La strada a spirale

If you never thought Rock Hudson was more than a pretty face, you're not alone. A friend of mine chalked him up to "light entertainment," a description I thought was accurate until I saw The Spiral Road. He puts his heart into this movie, and it shows.

Rock stars as an ambitious doctor who specifically requests to be sent to leprosy-ridden Indonesia to study under the legendary Burl Ives. There's more to it than just admiration, and Rock's character is quite complex. His wife, Gena Rowlands, begs him to open up and when he finally does, he delivers an emotional monologue about the difficult relationship he had growing up with his father. He pulls from previously hidden talents several times throughout the film, and he's also called upon for physicality he doesn't normally perform. Within the Indonesian villages, there are strong superstitious beliefs, like what will happen if you find a dead lizard outside your door. Rock winds up being a target, and as he's chased into an endless swamp, he nearly loses his sanity. It's very impressive, and if 1962 weren't such a contentious year full of male talent, he might have received a Rag nomination for his performance.

My only criticism of the film is quite small, so if it doesn't bother you, take it with a grain of salt. Filmed in the 1960s but set in the 1930s, the fashions and hairstyles don't reflect the proper time period. Gena wears a flare cut coat and a skirt suit with a hemline above the knees, for example. If you don't care, you'll be far more interested in seeing Rock in his clean, well-fitting white tank top that he shows off several times.

After I finished watching "The Spiral Road" -regretting that the failed end product had been directed by Robert Mulligan, the same man who did "To Kill a Mockingbird"- I was surprised to know that both films were released the same year. After both, Mulligan (a long time associate of Alan J. Pakula) started a chain of fine motion pictures, with favorites as "Love with the Proper Stranger", "Up the Down Staircase", "Summer of '42", "The Other" and "The Man in the Moon". But something went wrong in "The Spiral Road", and I believe it has to do mostly with the screenplay by John Lee Mahin and Neil Paterson. Everything seems okay in the first 90 minutes or so: I thought the story was in the lines of the Mexican film "Amok" ( based on a novel by Stefan Zweig) and the Argentinean real-life account "Houses of Fire", in which doctors fight in faraway places against strange diseases; and it also reminded me of "Gorillas in the Mist" or "Never Cry Wolf", which were based on fact. Here Rock Hudson plays Dutch doctor Anton Drager who convinces the head of the colonial health service in Batavia to assign him to a leper colony ruled by bright scientist Brits Jansen (Burl Ives), a man who might have made great advances in the study of leprosy, but who has neither ordered, compiled nor published his findings. Hudson brings conviction to the role of a man whose upbringing by a religious father has turned him into a nihilistic cynic, a rude and opportunistic scientist. Then the character of Els (Gena Rowlands) is introduced, things start to shake. It's a pity because it has nothing to do with the 1930s character or with Rowlands, who is good as usual. It is just the turning point when things begin to go bad. An endless sequence portraying the "decadence" of Dutch colonialists in a party (it's been reported that "Mulligan filmed it in Suriname with old colonial Dutch types, who were very mad when the film was released, because he had fooled them into re-enacting a colonial party") is followed by the introduction of a dwarf as comic relief. Soon Drager and Jansen disagree, argue and separate, the former starts to drink, and the third act turns into an embarrassingly silly and kilometric search for spirituality. Somebody must have told Mulligan or the adapters of Jan de Hartog's novel, that filming the spirit or the spiritual life is no easy task, and that capturing its search on film stock, a privilege reserved to a few: Dreyer, Rossellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky, among the prominent... But works as Fleming's "Joan of Arc", King's "The Song of Bernadette", Rook's "Siddharta", Zeffirelli's "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", Jewison's "Agnes of God", or Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" are failed intents. While Drager goes in circles in the jungle, Jansen disappears from the film, and his place is taken by a evil witch doctor, played by Reggie Nalder, whom I wrongly thought that I had seen doing all, from Hitchcockian assassin to green vampire. Then the film ends abruptly after Drager experiences a "moment of illumination" (as reported, mocked by Monty Python) in the spiral road to spirituality. A real shame, because for Universal-International (which I remember that in those days was perceived as the corny studio) it meant a serious super-production, and it shows. Take also note of Jerry Goldsmith's score: if Bernard Herrmann borrowed in 1946 a few notes from traditional music of the Pacific for his "Anna and the King of Siam" score, then Goldsmith chose the same. If not, Goldsmith seems to have lifted Herrmann's main theme.

