The Left Hand of God

The pacing in this film is slow as is the entire film itself. Humphrey Bogart assumes the role of pretending to be a priest while escaping from a Chinese war-lord. (Lee J. Cobb) This picture is devoid of any action. Despite a stellar cast consisting of E.G. Marshall, Agnes Moorehead and Gene Tierney, nothing much is really going on. You would think that the Cobb character would pose a more intimidating presence, but he does not. In fact,the doctor, played by Marshall, is more intimidating as he is immediately suspicious of Bogart. In the film, Bogart admits that he hasn't been to church since he was thirteen years old. Only in the film is he able to conduct Sunday church services.

Left Hand of God, The (1955) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Director Edward Dmytryk's film about a priest (Humphrey Bogart) who travels to a missionary in war torn China and gets involved with a nurse (Gene Tierney) and an evil ruler (Lee J. Cobb). Both the nurse and the ruler have their own ideas of what should happen to the mission but the priest is holding back a few secrets of his own. Agnes Moorehead, E.G. Marshall and Jean Porter round out the supporting cast to this drama, which I never really connected with. The best thing in the film are the performances and Bogart once again turns in an interesting role, which is something he did a lot of during his final few pictures. He's actually pretty good playing the tough priest and he even gets a wonderful sequence where he sings a few songs with some Chinese children. Tierney is equally good and Cobb is impressive to in his Fu-Manchu like role. However, the story is still pretty weak and the priest's secret isn't too hard to figure out.

An odd film which drifts in no particular direction and offers little or no discernible storyline of any great interest. Bogart is well.. Bogart, Gene Tierney is the rather unimpressive love interest - all doe eyed and half asleep and Lee J Cobb as the villainous Chinaman is just plain ridiculous. Fine for dozing through on the sofa after Sunday lunch.

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.

I thought this movie was characteristic of the movies made after the 2nd world war, where goodness overcomes evil, Hitler versus the Allies. The simple faith portrayed by the Chinese villagers and the belief in the Christian church where they and the audience knew that god would triumph in the end was charming and a little naive. Humphrey Bogart played a masterly performance using his considerable acting skills to portray the phony priest who is overtaken by the situation he finds himself in and redeems himself by selflessly offering his freedom to save the villages and mission. A strong cast of experienced actors along with the Chinese cast worked extremely well in this movie. If you are a catholic it is everything we want from our church. Simple honest faith, alongside men of conviction who believe without a doubt that Christ would and could intervene if he were asked. This film is a testament to Bogart's enormous charisma and plain speaking charm.

The film begins with priest, Humphrey Bogart, trekking through the wilds of China until he arrives at a mission eagerly awaiting him. It seems the mission in pre-revolution China has been without a priest for some time and the people are ecstatic to see him. Now if you are thinking to yourself that there's no way Bogart seems like a priest, then you are much more astute than the Chinese and you have guessed the plot. It seems that Bogey is NOT a priest but is posing as one in order to escape the clutches of a Chinese warlord (played ridiculously by Lee J. Cobb who seems more like Mr. Clean than a Chinese person). While the whole plot is pretty silly and the film is a very light-weight drama, it IS still worth seeing. Why? Well, in a word "Bogart". Even with silly fluff like this, his presence makes the film watchable and even quite entertaining--provided you don't think too much about the silly plot or Cobb's Brooklyn accent!

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.