Satan Never Sleeps (1962)

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Claude Binyon (screenplay) and
Leo McCarey (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

23 March 1962 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A priest (William Holden) arrives at a mission-post in China accompanied by a young native girl who has joined him along the way...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Church | Catholic Hospital | Convent School | Nun

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 Lee	...	Ho San
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ronald Adam	...	Father Lemay (uncredited)
Lin Chen	...	Sister Mary (uncredited)
Anthony Chinn	...	Ho San's Driver (uncredited)
Noel Hood	...	Sister Justine (uncredited)
Ric Young	...	Junior Officer (uncredited)

Directed by
Leo McCarey

Writing credits
Claude Binyon		(screenplay) and
Leo McCarey		(screenplay)
Pearl S. Buck		(novel "The China Story")

Produced by
Cecil F. Ford	....	associate producer
Leo McCarey	....	producer

Original Music by
Richard Rodney Bennett

Cinematography by
Oswald Morris		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Gordon Pilkington

Production Design by
Thomas N. Morahan		(as Tom Morahan)

Set Decoration by
Jack Stephens		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
George Frost	....	makeup supervisor
Bill Griffiths	....	chief hairdresser

Production Management
Jack Swinburne	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David W. Orton	....	first assistant director (as David Orton)

Art Department
John Hoesli	....	assistant art director
Jim Morahan	....	associate art director
Jack Stephens	....	set dresser
John Graysmark	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Bramall	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Brian West	....	camera operator
Jimmy Turrell	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Arthur Newman	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Muir Mathieson	....	conductor

Other crew
Constance Willis	....	continuity (as Connie Willis)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1962) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1965) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1962)

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Filmed in England on sets that had been built for The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the baptism scene at the end, Holden pulls the white garment over his head just as the name of the child is revealed. His hair is very tousled as his head subsequently emerges. The scene cuts to the proud/happy parents, then right back to Holden and his hair is miraculously restored to its customary neatness with no apparent time elapsed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tomorrow, Yesterday, and Today (2010) (V)

Soundtrack:

Satan Never Sleeps

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.