In 1936, a good-looking and atheist Dutch physician (Rock Hudson) joins forces in Indonesia with a stubborn Doctor (Burl Ives) at a remote location , both of whom heal ill people and help injured natives at the Netherlands colony . Along the way , they have a risked run-in with a local witch-doctor (Reggie Nalder) who uses black magic to destroy his enemies . Shattering Adventure That Boldly Explores the Jungles of the Heart!

Enjoyable as well colorful film about two dedicated doctors who attempt to cure sick people and treat leprosy patients in the lush jungles . This is the exciting story set in the Dutch West Indies circa 1936 about an arrogant doctor : Rock Hudson who followed a dream , being really challenged by love : Gena Rowlands , sickness , leprosy and black magic . Here director Robert Mulligan struck a correct balance of pace and sensitivity in the absorbing tale of a young man who arrives in Indonesia and through the jungles of Java helps care for natives . As he is struggling to reconcile his free spirit as well as ambition and philanthropic wishes with the jungle rigors . Finely starred by a luminous Rock Hudson who chalked up another hit in this long but always attractive flick based on John Lee Mahin and Neil Paterson script from the book and play "Godsgeuzen" by Jan de Hartog , being rightly adapted . This agreeable yarn packs a moving screenplay , intense drama , fine interpretations and intelligent filmmaking . Good acting by Rock Hudson as a good-natured but greedy doctor who undergoes a series of ordeals on a redemption journey to cure people and special mention for Burl Ives as an eccentric older man who gains the trust of the local natives while healing them . And the charming Gena Rowlands as the beloved wife . They are adequately accompanied by an appropriate support cast , such as : Larry Gates , Geoffrey Keen , Neva Patterson , Will Kuluva , Philip Abbott , Karl Swenson , Robert F. Simon and Reggie Nalder.

This film follows the wake of the highly acclaimed ¨Nun's story¨ by Fred Zinneman starred by Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch that consolidated a sub-genre about Doctors and religious people in far countries , going on ¨Heaven knows , Mr Allison¨ by John Huston with Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr and ¨A Nun at the Crossroads¨ with Rosanna Schiaffino and John Richardson , ¨The Sins of Rachel Cade¨ by Gordon Douglas with Angie Dickinson , Peter Finch , and ¨White Whitch Doctor¨ by Henry Hathaway with Susan Hayward , Robert Mitchum , among others .

It packs brilliant and glimmering cinematography, showing spectacular outdoors by cameraman Russell Harlan . Shot on location in Paramaribo, Suriname and Universal Studios , Universal City, California . Along with a thrilling and moving musical score by maestro Jerry Goldsmith in his usual style . This motion picture with interesting plot was well directed by Robert Mulligan , a filmmaker more specialist in human drama and with sure touch in the interior scenes . Mulligan has been out-stripped in reputation by his one time partner/producer Alan J Pacula . Mulligan directed good dramas as ¨A great impostor¨, ¨Love with the proper stranger¨, ¨Inside Daisy Clover¨ and ¨Summer of 42¨ that was extremely successful . And a nice Western titled ¨Stalking Moon¨with Gregory Peck. His last works as ¨Blood Brothers¨ , ¨Same time next year¨ , ¨Kiss me goodbye¨ , ¨Clara's heart¨ failed to bring the required response from the cinema-goers public . Rating : 7/10 . Above average , worthwhile watching . The flick will appeal to Rock Hudson fans.

