The Proud and the Profane (1956)

The Proud and the Profane
Directed by George Seaton
Written by George Seaton from a novel by Lucy Herndon Crockett
1956/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Take any picture you can. One out of four will be good, one out of ten will be very good, and one out of 15 will get you an Academy Award. — William Holden[/box]

This post is part of the Golden Boy Blogathon being hosted by The Wonderful World of Cinema.  You can see other excellent posts about William Holden and his films collected here.

In the run up to his performance in 1957’s great The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1956 saw William Holden’s appearance in a couple of lesser-known films – one was the seemingly unavailable Toward the Unknown, the other was this one.  Holden and co-stars Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter are all quite good but it is lesser known for a reason.

Lee Ashley’s (Kerr) genteel Marine husband was killed on Guadalcanal.  She has had herself assigned as a Red Cross volunteer on New Caledonia in hopes that the unit would later be moved on to Guadalcanal to comfort the occupation troops there.  Sassy Kate Conners (Ritter) fought having Lee put in her group to no avail.  Lee spends a lot of time quizzing the returnees from the island on whether they knew her husband.  She also plays chess and teaches French.  Lee and her husband were high society horsey types back home.

One day, she meets the tough, arrogant Lt. Col. Colin Black (Holden).  Black reveals that he is half-Indian and has a gigantic chip on his shoulder.  We also find out during the course of the movie that he has very little compassion for his men, seeing them as basically fighting machines.  When Black was earlier informed of the indentity of Lee’s husband he had no reaction,  when he actually meets Lee he is equipped with a pretty good story.  He pursues Lee, who resists him until she succumbs to his sheer animal magnetism.

They have a passionate affair, just short of making love in the surf.  Finally, Black and his men are sent back to Guadalcanal.  Before he departs, he asks her to marry him.  She eagerly accepts.  I won’t reveal the remainder of the plot but it really irritated me.

This is the first time I have seen Holden in a mustache.  He certainly didn’t need to cover any part of his face but I quickly grew accustomed to it.  The part was in his line of bitter, romantic heroes.  Kerr is always good but she was perhaps made to echo her part in From Here to Eternity a bit too much, down to the blonde hair.  Ritter is always Ritter and always wonderful.  The script and dialogue are on the sentimental side with an important religious subplot.  In short, I was not wowed but it held my attention all the way through.

PARTIAL SPOILER:  In the ending, Holden is caught in a devastating lie.  During the confrontation with Kerr, he manages to push Kerr, causing her to hit her head and putting her in the hospital.  Yet, the climax is all about how Kerr should be a “woman” and forgive Holden.  It’s this attitude that stuck and sticks women in abusive relationships and I can’t stand it.

The Proud and the Profane was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83O-PG63eu0

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