La main gauche du Seigneur

I first saw the film, and found it quite good. The story was catching, and the actors were splendid. As far as Bogart is concerned, I rank this movie with "the Caine Mutiny", and above "African Queen". Lee J. Cobb I found quite good too, and much more credible than Curd Juergens in "the Inn of sixth happiness". The rest of the cast gives, I think, a quite good idea of the missionary life in China. Which was the weak part in the otherwise good "Sand Pebbles". I read the book at least once a year. It explains more of the movie plot, and I recommend to anyone interested in the ethics of the film, but it should have been too long, if strictly respected in the screenplay. I'd rate the movie 9,5/10, admitting, though, that Bogart is one of my favorite actors, which could biase my judgment !

You won't get the urge to hail with hallelujahs, but you'll walk away shrugging, and mumbling what the, especially when Yang's encountered, but the film was always downward, poor Lee J. Cobb is quite the opposite of stupendous. You may also have concerns about the mule, although there's several that compete to trick and fool, with a story that's so thin, Bogey's a fogey and quite thin, deserving better than this festering pustule. At least it's short which means you don't have to endure, a bit less than 90 minutes of Yak manure, but you'll not forget poor Lee, an Asian minstrel - could he see? A film with very low appeal, without allure.

Nice and intelligent film , being Humphrey's second to last movie providing an awesome acting . As he plays a pilot called James 'Jim' Carmody (Bogart , though Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck were considered to star in this picture) attempting to escape in post WWIII , 1947 , dressed as a priest from the revenge of a Chinese warlord (Lee J Cobb) . At a Catholic mission in China , being long-awaited "Father O'Shea" but there shows up Carmody posing as a cleric and he proves to be a two-fisted guy . At this place lives the enticing nurse Anne (Gene Tierney) , a gorgeous war widow , who believes she is falling in love with someone she can't marry . Meanwhile , China disintegrates in civil war (1945-1949) , warlords , revolution and fights between Maoists and nationalists.

This is a sensitive film including emotions , interesting dialogue , a marvelous love story and fine performances . The hand of Edward Dmytryk tends to rely heavily on the enjoyable relationship between Bogart and Tierney . The film is pretty well , though results are rather dull and sincere with an abundance of narrative dialog . Interesting screenplay by Alfred Hayes based on the novel "The Left Hand of God" by William E. Barrett . Long time ago , William Faulkner completed an adaptation of the 1950 novel for director Howard Hawks , a longtime collaborator . Here Bogart in a new type of action role who proves to be surprisingly effective with the unusual character of an adventurer/pilot who disguised himself as a Catholic cleric . Gene Tierney is as beautiful as ever as the attractive woman . However , being last starring screen appearance of actress Gene Tierney, who had been suffering from mental illness for a number of years and entered various treatment centers . Support cast is frankly well , such as : Agnes Moorehead , E.G. Marshall , Jean Porter , Carl Benton Reid and Lee J Cobb is great as a warlord . The movie displays a luxurious and colorful cinematography by Franz Planer . Emotive and moving musical score by the classical composer Victor Young , including a stirring leitmotif .

The motion picture was well directed by Edward Dmytryk , though being slow-moving and with penchant to weight rather heavily on the proceedings . A veteran filmmaker, Dmytryck is one of Hollywood's most prolific directors who started his career in the early 40s . He was a craftsman whose career was interrupted by the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a congressional committee that employed ruthless tactics aimed at rooting out and destroying what it saw as Communist influence in Hollywood . A lifelong political leftist who had been a Communist Party member briefly during World War II, Dmytryk was one of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" who refused to cooperate with HUAC and had their careers disrupted or ruined as a result . The committee threw him in prison for refusing to cooperate, and after having spent several months behind bars , Dmytryk decided to cooperate . Dmytrick's biggest film was ¨The Caine Mutiny¨ , but he also realized another mutiny film titled : ¨Mutiny¨ with Angela Lansbury . Edward was an expert on warlike genre as ¨Back to Batan¨ , ¨Battle of Anzio¨ , ¨Young lions¨ and Western as ¨Broken lance¨ , ¨Alvarez Kelly¨ , ¨Warlock¨ , among others . Rating : 6.5/10 , better than average . It's recommended for drama enthusiasts and big stars lovers .

Humphrey Bogart and Gene Tierney headline this 20th Century Fox production. It is one of Bogart's few color films.

I liked the fact that the two lead characters in The Left Hand of God don't wind up together and that there is not a romantic happy ending. It certainly would not ring true for these characters and their situation.

I didn't buy Lee Cobb as the warlord. He's a great actor, but for him to play a role in yellow face, he would need to look at least the tiniest bit Asian. He doesn't. He has too wide a nose and lacks the type of delicate features that would make him physically believable as an Asian. Agnes Moorehead is good as always.

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.