Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Intro.

Like I said, May is definitely Mitchum month.  I actually saw Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in a movie store awhile back and decided I had to see it, and to my pleasant surprise it popped up on my instant play suggestions for Netflix.  I had loved Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr together in the film The Grass is Greener, so I was excited to see this film, their first one together.

Overview

The premise is pretty straight-forward.  Robert Mitchum is the title character, Cpl. Allison, USMC.  He has been separated from his submarine and left in a lifeboat.  He lands on the beach of a deserted tropical island in the South Pacific and soon discovers the only inhabitant of the island is a nun, Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr).  She has missed the rescue ship back to Fiji and her companion, a Father, has recently died.  She and Mr. Allison take survey of the island, getting food and keeping watch - that is until the Japanese land.  They both hide in a cave in the hills, but the going is rough as they endure bombings and terrible food.  The two begin to care for one another as friends and Allison, who has never had family or loved ones, finds himself falling in love with Sister Angela.  When he discovers that she has not taken her final vows, he asks her to marry him.  She turns him down, and he gets drunk and begins to carry on about how unfair it is that they are stuck together but can't do anything. Sister Angela runs away, only to get lost and soaked in a downpour.  Allison finds her the next day, feverish and sick.  He has to steal blankets from the Japanese, but he gets her back to good health.  That isn't the end though, as the Americans land to take the island.  Allison gets caught in the fight and the result determines the fate of his relationship with Sister Angela.

Highlights

The shooting locations on Tobago are beautiful in this film.  The entire set up is very well done, and the coordination of the Japanese and American attacks are great. It does feel like a reworking of The African Queen, but there is enough difference to make you realize it is a different film with a different purpose.  I especially like how the film concluded - it doesn't cave to romantic notions and each character retains his/her integrity.

I think one of the hardest things actors have to do is break out of any sort of type-casting.  While Mitchum isn't stretched too far (he's usually the strong, tough guy) I was really surprised at his character's dimensionality - he's not the bitter, intelligent private eye, nor is he the super creepy and deeply sinister bad guy - he's the Joe next door, uneducated and unattached who nevertheless finds himself connected to a nun.  It reminded me of his role in River of No Return, where he is the strong, silent outdoors-man hiding a dark (and sometimes dangerous) nature. 

Finally, what really carries this film is the relationship between Sister Angela and Cpl. Allison.  They realize that they are alone in this crisis together - that they may face death together and even though each one is capable of survival alone, neither wants to leave the other.  They fight, they make up, they survive together.  At perhaps the most touching part of the film, Sister Angela offers to turn herself over to the Japanese in order for Cpl. Allison to have a much better chance of his own survival.  He flat out refuses, saying that if she were to do that, he'd go out of his mind and probably start flinging coconuts at the Japanese to get her back.  It's a great friendship that lasted off screen as well - according to one story, Mitchum had been nervous to work with Deborah Kerr at first, thinking that she might be as prudish as some of her characters.  On set one day, she started to swear at director John Huston, and Mitchum, in the water, began laughing so hard he nearly drowned.  After that, Mitchum and Kerr would remain life-long friends, making another three films together.   

Review

Although it does feel similar to many other island survival films, the relationship between a Marine and a nun makes this film stand out.  While not a classic like The African Queen, this film is just as enjoyable, and watching two such great screen icons together for the first time is unforgettable.  I'd definitely recommend watching.