★ 6 / 10
Lee" (Deborah Kerr) travels to the French colony
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"Lee" (Deborah Kerr) travels to the French colony of New Caledonia to do what she can for the war effort and after a brief conversation with her boss "Kate"…
"Lee" (Deborah Kerr) travels to the French colony of New Caledonia to do what she can for the war effort and after a brief conversation with her boss "Kate" (Thelma Ritter) we discover that she's gone all that way because her husband was killed at Guadalcanal. She's advised to focus on her nursing responsibilities and not to risk getting involved with any of the soldiers, and that goes fine until she butts heads with "Col. Black" (William Holden). He knew her late husband, or so he tells her, and as she clamours for more information about when, where and how he died the inevitable happens. Of course, we all know that something built on a pack lies isn't going to prove very robust, and as the deceit - and there's plenty of that on both sides as the story advances - is exposed, their relationship faces turmoil and tragedy. It's only when she finally reaches her husband's grave that things are put into true perspective. Might it all be too late by then? Thelma Ritter is always a reliable character actress but she has too little to get her teeth into here to make enough difference to whet is otherwise a rather pedestrian melodrama that neither Kerr nor Holden seem to be able to enliven. Even at their most torrid, their romance comes across as dry as a bone, indeed there's not much likeable about their characters and so I didn't really care what happened to either of them as this frankly quite thin story is stretched out for at least twenty minutes too long and seems contrived to introduce unwelcome baggage at just about every turn. To be fair, it's quite tightly cast and the story remains focussed on the two of them well enough, but I found the whole thing just too soapy and disinteresting.
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★ 6 / 10
A delayed echo of From Here to Eternity--not half bad, but only half
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The Proud and Profane (1956)Yes, this movie features William Holden and Deborah Kerr, who do their characteristic best in a lower budget echo of the 1953…
The Proud and Profane (1956)Yes, this movie features William Holden and Deborah Kerr, who do their characteristic best in a lower budget echo of the 1953 blockbuster "From Here to Eternity," also featuring Kerr (but with Lancaster and, for good measure, Montgomery Clift). The comparison is fair, because the similarities are too blatant, and so it's fair to also say that, as ordinary as this movie is, it had potential. There are qualities to the story line that are too moving (wounded soldiers in the Pacific, a widow tracing the last days of her Marine husband's life, a love affair against the rules) and the actors are too fine (add Thelma Ritter as an important third) to just dismiss the whole thing as a mess.The director, George Seaton, is really a screenwriter, and though he directed a dozen features, none of them are especially memorable. His real fame rests on assisting with several great movies (like "The Wizard of Oz") and with a single brilliant coup--the screenplay for the original 1947 as well as the later TV version of "Miracle on 34th St." And it is no surprise that Seaton's own screen writing in "The Proud and Profane," though prosaic, is very good. Ah, but filmmaking is about timing, flow, surprise, drama, light, shadow, and sounds of all kinds. This is the director's blank canvas and Seaton doesn't go anywhere in any of these areas. The light is bright and flat. The camera-work is functional and bland (cameraman John Warren being a newcomer, moving quickly to television, including many Hitchcock episodes). The score is strong (thanks to veteran master Victor Young) but there is no attempt to insert diegetic music or more interesting internal sounds. Even the supporting cast is pigeonholed into clichés (and there is no critical secondary male role, as Clift played in the 1953 movie). Thelma Ritter is at her best, more normalized than in other roles, but believable and superb.I write all this for a routine movie because of Holden, who is an understated and sometimes brilliant actor, and Kerr, who I never warm up to but who is almost designed to be too cold to like. Kerr in particular is up and down here, at times so perfectly cast and so convincing you start to really watch closely, but other times she has to stretch her role a little (when she is dancing, for example, or in the cheesy beach scene early on) and it's awkward. Holden is made to be an enigma, and when he warms up (out of uniform) he's likable, and when he's cold, he's cold, but never admirable, which is what a commander needs to be at least.I enjoyed this movie because I enjoy movies, but also because it has aspects that are terrific. If you really like war films that aren't about battle (as I do), this is a must see. And if you want perspective on "From Here to Eternity" you really will appreciate both films more. For just a fresh, well-made movie, terrific you will need to keep looking.
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