At a Catholic mission in China, long-awaited "Father O'Shea" proves to be a tough guy, disturbingly attractive to mission nurse Anne.At a Catholic mission in China, long-awaited "Father O'Shea" proves to be a tough guy, disturbingly attractive to mission nurse Anne.At a Catholic mission in China, long-awaited "Father O'Shea" proves to be a tough guy, disturbingly attractive to mission nurse Anne.
Robert Burton
- Rev. Marvin
- (uncredited)
George Chan
- Li Kwan
- (uncredited)
Sophie Chin
- Celeste - Nurse
- (uncredited)
Peter Chong
- Fen Tso Lin - Merchant
- (uncredited)
Doris Chung
- Clinic Nurse
- (uncredited)
Richard H. Cutting
- Father O'Shea
- (uncredited)
Don Forbes
- Father Keller
- (uncredited)
Candace Lee
- Girl Singing 'My Old Kentucky Home'
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWilliam Faulkner completed an adaptation of the 1950 novel for Director Howard Hawks, a longtime collaborator, but the results were deemed "rather dull and sincere, with an abundance of narration" by Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy, and was shelved.
- GoofsThroughout the climactic confrontation as Carmody and Mieh Yang sit next to each other, Mieh Yang's bald head shifts repeatedly between sunshine and shadow.
- Quotes
Dr. David Sigman: [of prostitutes] Don't tell me the Church gives up on 'em, father! Medicine doesn't give up...
Jim Carmody: When medicine reaches a point where it never has to walk hopelessly away from a case, then you can criticize the Church because it left some... spiritual illness uncured.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Bogart: The Untold Story (1997)
- SoundtracksA LOAF OF BREAD
Written by Ken Darby (based on traditional "The Old Gray Goose")
Sung by Humphrey Bogart and Gene Tierney
Featured review
Surviving as a Padre
Interesting that The Left Hand of God should be directed by Edward Dmytryk one of the famed Hollywood 10 and the only one to recant and admit his Communist Party involvement so he could beat the blacklist and resume work. Dmytryk like Bogart in the film pretended he was something he wasn't and submitted himself for a kind of absolution.
Flier James Carmody is shot down while flying the hump in Kuomintang China during the Thirties and he's shot down in an isolated area where Chiang Kai-shek's writ doesn't run. He gets drafted into warlord Lee J. Cobb's army and then deserts, using the disguise of a recently deceased priest who got himself deceased by one of Cobb's men.
Like William Holden in Bridge Over the River Kwai, Carmody played by Bogart is forced by circumstance to keep up the appearance. He wins over a lot of the villagers where the deceased priest was headed for. And he also wins over missionary lady Gene Tierney. And he becomes involved in a rather dubious miracle that saves the village.
The key here is that Bogart is a lapsed Catholic himself in the film. Otherwise the whole thing would have no meaning whatsoever. Even so, I'm still dubious myself about Bogart's attitude when all's said and done.
Plot elements can be found as I said in The Bridge on the River Kwai and later on it was played for comedy in a military setting when Glenn Ford pretended he was a general in Imitation General in an obscure corner of the European theater in World War II.
Bogey fans will consider this film a must, others can take or leave it.
Flier James Carmody is shot down while flying the hump in Kuomintang China during the Thirties and he's shot down in an isolated area where Chiang Kai-shek's writ doesn't run. He gets drafted into warlord Lee J. Cobb's army and then deserts, using the disguise of a recently deceased priest who got himself deceased by one of Cobb's men.
Like William Holden in Bridge Over the River Kwai, Carmody played by Bogart is forced by circumstance to keep up the appearance. He wins over a lot of the villagers where the deceased priest was headed for. And he also wins over missionary lady Gene Tierney. And he becomes involved in a rather dubious miracle that saves the village.
The key here is that Bogart is a lapsed Catholic himself in the film. Otherwise the whole thing would have no meaning whatsoever. Even so, I'm still dubious myself about Bogart's attitude when all's said and done.
Plot elements can be found as I said in The Bridge on the River Kwai and later on it was played for comedy in a military setting when Glenn Ford pretended he was a general in Imitation General in an obscure corner of the European theater in World War II.
Bogey fans will consider this film a must, others can take or leave it.
- bkoganbing
- Mar 5, 2006
- Permalink
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,785,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.55 : 1
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