Lee Ashley, a woman who had lost her husband in the WWII conflict, enlists in the Red Cross in order to help. She is sent to the South Pacific to an American base that served to treat the wounded men from different parts of the Pacific theater. Lee, who comes from a genteel background, meets the arrogant Lt. Col. Colin Black, a marine who is a self-made man.
Her reaction, at first, is not a happy one because she doesn't approve of the way he treats his own people. That, in time, turns into love, and later on, into hatred because she feels betrayed upon knowing he is married. She becomes pregnant and because of Black's action, she ends up miscarrying. In the end she gets the satisfaction of knowing that Black loved her all along and now, wounded and in bad shape he asks her to forgive him.
George Seaton directed this Paramount release of 1956 that brought together two of the most talented actors of the time, William Holden and Deborah Kerr. The film, an adaptation from a novel, doesn't hold any surprises as the viewer feels where it is going. It was a miracle the censors didn't make the filmmakers strike the pregnancy issue, but it was all right as they compensate by killing Black's wife, who is a drunk and a low life. Thus the censors and the studio make a point about the moral aspect of the resolution.
Deborah Kerr was at the height of her career. She was always effective no matter what she was asked to play. William Holden, sporting a mustache, didn't have to shave his chest this time as he did in "Picnic". Mr. Holden didn't fare as well in the movie. The irrepressible Thelma Ritter shows as a nurse with a heart of gold, her specialty. She was always a joy to watch, as she proves in the film.
Her reaction, at first, is not a happy one because she doesn't approve of the way he treats his own people. That, in time, turns into love, and later on, into hatred because she feels betrayed upon knowing he is married. She becomes pregnant and because of Black's action, she ends up miscarrying. In the end she gets the satisfaction of knowing that Black loved her all along and now, wounded and in bad shape he asks her to forgive him.
George Seaton directed this Paramount release of 1956 that brought together two of the most talented actors of the time, William Holden and Deborah Kerr. The film, an adaptation from a novel, doesn't hold any surprises as the viewer feels where it is going. It was a miracle the censors didn't make the filmmakers strike the pregnancy issue, but it was all right as they compensate by killing Black's wife, who is a drunk and a low life. Thus the censors and the studio make a point about the moral aspect of the resolution.
Deborah Kerr was at the height of her career. She was always effective no matter what she was asked to play. William Holden, sporting a mustache, didn't have to shave his chest this time as he did in "Picnic". Mr. Holden didn't fare as well in the movie. The irrepressible Thelma Ritter shows as a nurse with a heart of gold, her specialty. She was always a joy to watch, as she proves in the film.