Begins slowly in Belgium with seemingly endless formations of black and white and prostrating nuns - the whole process of becoming a nun seems a mad practice and really quite negative in its repression of memories and self-castigation. "I hope this film ends in a bar in Montparnasse' I said hopefully, perhaps thinking of Buñuel's Simon of the Desert again. In fact, more the thought, "If only this film had been directed by Buñuel" - that would have been something.
Anyway, apart from relishing Audrey Hepburn's great performance (she was Oscar nominated), and admiring Franz Planer's photography and Franz Waxman's music, and enjoying the thought that most of the interiors were filmed at Cinecitta, the story picks up when she moves into the outside world at a tropical medicine school, then a mental institution, before she finally gets her dream to practice in the Congo. (There's no mention here of course of the awful history of the Belgians in Congo.) She becomes a match for hardworking doctor Peter Finch (good), who saves her life when she acquires TB.
Wasn't sure why there is an episode where she travels to meet a doctor who's dealing with leprosy victims - it doesn't integrate with the rest of the story.
Then things take a strange turn - she's summoned back to Belgium and WWII starts, she loses her desire to be a nun and is more interested in helping the resistance. And thus it ends with her leaving the order in a beautifully held long shot (where Q's joke comes in - 'Why change the habit of a lifetime?') Not a recruitment film for wannabe nuns, then, but overall, interesting.
With Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Dean Jagger, Mildred Dunnock, Patricia Collinge, Beatrice Straight (good as Mother in sanatorium), Lionel Jeffries, Coleen Dewhurst (schizo patient). Written by Robert Anderson, novel Kathryn C. Hulme. Edited by Walter Thompson (also Fat City, Farewell, My Lovely). Warner Bros.
I would have called it 'A Nun's Story', myself.
Sergio Leone was one of the assistant directors. He tried to pigeonhole Zinnemann about the High Noon train station scenes, but he was too busy.
The 'Warner Brothers Story' notes the decision not to have music at the end was because if it was upbeat, it indicated Hepburn had done the right thing, if downbeat that she hadn't - both of these could have upset portions of the audience. Much against Jack Warner's wishes, Zinnemann held out for none. It actually makes it work better.
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