A convent opens its gates to flooded villagers - and a young woman who is about to be executed for murdering her brother. But strong willed nun Claudette Colbert doesn't believe she's guilty.
Atmospheric tale of faith and justice, adapted from Charlotte Hastings' play 'Bonaventure' by Oscar Saul and Andrew Salt. Great to see a new Sirk for the first time. Atmospherically designed and filmed (at Universal) - Bernard Herzbrun & Nathan Juran (coincidentally I was half-watching and enjoying his terrible Jack the Giant Killer earlier while cooking) and William H Daniels.
Cast: Ann Blyth, Robert Douglas (doctor), Anne Crawford (his wife), Philip Friend (Fiance), Gladys Cooper, Michael Pate (village idiot), Connie Gilchrist (whose 'Never throw away newspaper or string" becomes usefully prophetic).
Good music by Hans J Salter, another of Hitler's gifts to the USA.
Sirk doesn't say a lot about it in Halliday's book, other than that he wasn't interested in the religious angle at all. It was his first picture for Universal, and he liked them because they let him work on the material and left him alone to cut.
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