This is a big picture, which deserves more exposure. In the early 60s Universal was more known for fluffball (but high quality) Doris Day product, but here they show their diversity by presenting what was obviously a prestige picture. Bob Mulligan, who scored a hit with 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in the same year, got to try his hand at an epic. The main titles are perfect to set the mood: youthful Jerry Goldsmith's talents as a composer are spectacular and atmospheric. He of course used gamelans in his score, but he uses them with concise effect, and without cliché. The graphics of the titles are very fine: colourful maps guide us in to a strange 'exotic' place. Such a relief from the sterile titles of today.

This film really made a big impression on me as a kid when I saw it on TV in the late 60s. 'Pan and scan' TV viewing had a definite mystique to it, as the process of squeezing anamorphic images into The Box automatically made the picture in question important. 'The Spiral Road' was no exception. But it IS important. I can imagine the grandeur of seeing it in a full-blown picture palace. Everything in the film is competently executed. I even remember the props, such as Rock's intriguing spherical fan on his bedside table.

The performances are excellent, reliable, and everyone really delivers. Burl Ives practically steals the show (as usual), and gets some good 'honeylamb' lines in. The aged Sultan is memorable. The fabulous Larry Gates, one of the greats, never disappoints. This role was a warm up for his deeper part as the missionary in 'The Sand Pebbles', a more profound companion to this picture.

'Lord Jim' of 1965 explores the same 'dark side of the jungle', only a century earlier. All three are outstanding examinations of the many dimensions of tropical and Asian colonialism, albeit from a Western viewpoint.

I agree that it's time this picture, and many more like it, was allowed into wider exposure via video/DVD. Vendors, take note!

PS: I just saw the DVD edition, and I was not disappointed. The picture holds up very well, though I would have wished for more Burl Ives in the last sequences. Russell Harlan's camera-work is outstanding, only matched by his work on 'Hawaii' a few years later.

One of those special films I can watch over and over again, noticing new details on each viewing, "The Spiral Road" hasn't even made it to video--my own copy was taped off the air long ago--yet it seems to have enjoyed a long life on television. Even harder to find than the film is the book on which it's based, written by Jan De Hartog, whose other works are easily found in most libraries.

The book is very Dutch is setting and tone, and this was predictably softened in the film: Dr. Anton Zorgdrager becomes Dr. Anton Drager, Dr. Brzhezinska-Jansen becomes Dr. Brits Jansen, et cetera. Much of the soul-searching in the book is lost, though not all. In particular, the very seamy backstory of Salvation Army Captain Willem Wattereus is completely missing from the film, though Geoffrey Keen is skilled enough to convey, through looks and movement, the suggestion of uncharted depths in a character reduced by the script almost to cardboard.

It is fine performances that make this film work. Rock Hudson has always, I believe, been underrated as a dramatic actor--although this is beginning to change, as new audiences discover his brilliant performance in the video release of "Seconds." Too bad they can't find "Spiral" on video as well. He made it just before "Seconds," and he's just as good, striking the perfect balance of competence and arrogance as an opportunistic and atheistic young doctor who comes to the then-Netherlands East Indies in the late '3O's to fulfill his contract: five years of service in return for a government-financed education--during which he will confront cunning natives (the whites' contempt for them is a subtle undertone carefully controlled by director Robert Mulligan), God and himself.

Other standout performances: Burl Ives as Dr. Brits Jansen, modulating perfectly the rolling transitions of his larger-than-life character from cynicism to wonder, gravity to buffoonery; Gena Rowlands as Els, the "girl" from back home, valiantly overcoming the "fainthearted" stereotyping of her part, the afore-mentioned Keen, the always-reliable Robert F. Simon, and Philip Abbott in a role pivotal to the plot.

UPDATE (12/O6): After forty-four years, this fine film is now available on DVD. What a wonderful surprise--thank you, Universal.