Del destino nadie huye

Considering it provides a rare opportunity to see Bogart in colour, is set during the civil war in China, Bogart pretends to be a gun-toting priest in his most bizarre role since playing a vampire over fifteen years earlier in 'The Return of Dr X' and Lee J. Cobb plays a Chinese warlord, you come out of it thinking "is that it?"

Bogart looks very old and tired, but he and the rest of the cast all do good work; although Victor Young's obtrusive score over-eggs the pudding as usual.

William E. Barrett wrote novels in various genres but his works containing a religious element have proved more popular with film-makers, notably 'Lilies of the Field'.

'The Left Hand of God' boasts the excellent production values of Twentieth Century Fox, filmed in Daryl F. Zanuck's beloved Cinemascope by Franz Planer, with a strong score by Victor Young and a top-notch cast.

None of these factors alas is able to compensate for the disappointing script. Screenwriter Alfred Hayes is certainly no Grahame Greene and one critic referred to its 'mock religiosity'.

Director Edward Dmytryk and Humphrey Bogart had previously worked together on the excellent 'The Caine Mutiny' but Mr. Bogart's character here is rather one-dimensional although this actor is as always eminently watchable and has star quality in spades. As the phoney priest O'Shea he falls for the lovely nurse of Gene Tierney. There is a distinct simpatico between them despite the obvious age difference and that neither actor was in the best of health!

Great support from Agnes Moorhead, E. G. Marshall and Lee J. Cobb. Mr. Cobb's casting as a Chinese warlord is bizarre to say the least but typical of Hollywood at the time. The individual scenes between the five protagonists are excellent and the high stakes dice game between priest and warlord is the highlight.

Suffice to say this is a must for Bogie devotees of which this viewer is one but the film itself lacks focus and momentum. One cannot help but feel that an opportunity has been missed and that it remains an example of the Left hand not knowing what the Right hand is doing!

Interesting that The Left Hand of God should be directed by Edward Dmytryk one of the famed Hollywood 10 and the only one to recant and admit his Communist Party involvement so he could beat the blacklist and resume work. Dmytryk like Bogart in the film pretended he was something he wasn't and submitted himself for a kind of absolution.

Flier James Carmody is shot down while flying the hump in Kuomintang China during the Thirties and he's shot down in an isolated area where Chiang Kai-shek's writ doesn't run. He gets drafted into warlord Lee J. Cobb's army and then deserts, using the disguise of a recently deceased priest who got himself deceased by one of Cobb's men.

Like William Holden in Bridge Over the River Kwai, Carmody played by Bogart is forced by circumstance to keep up the appearance. He wins over a lot of the villagers where the deceased priest was headed for. And he also wins over missionary lady Gene Tierney. And he becomes involved in a rather dubious miracle that saves the village.

The key here is that Bogart is a lapsed Catholic himself in the film. Otherwise the whole thing would have no meaning whatsoever. Even so, I'm still dubious myself about Bogart's attitude when all's said and done.

Plot elements can be found as I said in The Bridge on the River Kwai and later on it was played for comedy in a military setting when Glenn Ford pretended he was a general in Imitation General in an obscure corner of the European theater in World War II.

Bogey fans will consider this film a must, others can take or leave it.

Father O'Shea, arrives at a Catholic mission in 1947 China, though his methods at first seem heavy handed, the villagers come to admire and respect him. But the longer he stays there the closer he gets to Anne, a pretty nurse who herself is strangely drawn to this unorthodox priest, it is just a matter of time before the truth will out and secrets are about to become uncovered.

Based on the novel by William E. Barrett, The Left Hand Of God just about registers as an interesting piece. I would go as far to say that it's merely the presence of some big name actors that have stopped this one from being panned wholesale. The acting is fine, Humphrey Bogart takes the lead as Father O'Shea, restrained and committed to the role he is, but it's not really a role calling for anything out of the ordinary. Gene Tierney plays Anne and barely has enough written for her to flourish, and this accounts for a distinct lack of chemistry between herself and Bogart. Gruff nasty villain duties fall to Lee J. Cobb, who in his oriental makeup now looks incredibly dated and sadly, laughable. The story will be of interest to those of religious beliefs, and at its heart the redemption fable is to be roundly applauded, but the whole movie drags to its inevitable conclusion and come the warm finale i personally felt that it's such a waste of talent. Yes it's touching at times, and yes its point is well and truly made, but ultimately it's a very forgettable piece of interest to Bogart and religious purists only. 5/10

Great movie stars are rarely great actors. But they are people who exude elements of humanity, which we'd like to possess- John Wayne's toughness, Sharon Stone's glamour, Gary Cooper's inner silence, or Michael Douglas's ruthlessness. More unique than acting talent, Humphrey Bogart's element was that of hardened sinner whose inner spark of decency wasn't entirely subsumed. In this Cinemascope/colour movie, where Bogie's late-night drinking and myriad of broken marital relationships was visibly etched upon every facial crevice, the idea that he could pass himself off as a priest was ludicrous. But THE LEFT HAND OF GOD never demands that of him- nor us.

It makes instead, the not impossible proposition that a simple, remote Chinese community traumatised by marauders might presume Bogie to be the 'priest of Christ' they so anxiously await. We the audience, are privy to who Bogey is and still is. His un-Godly skill, which ultimately saves the mission from General Yang's terror, is entirely in character.

The Catholic theology was also dead on. Those whom Bogie absolved, married and buried were spiritually exonerated by the very innocence we moviegoers cannot share about Bogart. The power of the central argument of William Barrett's much dissipated novel, in spite of -or maybe because of, 50's Hollywood formulaic moviemaking- is somehow preserved.

The repetitious references to Bogey as 'the priest of Christ' and the ingenuous children's enigmatic broken-English farewell of 'Oole Kantackee Hom,' also persuade. We know Bogey must leave, and that he is redeemed in spite of himself. Even Bogie doesn't know that. We now also know that this life-scarred, bloodshot, poker-playing sceptic received a fair Hearing- after dying from throat cancer less than two years later on January 14th 1957 -at least from the left Hand Side of his Maker.