''Satan Never Sleeps '' (also known as ''The Devil Never Sleeps'') is a 1962 American
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
directed by
Leo McCarey
Thomas Leo McCarey (October 3, 1898 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 films, the most well known today being ''Duck Soup (1933 film), Duck Soup'', ''Make Way for Tomo ...
, his final film, in which he returns to the religious themes of his classics ''
Going My Way
''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest ta ...
'' (1944) and ''
The Bells of St. Mary's
''The Bells of St. Mary's'' (1945) is an American musical comedy-drama film, produced and directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a priest ...
'' (1945). It also is the final screen appearance of actor
Clifton Webb
Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, in ...
.
Plot
In 1949, Catholic priests O'Banion and Bovard are constantly harassed by the Communist People's Party at their remote mission outpost in China. Adding to Father O'Banion's troubles is the mission's cook Siu Lan, an attractive Chinese girl who makes no secret of her love for him.
Under the leadership of Ho San, the communists wreck the mission dispensary and desecrate the chapel. Ho San straps O'Banion to a chair and rapes Siu Lan. Later, when she gives birth to a son, Ho San displays paternal pride but refuses to stop persecuting the priests.
Only after the villagers revolt and his superiors order the killing of all Christians, including his parents, does Ho San become convinced that communism will never solve China's problems. He tries to smuggle Siu Lan, his son and the two priests out of the compound, but their journey is halted within a few miles of freedom by a helicopter sent to prevent Ho San's defection. Before he can be restrained, the Father Bovard dons Ho San's military cap and coat and drives away in the colonel's car. He dies in a spray of bullets from the helicopter, but his sacrifice enables the others to escape. Later, at mission headquarters in Hong Kong, O'Banion officiates at the wedding of Siu Lan and Ho San and baptizes their child.
Cast
*
William Holden
William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...
as Father O'Banion
*
Clifton Webb
Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, in ...
as Father Bovard
*
France Nuyen
France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French actress, model, and psychological counsellor.
Early life
Nguyen was born in Marseille. Her mother was French, and her father was widely reported to be Vietnamese, althoug ...
as Siu Lan
*
Athene Seyler
Athene Seyler, CBE (31 May 188912 September 1990) was an English actress.
Early life
She was born in Hackney, London; her German-born grandparents moved to the United Kingdom, where her grandfather Philip Seyler was a merchant in London. Athe ...
as Sister Agnes
*
Martin Benson as Kuznietsky
*
Edith Sharpe
Edith Mary Sharpe (14 September 1894 – 6 June 1984) was a British actress. Born in Hackney, London. She married Alexander Francis Part in 1931 and had one child.
She appeared in TV series such as Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, Emergency Ward 10 ...
as Sister Theresa
*
Robert Lee as Chung Ren
*
Marie Yang
Marie may refer to:
People Name
* Marie (given name)
* Marie (Japanese given name)
* Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973
* Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tro ...
as Ho San's mother
*
Andy Ho
Andy Ho (born Andrew Chin Guan Ho; 2 July 1913 – 16 January 1992) was a Singapore-born (then part of British Malaya) film and television actor who worked in London and Hollywood from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
Biography
Andy Ho was born ...
as Ho San's father
*
Burt Kwouk
Herbert Tsangtse Kwouk, (; ; 18 July 1930 – 24 May 2016) was a British actor, known for his role as Cato in the ''Pink Panther'' films. He made appearances in many television programmes, including a portrayal of Imperial Japanese Army Ma ...
as Ah Wang
*
Weaver Levy
Weaver Levy was a Chinese American character actor who had a long career in Hollywood that began in the 1940s and continued through the early 1980s. He was best known for his main role in the TV series '' Adventures in Paradise''.
Biography
W ...
as Ho San
*
Noel Hood
Margaret Noel Hood (25 December 1909 – 15 October 1979) was a British actress. She was married to the Irish-born actor Charles Oliver.
Filmography Film
* ''Crook's Tour'' (1940) as Edith Charters
* ''Personal Affair'' (1953) as 4th Gossip (u ...
as Sister Justine
Production
The film was based on an original
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
by
Pearl S. Buck
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck ...
called ''China Story'' that had been sold to 20th Century Fox. In 1950,
Hal B. Wallis
Harold Brent Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best known for producing '' Casablanca'' (1942), '' The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), and ''True Grit'' (1969), along ...
acquired it and in 1960, it came to Leo McCarey.
Father O'Banion was meant to die at the end, but William Holden refused, so the ending was changed.
The film was shot in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
[Nat Segaloff, ''Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors'', Bear Manor Media 2013 p 195-200]
Reception
In a contemporary review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', critic
A. H. Weiler
Abraham H. Weiler (December 10, 1908 – January 22, 2002) was an American writer and critic best known for being a film critic and motion picture editor for ''The New York Times''. He also served a term as chairman of the New York Film Critics ...
called ''Satan Never Sleeps'' "a lackluster imitation" of Leo McCarey's ''
Going My Way
''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest ta ...
'' and wrote: "There is no doubt that the hearts of Mr. McCarey and company are in the right places but ''Satan Never Sleeps'' has little heart in it. This ''Satan'' is a direct descendant of ''
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...
'' and
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
."
In a current-day review, ''
Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
'' described ''Satan Never Sleeps'' as a "dreadful, trashy yarn" and "propaganda designed to equate Communism with Satan." The review concluded: "Satan may not sleep, but you will."
"Satan Never Sleeps"
''Time Out'' London. Retrieved 7th March 2020.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Leo McCarey
1962 films
1962 drama films
1960s English-language films
Films about Catholicism
Films directed by Leo McCarey
Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett
Films set in the 1940s
History of China on film
Cold War films
20th Century Fox films
American black-and-white films
CinemaScope films
Films shot at MGM-British Studios
Films about Catholic priests