Sunday 27 November 2016

Battle Hymn (1957 Douglas Sirk)

A true story, written by Charles Grayson and Vincent Evans, in which Colonel Hess was constantly on set, supervising; thus Sirk couldn't make him a drinker between the church and the air force as he would have liked to have done; and would have preferred a more complex actor like Robert Stack rather than Rock Hudson. Still, story of guilt-ridden flyer who turns his mind to saving children is fine, particularly when shot by Metty (in CinemaScope) and scored by Skinner (Golitzen of course is the guy who designs a bombed out temple).

Dan Duryea good in support; with Welsh Anna Kashfi (who married Brando and after divorce wrote angry memoir 'Brando for Breakfast'). The delightful child Chu is played by Jung' Kyoo Pyo (all the kids are played by real orphans), who was adopted by the Friars and thus became Sam Friar (source: 'Hollywood Asian' Philip Ahn) - that's as much as I can tell you.



Noted the ripple dissolve to flashback - did David Lean do this first?

Hess's NY Times obit here.

I want Rock Hudson's brown flying jacket.


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