Battle Hymn ***½ (1957, Rock Hudson, Anna Kashfi, Dan Duryea, Don DeFore, Martha Hyer, Jock Mahoney, Alan Hale Jr) – Classic Movie Review 6670

Director Douglas Sirk’s lavish, sentimental, flag-waving 1957 Korean War movie stars his regular actor Rock Hudson, who impresses in a heavyweight role as Colonel Dean Hess, a real-life World War Two bomber pilot and flying chaplain who later is involved in the Korean War. Patriotic it may seem to be, but it can also be seen in another kinder light as it won the 1957 Golden Globe for Best Film Promoting International Understanding.

The remorseful Colonel Hess enters the ministry to atone for bombing a German orphanage, but afterwards decides that he is a failure as a minister and rejoins the air force to train young pilots for the Korean War and goes back to Korea to help the orphans there and sets up an orphanage.

The stalwart and well-meaning, if uncomplicated and episodic screenplay by Charles Grayson and Vincent B Evans overcomes most of the problems of a carving out a script based on a real-life story.

In star support, Martha Hyer impresses as Mary Hess and Dan Duryea is especially good as Sergeant Herman.

Also in the cast are Anna Kashfi, Don DeFore, Jock Mahoney, Alan Hale Jr, James Edwards, Carl Benton Reid, Richard Loo, Philip Ahn, Bartlett Robinson, Simon Scott and Carleton Young.

Battle Hymn runs 108 minutes, is a Universal film, shot in Technicolor by Russell Metty, produced by Ross Hunter, scored by Frank Skinner and designed by Alexander Golitzen.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6670

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