Heaven Knows Mr Allison 1957 with Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum

Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum became life long friends and would star in three more films: The Sundowners (Warner Brothers, 1960), The Gypsy Moths (MGM, 1969) and Reunion at Fairborough (Columbia, 1985). The first film that they did together is an exceptional film Heaven, Knows Mr. Allison (20th Century-Fox, 1957). Over the decades, the classic Hollywood war movie has undergone many a permutation. Rarely however, has one emerged as intimately involved in the genuine affections between two people who come to understand, respect – and yes, even love each other – as John Huston’s Heaven Knows Mr. Allison; a superior study in the clichéd opposites attract. In retrospective interviews, the caustic Huston would frequently bristle over Heaven Knows Mr. Allison as his least favorite movie. But Huston’s contempt for the picture seems to have ripened with time, also having been predicated on his endurance of the puritanical Production Code and National Legion of Decency (formerly the Catholic League of Decency), the latter, breathing hard down his neck and at every step of the production; even sending delegates to the remote Tobago and Trinidad locations to scrutinize his shoot. Heaven Knows Mr. Allison is immeasurably blessed to have both Mitchum and Kerr as its costars.

For here is 106 minutes of mostly verbal exchanges – some platonic, others…well… It was, therefore, something of a genuine and most welcome surprise for Hollywood’s trademarked bad boy to discover that Kerr had a playfully, less genteel side; a more relaxed and forgiving personality that effortlessly clicked with his own. Reportedly, Kerr made Mitchum laugh on their first day’s shooting, spouting off a few choice words to their director – again, in fun rather than out of spite, her impromptu dispensing with the niceties enough to break the proverbial ice and immediately earn her the respect of her co-stars’ and Huston alike. Hollywood doesn’t make – or even remake – pictures like Heaven Knows Mr. Allison anymore; perhaps because in our present-day selfishness for the proverbial happy ending, some studio executive would see to it the nun forsakes her vows for the prerequisite steamy sex scene, and the marine goes AWOL to satisfy his wanderlust. There is, of course, a morality at play in Heaven Knows Mr. Allison. But it goes far beyond the stringencies imposed on John Huston by the production code and/or Legion of Decency: people genuinely dedicated to each other, to other things as well – placing virtue as its own reward (how long has it been since we’ve seen that on our movie screens?) and altruism ahead of their mutual respect, this too far above personal feelings and desires for a moment’s reckless/feckless diversions. There is an undeniable earthy chemistry brewing; an exchange of ideals and sentiments generating sparks off the screen; Allison’s gradual mutation from selfless protector to interested party in Sister Angela’s repressed womanhood; hers’, an ever-maintained an even-keeled devotion to Christ in lieu of even the possibility to embrace a more worldly romance. There’s more than a hint of subtext here: psychologically-energized with unadulterated eroticism. In Mr. Allison, though, Kerr and Mitchum play their roles absolutely straight, with a sincerity and vulnerability that's actually pretty rare for a star vehicle. If you're at all familiar with Deborah Kerr's work, that should come as no surprise—she was the gentlest, most guileless actress ever to grace the big screen. Kerr's quiet vulnerability sells the role of Sister Angela, a performance garnering her a Best Actress nomination. Sister Angela is inquisitive, quiet, and doesn’t put up with Allison. When she gets a cold and Allison takes her veil off, it’s more sexually charged than a touch could be, and yet Angela denies her fear or hesitancy. It is in their parting; or rather, in Sister Angela’s unspoken accompaniment of Mr. Allison toward the American war ships that have come to rescue them, it will divide them forever; her hand gingerly nestled inside his, her heart momentarily away from God, her thoughts, perhaps, reflecting on this penultimate moment of goodbye. Heaven does indeed, know Mr. Allison…and now, so does Sister Angela. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison is an introspective lament on the ideals we’re forced to uphold. How can we truly stand by our beliefs until they’re tested? Whether it’s love, or confronting one’s need to fight or refrain during wartime, Huston explores the nature of belief and its power. Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr create fully realized characters whose authenticity you come to experience and appreciate.e American war ships that have come to rescue them, it will divide them forever; her hand gingerly nestled inside his, her heart momentarily away from God, her thoughts, perhaps, reflecting on this penultimate moment of goodbye. Heaven does indeed, know Mr. Allison…and now, so does Sister Angela. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison is an introspective lament on the ideals we’re forced to uphold. How can we truly stand by our beliefs until they’re tested? Whether it’s love, or confronting one’s need to fight or refrain during wartime, Huston explores the nature of belief and its power. Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr create fully realized characters whose authenticity you come to experience and appreciate.