrives at a mission-post in China accompanied by a young native girl who has joined him along the way. His job is to relieve the existing priest (Clifton Webb), who is now too old and weak to continue with the upkeep of the church. However, Communist soldiers arrive at the mission and seize it as a command post. Their leader rapes the native girl and impregnates her, only later to realise that Communism is no good for him. In the end, the foursome flee to the border, but are pursued by Communist forces along the way.

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Plot Keywords:

priest | church | catholic hospital | convent school | nun | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese

Release Date:

23 March 1962 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Flight from Terror

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Clifton Webb's final film and one of only two of his sound films in which he appeared without his trademark mustache. The other was For Heaven's Sake.

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Goofs

In the scene immediately following the opening credits, as Father O'Banion leads a donkey carrying Siu Lan along a mountain path overlooking a valley, their shadows are plainly visible on the painted backdrop of the valley.

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Connections

Featured in Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Satan Never Sleeps"
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Harold Adamson and Leo McCarey
Sung by Timi Yuro

User Reviews

Under-rated melodrama which could be viewed as an unofficial remake of Going My Way.

Satan Never Sleeps is the final film by great director Leo McCarey, whose finest hour was probably the fondly-remembered Going My Way. This is almost a remake of Going My Way in many ways, but back in 1962 when the film was released it was savaged by critics who found it vulgar, cliche-ridden and boring. When I first saw the film in 1993, I was pleasantly surprised by it. The performances are good, the story maintains a reasonable level of interest, and it is shot colourfully. The film is certainly overlong and some of the characters are painted in too broad strokes, but apart from that the critics were unfairly unkind to the film.

Father O'Banion (William Holden) and Father Bovard (Clifton Webb) are a couple of Catholic priests running a remote mission post in China in 1949. O'Banion has recently befriended a young Chinese woman Siu Lan (France Nuyen), but she makes him feel uncomfortable by frequently flirting with him and hinting that she would like to share his bed. Communist forces move into the area and damage the priests' chapel. To add to their woes, Siu Lan is raped and impregnated, and the Communist forces order the public execution of all Christians in the region. Ultimately, they have to flee for safety, pursued by Communist soldiers.

The film was actually filmed in England and Wales, but only occasionally does the lack of authentic location lensing show. Holden gives a decent performance and Webb, though miscast, is entertaining to watch as his older companion. Nuyen strikes the right balance as the flirtatious native girl. The worst performance comes from Weaver Lee, as a Chinese communist colonel

• his character is written as a caricature rather than a realistic person,

and he just can't get across a convincing reading of the role. On the whole, Satan Never Sleeps is an engrossing, diverting way to pass a couple of hours

• certainly not the mega bomb that the critics would have you

believe.